SoCalHoops High School News

Best In The West: Final
Catchup & Recap--(Jan 4, 1999)

We're cleaning up our files, and getting ready for the start of the regular season, which in some leagues has already started,  and which really gets underway today (Jan. 4) in earnest in the Southern Section, so we thought it was as good a time as any to put together our final report on the BIW,  you know, post up the missing bits and pieces of games we saw, games we didn't, and games we wished we'd seen.  Here's a small report on the Artesia v. Clovis West game which we started writing last week, but haven't had time to post until now.  This was the third place game, and it's followed by some notes on the fifth place semifinal games. Enjoy.

Artesia 63, Clovis West 51--Admittedly, this was not the game Wayne Merino wanted to be playing in on the night of the finals, but hey, that's what happens when the team comes out flat and loses to Verbum Dei the day before, a game we didn't see, but which Marlon Parmer according to everyone we talked to who did see it, played the game of his life, getting 32 points in ways that were largely unimaginable, and making his "signature move" all night long (a drive, step to the left side of the key, complete 360 spin, lose the defender and lay it in).

In the Verbum Dei v. Artesia game, an overtime contest, Verbum Dei managed 12 points in an overtime, while Artesia didn't and lost to the defending State Division IV Champions who are unranked by USA Today, or anywhere else for that matter.  But Verbum Dei, which is better than most people think, might just be ranked tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan 5)  if anyone was paying attention last week. Verbum Dei managed  an overtime upset win against Artesia 83-75 last Tuesday, and advanced to the finals against Dominguez last Wednesday.  Everyone knows that Verbum lost to the Dons in the final and that Tyson Chandler had a great game, but a lot of folks don't know how Verbum Dei, a D-IVA team managed to beat arguably the No. 1 team in SoCal, a Division I-AA powerhouse.  Our own Jason Day already filed his story, but we wanted to know more so we consulted two sources:  Louis Johnson of the Long Beach Press Telegram, and the box score.  Here's what we learned from portions of Louis' article written the following day:

The Pioneers entered the game as the favorite to win the tournament, not to mention being the state's top-rated team and ranked No. 8 nationally by USA Today. The victory was sweet for the Eagles, the BIW's fifth seed. "Our boys kept playing hard," said Verbum Dei coach David Greenwood, who guided the Eagles to the State Division IV Championship last season.  "To beat a team like that is great for us."

Ok, but how did they do it?

Artesia (10-2) put together a 12-0 run in the second quarter to post a 30-19 lead.  It appeared that the Pioneers might finally be able to put down the Eagles' successful tournament run. But Parmer wasn't about to let that happen. The 6-foot-1 senior point guard led a frantic comeback to get the Eagles back in the game, finally tying the score, at 48-48, at the 5:13 mark of the third quarter.

The Eagles took their first lead of the game, 54-53, with 1:52 left in the third quarter on a basket from Dalron Johnson, who finished with 21 points. The lead switched hands several times until Artesia's Amaury Fernandez, who led the Pioneers with 28 points, hit a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to send the game into overtime. But with four seconds to go, Verbum Dei had a chance to win the game. Parmer drove through the lane and was called for charging, his fifth personal foul of the game. With Parmer on the bench, Artesia seemed to think it would have an easy time in the extra period. That wasn't the case. The Pioneers, who got 21 points from senior forward Jason Kapono despite a horrible shooting night, scored just four points in overtime, while Johnson led the Eagles with five points.

Oh. So that's how.  We'll take Louis' and Jason Day's word on it, but this story really started off being about the Artesia v. Clovis West game, played Wednesday night for third, a game we saw,  so let's get back to that one. We already know how Artesia ended up playing for third, but Clovis West, which was beating everyone in sight, somehow managed to lose 64-60 to Compton Dominguez the day before.   Not a surprise, but it was very close.  Clovis West coach Vance Walberg told everyone after the game that he brings his team to Southern California looking for compeition, and he sure found it, especially considering that his final two opponents are generally regarded as two of the toughest in the country, and started the month out being ranked by USA Today as the No. 3 and 4 teams in the country. 

