SoCalHoops High School News

CIF-SS Boys V-A Bracket Update:
Championship Final Preview--(Mar. 1, 2001)

Today's Championship final in Division V-A will be played at the Pyramid @ 4:00 p.m. and will feature the No. 1 seed, Price of Los Angeles (27-3), taking on No. 2 seeded Antelope Valley Christian (21-6), in a rematch of their division finals game of two years ago.  Price won that one, and so AVC has something to prove.   Whether they'll be able to do it, remains to be seen.  Price is the defending State Champion in Division V, and despite some early season talk about how the Price Knights' talent had fallen off a bit from their prior championship teams, this year's team has done as well, if not better at times than previous editions.

Price has been in the finals twice prior to this year, and they've won two Southern Section Championships, as well as one State Championship.   Their league doesn't provide a lot of really tough competition (ok, we were surprised by Shalhevet), so most of their real competition comes in non-league contests.   Price beat Serra, JW North (D-IAA), St. Paul (IV-AA finalist), Orange Lutheran, Rolling Hills Prep, Ontario, No. 1 Division V-AA seed Verbum Dei, San Bernardino Pacific, and Pasadena Marshall. . .This is no "little" team, but one that is capable of beating just about anyone on any given day.   Coached by Michael Lynch and assisted by Albert Council and Steven Davis, the Knights are a quality team and they could challenge again next week for a State title as well, regardless of the outcome of this game.  Here's the roster, which includes Chris Alexander (6'-3" Sr. G) who has signed with Cal State Fullerton for next season:

Chris Alexander    6'-3" Sr. G
Jermaine Jamerson    6'-4" Sr. F
Paul Simon    5'-9" So. G
Schuyler McKay    6'-2" Fr. G
Brandon Herron     6'-4" Jr. F/G
Jabril N'Diaye    6'-3" Sr. F
Khalief Washington     6'-5" Jr. F
Andrew Howard    6'-0" Sr. G
Delbert Gordon     5'-8" Jr. G
Samuel McDonald     6'-2" Fr. G
Nicholas Bradley    6'-0" Sr. G
Oscar Edwards    6'-4" So. F

The Antelope Valley Christian Eagles come into the game at 21-6, having beaten mostly teams from the same or only slightly higher enrollment divisions (i.e., V-AA), and they've also got some significant losses to teams who either didn't make the playoffs or who didn't fare too well in the playoffs this year   (e.g.,  AGBU, Cate, Bell-Jeff).  But they did manage some wins over schools like Villanova Prep, Hesperia Christian, Apple Valley Christian, Bethel Christian, Joshua Springs, Immanuel Christian, and Stoneridge Prep.  They beat Montclair Prep but lost to Pasadena Marshall, and also lost to Bishop Diego.  A puzzling team at best, and they are young and relatively inexperienced at this level of competition, at least in comparison to Price.  This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for AVC, but they've managed to get to the finals again with a roster that has only five seniors.   Here's a look:

Jeremiah Nurse     5'-10" Fr. G
Percy Pickett    5'-10" So. G
Alfred Collins    5'-6" Sr. G
Eun Sik (Chris) Yoo    6'-1" So. F
Jamal Flanagan    6'-2" Sr. G/F
Terry Lee    5'-11" Sr. G
Joshua Ledford    6'-4" Jr. F
John (Jay) Haggerty    5'-6" So. G
Myung-Keun (John) Cho    6'-2" Sr. G/F
Solomon De Francis    6'-0" Sr. F

The leaders for AVC are Jamal Flanagan who comes in averaging 25 ppg in the regular season prior to the playoffs, and John Cho, at 165 ppg.   Jeremiah Nursh runs the p;oint and Percy Pickett, Chris Yoio and Ledford and DeFrancis are the guys off the bench.  Whether this young squad will have enough to get past Price is anyone's guess.  But we'll find out in a few hours. . . .

See you there.

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