Verbum dei defeats Serra

Now this was a game, and it's what all championships are supposed to be like: Huge crowd, very partisan, with the Serra folks screaming on one side of the packed arena, the Verb fans (including Kareem Abdul Jabbar, apparently there to cheer for his buddy David Greenwood's Eagles) on the other side. Top point guards and excellent wings, a number of Division I prospects and a few who have already committed....A matchup of teams that many felt were destined to meet all season long in the finals.

Let's just cut to the chase: Verbum Dei won the game 84-75, and it was essentially Verb's game from the opening tip off until the final buzzer. Verbum Dei jumped out to a surprisingly quick lead, and Serra called timeout when the score got to 10-0 after about two and a half minutes of play. The Cavaliers managed to cut the lead down to five at the end of the first quarter, but they were never closer in this game again, always seeming to hover at around 5, 7 or 9 point deficits....never a huge blowout and never able to get over the hump either.

There were two heroes in this game for Verbum Dei, at least that's how we saw it: Richard Chaney, a Utah-bound senior with long, long arms, a great stroke and deadly shot, had 12 rebounds, 23 points and five blocked shots to lead the Eagles. The other hero is just a sophomore, but he's one of the best guard talents in all of Southern California, and that's little Mike Pagan (5'-8" So. PG), who pushed the ball, squirmed through traffic, dropped dimes all over and finished with 22 points, 7 assists (the official guys only had him with 4, but what do they know....) and 2 steals.

Pagan was mostly guarding Serra's Eugene Jeter, and vice versa, and while Pagan's defensive work didn't manage to shut down Jeter (he led all scorers with 24 points, five assists), it's clear that Pagan did bother Jeter enough to force 7 uncharacteristic turnovers from the Portland-bound Serra leader. Chris Hemphill came up big again for Serra, with 14 points and 8 rebounds; Jeter had 7 boards, and Loren Wade had 9 as did Eugene Hackett.

There's not a lot more to say about this game other than that it was just a shame someone had to lose. Serra could get San Diego Horizon, or even Harvard-Westlake, and the latter would be a really interesting first round matchup in the first round of the State D-IV Tournament.

We'll have more on this game tomorrow, when and if we have time to write anything else. Anyway, here's the box score from the game:

Player	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	OREB	DREB	TR	PF	PTS	AST	TRN	BS	STS	MIN
*Michael Pagan	8	16	1	3	5	9	3	3	6	4	22	4	6	0	2	30:19
Alex Banks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:06
*Tai Tuner	8	16	1	3	1	3	3	3	6	2	18	0	4	0	1	29:47
Michael Davis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	2:12
David Guerrero	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:06
*Richard Chaney	8	17	3	5	4	8	8	4	12	2	23	3	0	5	3	31:56
Deshalen Barber	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	1	9:47
Deangelo Bijole	4	10	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	3	12	1	0	0	1	19:13
*Martin Starr	2	3	0	0	1	2	2	2	4	3	5	0	2	2	2	22:09
*Michael Bell	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	2	2	1	0	0	0	14:23
Jamal Kinney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:06
Eric Stewart	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:06
Leonard Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	DNP
Totals	32	66	6	13	14	26	18	18	36	20	84	9	13	7	19

Total FG	1st Half	17/37	459	2nd Half	15/29	517	Game	32/66	485
2PT FG	1st Half	3/5	600	2nd Half	3/8	375	Game	6/13	462
Free Throws	1st Half	8/13	615	2nd Half	6/13	462	Game	14/26	538

Player	FGM	FGA	3PM	3PA	FTM	FTA	OREB	DREB	TR	PF	PTS	AST	TRN	BS	STS	MIN
*Eugene Hackett	5	11	2	69	1	6	7	2	9	2	13	0	2	0	0	25:08
J. Evans-Williams	1	5	0	2	0	0	1	3	4	3	2	0	1	0	1	11:38
Jeffrey Arnold	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	6:31
*Eugene Jeter	6	24	2	13	10	10	1	6	7	2	24	5	7	0	1	30:20
*Eric McNeal	3	6	3	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	10	1	1	0	1	19:35
*Chris Hemphill	3	6	0	0	8	10	6	2	8	3	14	0	2	4	3	26:36
Ronald Carter	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:51
*Samir Hernandez	2	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	4	0	2	0	0	10:41
Loren Wade	2	7	0	0	2	2	6	3	9	1	6	0	1	0	0	20:53
Conte Shumant	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0:51
Devin Stearns	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	25	2	5	2	0	1	0	0	7:07
Totals	26	34	7	24	22	30	22	19	41	17	75	6	20	4	6

Total FG	1st Half	12/24	500	2nd Half	11/40	275	Game	23/64	359
2PT FG	1st Half	4/9	444	2nd Half	3/15	200	Game	7/24	292
Free Throws	1st Half	10/12	833	2nd Half	12/18	667	Game	22/30	733