SoCalHoops High School News
We're willing to bet that between now and the start of the Southern Section playoffs, Compton will be practicing free throws. A lot of them. Especially Ellis Myles. Who missed three in a row, costing Compton a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime.
This was the third game of the day, and it was one of the best, as Artesia won 66-63 in a game which came down to three missed free throws by Compton's Ellis Myles which could have sent the game to overtime. But more importantly, the game proved that these two powers will both go deep into the Southern Section playoffs; it also laid to rest the rap that Compton has taken throughout much of the season that they really don't have much of a patient offensive scheme and are just running wildly up and down the floor. Compton showed great patience and skill in the second quarter, and much to Artesia's shock and chagrin, led the game at the half. But half a game does not a complete game make, and Artesia, employing a very effective half-court trapping defense, managed to do in the second half to Compton what the Tarbabes had done to the Pioneers throughout the first, forcing turnover after turnover and fairly sloppy play.
Rod Palmer started Ellis Myles (6'-7" Jr. F), Tito Maddox (6'-4" Sr. PG), Leroy Dawson (6'-1" Jr. SG), Terry Hosendove (6'-5" Sr. F) and Lanere Anderson (6'-1" Sr. G). Artesia started the usual suspects, Apolinar Fernandez (6'-8" So. F), Jason Kapono (6'-8" Sr. PG/SG/SF/PF), Ryan Reyes (6'-2" So. PG/SG), Aaron Hamilton (6'-5" Sr. SF) and Andre Hazel (6'-0" Jr. PG).
The expected matchup between Tito Maddox and Jason Kapono never really materialized, because even though Jason ended up bringing the ball up the floor in the second half about half the time, Tito would generally back off him, and there was not much guarding of Maddox at all being done by Kapono either. But it really didn't matter as both of them put on one hell of a show.
Another coach last night asked us what we thought about Tito's game, and all we could say was "On the verge of control." He wasn't the MVP of the game (that was reserved for Jack Martinez), but he was close to it, and had Compton won, there would have been no doubt about it. Tito runs the floor and has the fastest first step of anyone in the senior class, and he's certainly the best unsigned point guard, perhaps in the country. Not a great shooter, but a tremendous ability to break down a defender and drive to the hole. In the second quarter he just took over scoring 11 straight points for Compton. But he's often a pretty reckless player, right out there on the edge. Live dangerously, lose dangerously: That should be the Tarbabes new motto.
As for Artesia, Jason played his usual steady game, driving, showing great athletic skill and court knowledge, and his leadership skills are beyond question. If Martinez was voted the MVP, it was largely because Kapono got him into position so often.
In the first quarter Compton came out showing incredible patience as they took the clock down to the last second, unable to penetrate the two-three zone, but Leroy Dawson nailed a three at the buzzer as the shot clock expired. Masterful. Wow, was this going to be a different Compton team from the one we've grown used to seeing? Only time would tell.
Next time down the floor, Artesia turned the ball over (Fernandez got the rebound but dropped the ball). Compton took it up court, and Myles powered his way in to give Compton the lead 5-0. But Artesia then got it's press working and scored two quick baskets. Again, this was turning into a contrast in styles, the free-lancers vs. the set-play guys. . . except that the usual roles were reversed. Next Artesia possession, the Pioneers ran, and Jason turned the ball over but Reyes got the ball back and converted for the shot. With 3:56 to play Fox (that's right, FSW2) called a timeout on the floor, and everyone thought the extra time would be a good thing, especially Compton, but then they saw that Jack Martinez had come into the game. Now usually Martinez (6'-7" So. F), a sometime starter, presents a huge threat, especially with Kapono and Fernandez in at the same time, but this game his first move was to promptly turn the ball over, and Compton raced down the floor and Ellis Myles hit a huge three-pointer. Wow. What was this all about. Compton beating Artesia? Hmmmm.
Kapono next hit a transition layup was fouled and he hit the free throw. Compton came right back and Leroy Dawson, who can create off the dribble about as well as anyone in the junior class, hit a running fall away jumper, going from right to left, another spectacular shot for Dawson, who just seems to go out and get the job done, never changing the expression on his face, playing hard, even if he did get just a bit nasty with Andre Hazel later in the game. . . .But we're getting ahead of the story.