But on Wednesday night, the Clovis West Golden Eagles didn't have any miracles to pull out of the hat, and they lost 63-51 to Artesia.  Clovis was never really in this game, despite playing pretty much even the final three quarters. It was really the fact that Clovis West trailed 16-8 in the first quarter and never recovered that did them in more than anything.  We were still really impressed by Ash Knowlton, a player we saw a lot of last year and then again during the summer, especially at the Nike Summer Championship where he played very well.  Knowlton doesn't play with a lot of flash,  but he's very smooth, a heady player with a good handle, excellent court vision and he just has a way of making that really hard pass to the open man look particularly easy.  He only had 6 points in the game, but we counted about 9 assists.

Jason Kapono only scored 10 points, but played well defensively. Artesia was led by Jack Martinez who really dominated, scoring 19 points.   Apoloinar Fernandez had 14 points, while Andre Hazel had 4, and Aaron Hamilton had 5, Ryan Reyes had 2, Mike Matos had 9, and Jon Steffanson had 5. 

For Clovis West, Jackson had 6, All-Tournament point guard Ashley Knowlton  had 6, Norcross had 9, Chris Hernandez had 7, Charlie Rodriguez had 15, Rob Hertel 6, and Steele 2.

Here's the box with the scoring by quarters:

Tuesday Best In The West Recap: 5th Place Semifinal Games

Obviously since we were up in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara last week watching some other high school tournaments and the Alan Hancock College JC games, we didn't make it to Long Beach on Tuesday night for the semifinals. So we relied on Louis Johnson of the Long Beach Press Telegram again, and we have to say that even though the paper is no longer an official sponsor, they did their bit and supported the tournament by providing lots of print space, and they deserve to be rewarded, so we'd urge everyone to subscribe or at least buy a copy of the paper next time you get a chance.   See, don' t say we never did anything for the PT.   Here are some reports from the Press-Telegram about the Long Beach area teams and how they fared in their fifth-place semifinal games played Tuesday, December 29, 1998:

Long Beach Jordan 58,  Long Beach Poly 54--The Jordan High boys basketball team entered its fifth-place semifinal against Poly with its confidence sagging following a quarterfinal loss to Dominguez late Monday night. But there's nothing like a win over a league rival to boost a team's morale.Senior swingman Darren Peterson and junior forward Travon Bryant scored 19 points apiece to lead the Panthers past the Jackrabbits, 58-54, Tuesday afternoon at Long Beach State. "Once we get to Moore League, this won't mean a thing," Jordan coach Ron Massey said. "But our guys bounced back and played real hard today."

Senior guard Ken Wright made four 3-pointers in the second quarter to help Poly take a 34-31 halftime lead. But the Panthers made their move in the third quarter, in which they outscored the Jackrabbits, 15-6, to take a 46-40 advantage into the final quarter. Poly (10-3) opened the fourth period with a 7-0 run to take a 47-46 lead with just over six minutes left. But Jordan (11-4) responded with six straight points of its own, the last two on a dunk by Bryant, to retake the lead at 52-47.

After Peterson sank two free throws to give Jordan a 54-51 lead, Wesley Stokes nailed a 25-footer to tie the score with 1:37 left. Guard Craig Calloway (10 points) made a foul shot 30 seconds later to give Jordan a one-point edge. Poly had a chance to retake the lead but Shea Anderson and Lonnel Penman both missed jump shots and Calloway added three free throws in the final seconds to end the scoring.

"We're not passing the ball well, and we're not moving and cutting effectively on offense," Poly coach Ron Palmer said. "But you get lows like this in this game . . . we just have to get in the gym and work on some things."  Stokes finished with 19 points and six assists, Penman added 14 points and senior forward Joe Travis scored 10 points for third-seeded Poly, which was eliminated from the tournament. Jordan moved on to play Bishop Montgomery for fifth place Wednesday at the Gold Mine (East Gym) at 5:45 p.m.  

Bishop Montgomery 59, Compton 37--Bishop Montgomery,   playing without injured standouts Brian Pruitt, Garrett Lee and Tony Booker, recorded a surprisingly easy victory over Compton in the tourney's other fifth-place semifinal, 59-37. The Tarbabes (7-3) never got on untrack offensively, especially star point guard Tito Maddox, who was held to a season-low two points. Senior guard Leroy Dawson paced Compton with 12 points.

BIW Final Note: We've still got some picutres taken at the final and from Saturday's games that we hope to be posting sometime this week.  We want to thank Wayne Merino, Ebony, and the rest of the staff for making the tournament such a great experience for the players and the fans.  Can't wait until the summer version of the Best in the West.

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