SoCalHoops Tournament News

Long Beach Poly Wins At
Utah Tournament--(Dec. 8, 2001)

Long Beach Poly has been playing this past week (starting Thursday) at the "Ragu Classic" (why is every new tournament called a "Classic"?) at Utah Valley State in Orem, Utah, and as we previously mentioned in a separate article, this tournament, even though new, does feature some of the top teams and top players in the country.  And after two days of competition, Poly is doing fine, having defeated both of their first and second round opponents, including Duke recruit JJ Redick's team.

Today's schedule for the tournament will see Poly taking on Riverton.  Here's the complete schedule:

At Utah Valley State College
Pine View vs. East Jefferson, La., 2 p.m.
Brighton vs. Mercer Island, Wash., 3:45 p.m.
Riverton vs. Long Beach Poly, 5:30 p.m.
Alta vs. Cave Springs, Va., 7:15 p.m.
Timpanogos vs. North Forsyth, N.C., 9 p.m. 

And this is what the Salt Lake Tribune had to say about the tournament's first day of action:

RAGU CLASSIC: Long Beach Poly Rallies Past Mountain View;
Judge Routs East Jefferson
Friday, December 7, 2001
BY NEIL K. WARNER
SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE 

OREM -- Call them crazy, but the Mountain View Bruins actually thought they could win.

If not for a 19-0 Long Beach (Calif.) Poly run, the Bruins may have been right.

But the Jackrabbits edged them 71-67 Thursday night in the Ragu Classic at Utah Valley State College.  Carlos Rivers led the Jackrabbits, ranked No. 21 in the country, with 22 points. Poly turned the game around when Richard Han began their 19-0 run when he converted a three-point play. The spurt continued into the fourth quarter when Mike Roche hit a bucket that gave Poly a 58-50 lead with 6:10 left. 

Mountain View managed to climb to within 70-67 with 10 seconds left after a Jake Hunsaker three-pointer, but Rivers was fouled and made one of two free throws to finish off Mountain View. 

"I didn't think we'd come out and run over them. I knew it would be challenging," said Poly forward Reggie Butler. "I just didn't think they would be that good of outside shooters." 

Poly took a 10-2 lead, but Mountain View got into the game with a shooting display. Tyler Cardon hit all five three-pointers he took in the first half, when Mountain View was 9-of-13 from behind the line.  Cardon's sixth three-pointer, midway through the third quarter, gave the Bruins their biggest lead at 50-39, but Mountain View cooled off. 

"I don't think we ran out of gas, we just had two stretches were we went into a funk," said Mountain View coach Jason Young. "We came in here believing we could win. They had a lot of things against them with the altitude and it being their first game." 

In the end, Mountain View couldn't compensate for a 37-21 rebounding disparity. 

But the Bruins made their point. Cardon finished with 23 points. Bruce Pinegar added 11 and Izzy Ingle added 10 as the Bruins connected on 15 of 30 three-pointers while proving they can play with the nation's elite.

"We could have beat them. We had an 11-point lead. It would have been a huge win," Cardon said. "But we're not going to hang our heads. The thing I like about this tournament is it helps put Utah basketball on the map."

Long Beach Poly 71 Mountain View 67 --

Long Beach Poly (1-0) 23 11 14 23 -- 71 
Mountain View    (2-2) 19 19 12 17 -- 67 
Long Beach Poly -- Butler 11, Roche 8, Jones 13, Freeman 6, Rivers 22, Han 5, Lewis 6. Totals 27 13-21 71.  Mountain View -- Cardon 23, Pinegar 11, Zimmerman 7, Critchfield 7, Ingle 10, May 3, Hunsaker 6. Totals 21 10-14 71.  Three-point goals -- Long Beach Poly 4 (Freeman 2, Rivers 2); Mountain View 15 (Cardon 6, Pinegar 3, Critchfield 2, Hunsaker 2, Ingle, May). 

Judge Memorial 55, E. Jefferson, La. 33

OREM -- Joe Sasich scored 30 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Judge outscored the Louisiana team 24-2 in the fourth quarter to turn a tight game into a blowout. Nick Morales added 12 points and had four steals. 

Judge Memorial (5-0) 12 10 9 24 -- 55 
East Jefferson    (4-7) 14   8 9   2 -- 33
Judge -- Morales 12, Sasich 30, Larsen 3, Walisky 2, Burks 3, Proctor 5. Totals 25 3-10 55.  East Jefferson -- Bates 15, Yost 2, Hunter 7, Lambert 6, Jilles 2, Smith 1. Totals 14 1-2 33.  Three-Point Goals -- Judge 2 (Burks, Proctor); East Jefferson 4 (Bates 3, Hunter). 

Mercer Island, Wash., 66, Cave Springs, Va., 63

OREM -- Defended by three players, Duke-bound J.J. Redick of Cave Springs missed a three-pointer with two seconds left and Mercer Island of Washington escaped with a 66-63 win at the Ragu Classic. "He makes that 70 out of 100 times, so I had no problem with it," said Cave Springs coach Billy Hicks.  Redick scored 34 points; Brandon Burmeister led Mercer Island with 21. 

