nike game 6: Glendora v. Troy

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SoCalHoops High School News

Nike Extravaganza Game 6: Glendora
Beats Troy By Ten --(Feb. 10, 1999)

Troy started out in this game as the underdogs, under-achievers and under-appreciated by Orange County fans and opponents, with only one player with any kind of name recognition outside of the Freeway League: Jerry Inzunza (5'-10" Sr. PG), a capable but unsigned and under-recruited player with a good handle but not much stock at the Division I college level. Oh sure, he's received some props here and there, some from us at SoCalHoops, and some nice compliments from Frank Burlison at the Orange County Register, but nothing near what he might be getting at a higher profile program where he might be feeding the big men down low instead of looking at a 6'-6" player as the biggest man on a team which averages about 6'-2. This was a team of relative unknowns, not a single Division I signee among them, taking on the big boys.

Glendora on the other hand came in as the overwhelming favorite, with their star shooting guard Casey Jacobsen (6'-6" Sr. SG) signing with Stanford for next year, and on the verge, 49 points away, from breaking the all-time high school scoring record in the State of California, about to eclipse ex-Glendora great (and UCLA and NBA) Tracey Murray. Glendora also featured twins Chad and Chris Clark (6'-6" Sr. SG), and Chris has, as everyone knows by now, signed to play at UC Riverside next season as they make the switch to Division I. The Tartans also featured Bruce Hatch (6'-2" Jr. PG) a quick and capable distributor of the ball who can drive, penetrate and pull up for the j, and who is known to make excellent decisions on the floor.

So guess who won this game? If you picked Glendora you win. The Tartans managed to hang on for the win, by 10 points, 63-53, but it wasn't without a struggle.

Troy actually led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter, sending a little scare into coach Mike LeDuc, and perhaps into Casey as well, because in the second quarter, Troy just fell apart and Glendora started to turn the machine up a notch; in the second quarter, Glendora outscored Troy 14-8. In the first half, Casey scored 13 of his 29 total points, while the Clark twins each had 4 points, Jason Davis had 2, Graham Miller 2, and Michael Ahmad finished the half with 3 points and 2 rebounds, not great for a 6'-9" post player. Casey was the big rebounder though it the first half and he finished with 8 total, 3 offensive and 5 defensive. For Troy, no one managed to get to double figures, but they still only trailed by 4 at the break, 28-24.

In the third quarter, there was not much movement on either side, as Glendora only managed to extend the lead to 6, and there wasn't a moment that Troy couldn't have taken control of things. In fact for a few moments it looked as though they would, but they were hurt by an overall poor shooting percentage from the floor and some sloppy play later in the game. Ultimately, Troy was again outscored by 4 in the fourth quarter 22-18, and they just didn't have the gas to get to the finish line, losing by the final margin of 10 points. If any one statistic again sticks out it is the disparity in rebounding as Glendora outrebounded Troy 33-18, a signficant margin in any game, but especially in a high school game.

Troy, which is now 22-9 overall and 6-2 in league, is a good team and Inzunza is a talented player. Are they going to go far in Division IA? Who knows. But if they run into teams like Simi Valley or Glendora, or Mater Dei, this is a team that could give the bigger guys some trouble before succumbing. And as for Glendora, well, we think this is their year (no insult intended to Simi Valley last year's proverbial also-rans), and notwithstanding that Mater Dei is also in their Division. And we can't imagine a more exciting finish to the season than to see Glendora and Mater Dei go at it again in the finals or semis like they did when it all began back in December at the John R. Wooden Classic at the Pond on December 4, 1998. Actually though, if we had to predict what will happen, we'd say that Simi will beat Mater Dei (now there's a bold prediction. . . ) and Glendora will beat whoever they play so that Simi and Glendora end up in the finals. Now that would be quite a game. . . . Big fun. Look for some combination of the above at the Pond March 6 in the Southern Section finals.

As for final scoring in this one, Sean Christensen finished with 13 points as did Kyle Fulmer, and Jerry Inzunza led Troy with 14 points and 7 assists in 28 minutes of play. Mark Ahlberg (6'-6" Jr. F), another starter, also managed 8 points for Troy, and Theron Chaney (6'-3" Sr. SF/SG) managed 3 points starting, while Jeff Jonaitis managed two coming off the bench. For Glendora, Jacobsen finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in 20 minutes. He shot 9 for 17 from the field, and 11 for 14 from the line and played very well, not as good as we've ever seen him play, but about what you'd expect for a guy with these kind of stats. Chris Clark finished with 7 points and 8 rebounds, while Chad didn't score in the second half, but did pick up 5 boards and 3 assists. Jason Davis finished with 4 points, Graham Miller had 2, and Michael Ahmad had 17 points on 100% shooting from the field (7 for 7) and 3 for 5 shooting frm the line, and he also managed 7 rebounds. Very impressive.

Troy plays La Habra today at La Habra and then finishes out the season at home against Sonora. Glendora finishes out at home against Claremont on Friday. Casey has already broken the scoring record, so he's only got that elusive Southern Section and State Championship to contend for. Not much to ask from perhaps the best player ever to grace a court in California.

Big fun. Big game. Up next: Mater Dei v. Oakland Bishop O'Dowd.