SoCalHoops High School News

CIF Southern Section Playoffs: Division I-AA
Semifinal Results--(March 3, 1999)

Division I-AA Upper Bracket Semifinal

Artesia 56, Long Beach Jordan 42

No. 1 seed Artesia forced 19 turnovers, fending off a late second-half rally to win a tough 56-42 victory before a capacity crowd at Cerritos College last night.  Artesia, last year's defending D-I champion's, at 29-2 overall, will return to the title game, where they will face cross-town rival Long Beach Poly in the final on Saturday at the Pond in Anaheim. Poly beat Corona Centennial in their semifinal, 83-62.

We weren't at the game, since we made the seemingly improvident decision to drive down to Irvine for the Mater Dei v. Simi game, but from what we've been able to find out, this game was pretty similar to what we saw, at least in the first half.  According to Louis Johnson, who wrote about the game this morning in the Long Beach Press-Telegram: "The first half was an exercise in poor shooting by both teams. The Pioneers had a season-low 20 points in the opening 16 minutes, making only six of 27 shots from the field. Jordan didn't fare much better, as it turned the ball over 12 times and scored only 14 points - including 10 by junior forward Travon Bryant."  My oh my, sounds a lot like Simi v. Mater Dei.

And like the Simi offense which struggled last night, the Panthers were also hurt offensively by the absence of senior guard Darren Peterson, who didn't score in the opening half and played limited minutes due to foul trouble.  And Jason Kapono didn't score all that much either, hitting for only 15 in the game, a team-high.  Nine of those points were in the third quarter, so in the rest of the game, there wasn't much going on for Jason in the scoring department. Artesia's Andre Hazel scored 12 points, and dished out five assists, and grabbed three steals.  Even with the slow first half, Artesia managed to come out swinging in the third quarter, and Artesia went ahead by as many as 16 points in the third period. According to Louis' account, "Jordan's deficit might have been larger if not for the play of Bryant (six blocks), who had 10 of his game-high 20 points in the quarter as the Panthers only trailed, 39-26, heading into the final quarter."

Jordan rallied to pull within six points twice in the fourth quarter, the final time coming on senior guard Craig Calloway's free throw with 2:06 left that cut the Panthers' deficit to 46-40. But Hazel scored four points during a game-clinching 8-0 run that pushed Artesia back in front, 54-40, with under a minute to play. Calloway scored eight of his 10 points in the final period and Peterson, who never got in sync after the early foul trouble, finished with three
points before fouling out. Sophomore forward Jack Martinez came off the bench to score 13 points and grab nine rebounds and senior swingman Aaron Hamilton scored eight points and played well defensively for Artesia.

Division I-AA Lower Bracket Semifinal

Long Beach Poly 83, Corona Centennial 62

As the Long Beach Press-Telegram reported this morning, "Only once in this decade - in 1992 - has the I-AA title game been played without a Moore League team. And Poly made sure on Tuesday night that the 1999 final will include a league entry as Shea Anderson and Ken Wright scored 16 points each to lead the way in an 83-62 semifinal victory over Corona Centennial before 1,800 at Long Beach City College." Poly will play Artesia in Saturday night's final at the Anaheim Pond. Artesia beat Jordan, 56-42, in the other semifinal. Artesia previously beat Poly in the 1997-98 CIF championship game.

Moore League champion Poly (24-6) qualified for the finals for the 14th time during the 20-year tenure of coach Ron Palmer, by defeating Centennial, 83-62. Mountain View League champion Centennnial (19-8) had never been beyond the second round of the playoffs before this year, and they played very tough in getting to last night's game, but ultimately Poly had the better attack on offense, and the tougher defense out-rebounding Corona by a substantial margin.  Kenny Wright scored 15 points to pace the Jackrabbits; Sophomores David Sybesma and Jamaal Williams each scored 19 points to pace the Huskies, who have 9 of the 11 players on the roster returning next year. Centennial coach Val Popov said the difference between Poly and the Huskies' previous three opponents was ferocity on the boards, discipline and defense. Centennnial was outrebounded, 40-22. Poly point guard Wesley Stokes, who has played in two finals, handed out 10 assists in addition to scoring eight points.

The Jackrabbits,  24-6, won by sweating out more than a few tough moments as the Huskies led early on. Jamaal Williams had eight first-quarter points, and was responsible for doing much of the damage in the first quarter.  But then Poly's post men, Anderson chiefly, adjusted, and that managed to stop Williams.   While he finished with 19 points, he had only three rebounds. Poly's inside players, Anderson, Joe Travis, Markee White and Charles Jones combined for 42 points and 30 rebounds. Poly led, 38-31, at halftime and, aside from a few moments early in the second half, had very little trouble with the Huskies. Centennial (19-8) opened the second half with successive layins by Williams and Demetreus Ross to cut the deficit to 38-35. But Wright scored three baskets, including a 3-pointer from the left corner, to spark a 11-1 run that gave the Jackrabbits a 49-36 lead. It was Anderson giving the Jackrabbits a lift throughout the game. The 6-foot-6 senior made 7 of 8 shots from the field and 2 of 2 from the free-throw line on his way to 16 points. He also controlled the backboards, grabbing 15 rebounds. Poly also got a strong effort from sophomores White and Jonathan Harper. White finished with nine points and Harper scored eight, including a pair of 3-pointers in the first half. Stokes didn't score until 2:49 left in the first quarter and only had eight points, but he had 12 assists and four steals.

The Huskies seemed to wilt under Poly's pressure, scoring 26 points in the second and third quarter when the game was on the line. Centennial played Poly tough in the first quarter, trailing 19-17 after eight minutes. Williams carried the load, scoring eight points. Poly sent Joe Travis, 6-8, and Shea Anderson to cover the 6-6 center. Williams scored five points in the middle two quarters. Stokes made a brilliant play late in the second quarter, faking a shot and then dishing off to Johnathan Harper for a three-point basket. Poly led, 38-31, at the half. Centennial cut Poly's lead to 41-36 to start the third quarter. Palmer called time out and Poly took control again. Sybesma scored 13 in the fourth quarter but the Jackrabbits pulled away. CENTENNIAL (62) -- Sybesma 19, Gonzales 6, J. Williams 19, Adams 2, Ross 12, B. Williams 2, Seals 2. LONG BEACH POLY (83) -- Stokes 8, Sargent 5, Haper 7, Wright 15, Anderson 14, Travis 12, Stokes 8, White 9, Jones 5. Halftime score -- Long Beach Poly 38-31. Three-point goals -- Wright 3, Sybemsa 2, Gonzales 2, Harper. Total fouls -- Long Beach Poly 15, Centennial 13. Fouled out -- none.

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