"I spent three of the best years of my life in Utah. It was a nice homecoming," said Mercer Island coach Ed Pepple, who played for the University of Utah in 1953-55.

Mercer Island 20 20 14 12 -- 66
Cave Springs  20 11 18 14 -- 63 
Mercer -- Burmeister 21, Donovan 2, Yuen 2, Biggers 15, Hammer 5, Tempest 11, Chirls 8, McKenzie 2. Totals 25 9-16 66.  Cave Springs -- Redick 34, Hagan 2, Davison 1, Kaplan 9, Payne 4, Hergrueter 2, Harris 8, Powell 3. Totals 20 15-25 63.  Three-Point Goals -- Mercer Island 6 (Burmeister 2, Biggers 3, Hammer); Cave Springs 6 (Redick 4, Harris 2).

---

The second day of action was nearly as productive for the Jackrabbits as they defeated JJ Redick's team in the second round of action:

Long Beach, Calif., Poly 62  Cave Springs, Va., 46 

OREM -- Reggie Butler scored 19 points and Bobby Jones added 16 as Long Beach Poly had an easier time than expected with Cave Springs. The Jackrabbits held J.J. Redick, who has signed with Duke, to nine points.

Long Beach Poly (2-0) 10 22 22 10 -- 62
Cave Springs, Va. (4-1) 10 9 10 15 -- 46
Long Beach Poly -- Freeman 9, Barnes 2, McDonald 5, Butler 19, Roche 11, Jones 16.
Cave Springs, Va. -- Redick 9, Davison 3, Kaplan 2, Payne 2, Hergrueter 6, Bushnell 3, Arthur 8, Burmeister 2  Harris 9.  Three-Point Goals -- Long Beach (Freeman, Butler 4, Jones 3); Cave Springs 8 (Redick, Davison, Bushnell, Arthur 2, Harris 3).

The rest of the action from Friday went as follows according to the Tribune's correspondent:

Provo, Rust Rout East Jefferson
Saturday, December
8, 2001

BY NEIL K. WARNER
SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

RAGU CLASSIC

OREM -- It didn't take Provo boys basketball coach Craig Drury long to figure out what was going on during the Bulldogs' 62-27 win over New Orleans' East Jefferson: Provo forward Jake Rust was on fire. 

At the Ragu Classic on Friday at Utah Valley State College, the Bulldogs were leading 26-15 with four minutes left in the third quarter when Rust's reign began. It started with a fairly harmless three-point play, followed by a three-pointer.

On Provo's next two possessions, Drury ran plays for Rust. The result was back-to-back three-pointers. Rust added one more, extending his personal scoring run to 15 points.  When he was done, so was East Jefferson. Provo had a commanding 41-19 lead with 45 seconds left in the third quarter. 

"The first shot hit the front of the rim and bounced in," Rust said. "After that, I just started feeling it."

Rust finished with 22 points, nearly outscoring a short-handed East Jefferson team, which left three ineligible players at home.   "Any time you have [an opponent] that's trying to slow the ball down and you score 40 points in the second half, you have to feel good about it," said Provo coach Craig Drury.  Provo started sluggishly but still took a 9-8 lead into the second quarter. The Bulldogs gained some breathing room when Danny Robertson came up with a steal and scored. Rust hit a jumper and Robertson added two free throws. East Jefferson countered with a three-pointer from Jamarr Hunter, but Joe Wood answered with a layup.  

Mick Hagen closed out the first half's scoring with a 17-foot jumper that gave the Bulldogs a 22-13 lead at halftime and set the stage for Rust's big third quarter.  Robertson finished with 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. He also had two steals that led directly to Hagen layups in the fourth quarter. Wood chipped in 11 points. 

One of the few bright spots for East Jefferson, was the play of Mike Bates, who scored 11 points.  Provo's four victories have come by an average of more than 30 points. 

Provo 62, East Jefferson, La., 27
East Jefferson 8 5 8 6 -- 27
Provo 9 13 21 19 -- 62
East Jefferson -- Barnes 9, Yost 4, Smith 8, Lee 1, Hunter 5. Totals  10 4-7 27.
Provo -- Wood 11, Rust 22, Robertson 11, Hagen 10, Rhiner 2, Tika Wesley 4, Tia Wesley 2. Totals 23 11-14 62.  Three-point goals -- East Jefferson 3 (Barnes 2, Hunter); Provo 5 (Rust 4, Robertson). 

Davis 46, Mercer Island, Wash., 44

OREM -- Jordan Sprague scored 17 points and Brody Van Brocklin added 14 as Kaysville's Davis Darts upset Mercer Island. Taylor Donovan had 10 points for Mercer Island, 1-1 in the Classic. 

Mercer Island (3-1) 12 11 16 5 -- 44
Davis (3-2) 19 6 13 8 -- 46
Mercer Island -- Burmeister 8, Donovan 10, Yuen 3, Biggers 5, Tempest 9, Billbe 5, McKenzie 4. 18 5-7 44.  Davis -- Hobey 4, Van Brocklin 14, Sargent 2, Denney 4, Stapp 5, Sprague 17. 19 5-9 46.  Three-Point Goals -- Mercer Island 3 (Donovon 2, Biggers); Davis 3 (Van Brocklin 3).

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