On the next play, Kapono was posting, and Hazel looked inside for the pass to Jason, but there was way too much traffic, and he was being tripled by the Compton guys. Hazel passed the ball anyway , and bodies flew everywhere, diving for the ball, and Jason ended up on the floor, facig away from the basket, fighting for the ball; he managed to get it, and without looking, flipped it over his shoulder where Hamilton was waiting and he scored the basket. Most people would say he got lucky. . . . but we've checked and yes, he does have eyes in the back of his head. . . . somebody call the X-Files.
We know we missed (at least we couldn't describe them to you if we wanted) a couple of other baskets toward the end of the first quarter, but so what. . . . At the end of the first, the score was 17-14.
The second quarter opened with some pretty frantic action, and while Artesia tried to set up the half court game, Compton just wouldn't let them. Fernandez managed to score under the baseline, and Lanere Anderson hit a three and then hit two from the line to tie the game at 19 all with just under a minute played. Wow.
Most of the frantic action was created by Compton with Tito pushing the ball all over the place, mostly to the hole himself. The word is that now UCLA is getting involved with him in addition to Michigan, USC, and Arizona State still seems to be in the running (what happened to UConn???), and if he ends up at UCLA next year, he'd be a fitting replacement for Baron if Baron goes pro. Tito can jab, hesitate, jerk, ball-fake and drive with either his left or his right hand (mostly his left, just like Parmer), and as we said, seems right out on the edge of control (sometimes over it) but in this game, on this day, it's all working. Kapono was smoother, but he was also covering the point at times, not as athletic, but just as strong on the drive,and in the second quarter, it was almost like he was doing his isolation, one-on-one Casey Jacobsen, but without the quckness of Casey's first step. Nevertheless, he was picking up the fouls as he drove from right to left and went to the line several times.
With 5:05 to play in the half, Compton was leading 25-21, but then Fernandez on the flare inbounds play managed to hit two and brought it to 23-25. Artesia switched to a man-to-man defense which stopped Tito for not one second and he scored again. With about four minutes to play, Tito trailed down the right side of the court, with Aaron Hamilton sticking on him like glue, and as Aaron gives him just an inch too much, Tito assesses the situation, and then just rises over him, popping a 20' jumper for three. Artesia wasn't laying down, and Kapono hit a couple more and with 3:54 to play the score was 25-30 Compton.
The balance of the second quarter was more of Tito driving, Leroy Dawson shooting from three, and Jason getting rebounds. With 55.4 seconds, the score was 29-31. 44 seconds later, nothing had changed and palmer took a 20 second timeout The 20 was sort of non-productive, even though Compton managed to run a play and get a shot off, which missed and Kapono got the rebound, and, as Michael Cooper, who was announcing for Fox said, Kapono was forced to eat the ball as the clock expired. At the end of the half, the score was still 29-31 Compton.
Tito started out the third by driving and turning over the ball, and Kapono stole it, drivng the length of the floor where he fed Martinez under the basket twice and with just under a minute gone it was 33-31 forcing Compton to regroup and call a timeout.
Artesia then did something that really shocked Compton and they didn't ever really figure out how to deal with it. Merino went to the half court trap and when it didn't result in a turnover, it forced some pretty awful Compton shots. Running the trap, kapono and Hazel forced Dawson to turn it over, and ZMartinez got the ball under the hoop for the slam.
In the third quarter the game turned into a track meet, and in addition to the half-court trap (when they could run it) both teams decided to test their speed off the transition, with 2:12 to play, Artsia had managed to eke out a 1 point lead, 43-42. At the end of the quarter, Artesia had managed to stretch it to three, 47-44, but thefourth quarter was coming up and the question was what they would be running
In the fourth, Artesia hit the first basket and then Kapono got fouled on the attempt, going to the line for two and he stretched the lead to 7, 51-44. Hosendove next got the putback to bring it to 51-46, but Martinez came right back with a two of his own to make it 53-46.
Tito and Kapono then traded baskets and for a while it looked like it would be a blowout by Artesia as Compton fell behind even farther. But Tito wasn't going to let that happen and neither was Ellis Myles, and we've rarely seen this kind of effort and intensity from either Tito or Ellis. We were also impressed by the play of freshman Jon Stefansson, who managed to hit a couple of threes in the fourth quarter. But so did Dawson, and he and Steffanson did back-to-back threes which had the crowd going nuts, but Artesia still led 58-53 with just a couple of minutes left to play. On the next possession for Artesia, Martinez was stripped of the ball, Tito brought it up court, but missed the shot and Martinez made the next two baskets off fast breaks and suddenly Artesia had a 9 point lead with 2:28 to play.
The next possessoin for Artesia was a bit weird.l Hazel started to drive, slipped and he and Tito got tangled up down on the right side near the Artesia bench. With Hazel still on the floor, Leroy Dawson walked past Hazel and in front of a whole crowd on the south side of the gym, "tapped" Hazel in the head with his foot as he walked over him. It was a light kick, but it was a kick nonetheless and the only two people in the gym who didn't see it were the refs. Sheesh. Hazel and Dawson exchanged words, but no foul, no call. We asked Leroy about it after the game and he sort of sheepishly admitted it, but said that he had told Hazel he was sorry about it right after it happened.
In the final two minutes, it seemed like all hell broke loose as Tito went on a one man scoring spree again, with a couple of Artesia baskets in between, and with just 46.4 seconds, Tito had brought Compton back into it, and the Tarbabes trailed by just a point 62-61. Lanere Anderson fouled Hazel at 40.6 seconds sending him to the line where he hit one, then after a time out hit the second and the score was 64-61. With 35 seconds remaining, Compton turned the ball over on the inbounds then fouled Hazel again, but he missed both. With the seconds ticking off the clock, Leroy Dawson launched a three which missed, but Compton got the ball back wth 6.9. Tito, standing just to the left of the Compton basket, inbounded the ball to Ellis Myles, way back beyond the three point line, but no one was open for him to get the ball to, and with time running out, and just three seconds showing on the clock, Myles tried to jack up a desperation three-pointer. Kapono was out on the wing guarding him, and if he bumped into him on the shot, it was with his breath. Really, a phantom call given some of the other rough stuff that went unnoticed during the rest of the game. So Myles went to the line shooting three with just 3.0 seconds remaining and a chance to tie the game.
Ellis stood there waiting and waiting, and he had plenty of time to think about it. His first attempt missed, setting up a need to call a time out. Palmer undoubtedly told him that he would need to intentionally miss his third. Unfortunately, no one told him how to miss the third attempt. Myles took his second attempt, missed. Wow.
So everyone knows Myles is going to try to miss the third. And everyone, all 7,000 people in the new Southwest LA College gym were waiting, watching, and wondering whether Tito or Leroy would be able to get the rebound and get out beyond the three point line for the last shot, or whether they would try the two and get fouled.
But nobody told Myles that the ball had to hit the rim. Ellis jacked the ball up from the line, and threw it, not at the rim, but at the left side of the backboard. Which of course resulted in a violation and a turnover.
So Artesia got the ball back with just three seconds remaining, not enough time for them to score again. Final score Artesia 66, Compton 63.
We took a bunch of pictures in this one, in no particular order and with no captions. Here they are:
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Here are the final stats:
Jason Kapono had 23 pints, shooting 9 for 19 from the field, 0 for 2 from three point range and 5 for 5 from the line. He had 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. Fernandez had 12 points, on 6 for 12 shooting from the field, and he also grabbed 10 rebounds. Franklin Matos, Andre Hazel and Ryan Reyes each had 2 points, and Jack Martinez scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds and was named the game's MVP.
For Compton, Tito Maddox had 25 points, 4 assists and 5 turnovers, shooting 9 for 20 from the field, 1 for 3 from three point range, and 6 for 7 from the line. Ellis Miles had 12 points , shooting 5 for 11 from the field and 2 for 4 from three point range. Lanere Anderson had 8 points, Leroy Dawson had 10 points, including 2 three pointers, Jeremiah Thompson had 2 points and gave a great defensive effort in the third quarter, and Terry Hosendove scored 4 points.
A great game. Worthy of the "SoCal Classic" title.
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SoCalHoops 1998
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