southern regional semi results for divisions 4&5

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SoCalHoops High School News

CIF SoCal DIV & V Regional Semifinals: It's Horizon v. Verb;
Patriots v. Saints Tomorrow--(March 12, 1999)

Ok, no "Christians v. Lions" jokes from us, but now that only four teams are left, it's sort of mildly interesting and amusing that in Division IV, Horizon Christian plays Verbum Dei, and in Division V El Cajon Christian plays the Santa Clara Saints. If winning was determined by school name alone, these games would have to be declared draws. But happily that won't be the case, and each of these teams will play tomorrow for their respective Southern Regional Championship. It will actually be the Panthers versus. the Eagles, and the Patriots versus the Saints. The Horizon-Verb game will be tomorrow at Cox Arena at 4:00 p.m. while the D-V El Cajon Christian v. Santa Clara game will be at the Pyramid at 11:00 a.m.

We hunted around for the results of last night's games, and came up with a lot on some of the games, and as is usual for Verbum Dei, nothing. Nada. Zero. Zippo. A big fat goose-egg when it comes to anything more than just the final score. Isn't that just astounding. Well, maybe we're sort of responsible and share some of the blame ourselves, because instead of heading over to Verbum Dei, we actually drove right by the school on the 105 freeway as we headed east towards the 605 and the Artesia v. Glendora game. Choices and decisions, decisions and choices. But then we're not getting paid to cover these teams, whereas the LA Times is, and it's pretty amazing that a paper which has it's offices not more than 5 miles away from the site of the school where the game was played wouldn't even have a box score for the game. Oh well. Same old stuff, just a different day. Here's what we were able to find out from last night:

Division IV

Upper Bracket

Horizon 69, Crossroads 60

This is from the San Diego Union Tribune, because no paper in Los Angeles would dare to think about covering Crossroads, a school which produced Baron Davis, won a State Title, and is located just across the LA-Santa Monica border. Thankfully though, the U-T did manage to print some good stuff on the game.

When the CIF-San Diego Section was gathering input for which two divisions it would attempt to land for the Southern California Regional championships, Horizon High promised a huge crowd. That was, of course, if the Panthers, ranked No. 1 in Division IV, made it through the preliminary rounds. Consider it done. Withstanding an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter, Horizon fought back to claim a 69-60 victory over Santa Monica Crossroads before a packed house last night at San Diego Mesa College. With the win, the Panthers (25-2) move into the 4 p.m. game tomorrow against Los Angeles Verbum Dei at Cox Arena. A victory there, and Horizon would advance to the state championships in Sacramento for the second time in school history. The Panthers took care of business last night against a quick, aggressive team that answered virtually every Horizon challenge.

The one thing the Roadrunners (20-10) could not stop, however, was the inside-outside play of 6-foot-5 senior Ryan Fellows, who scored a game-high 29 points. It was Fellows passing the ball to sophomore Jarrah Bolden for a layup after Crossroads had tied the game at 46-46 and then burying back-to-back field goals to start a 14-2 run that put the game out of reach. "Ryan has been our most consistent scorer the past month," said Horizon coach Zack Jones, "but Detrick Watts and Wayne Bernard have been our most consistent players. "And where would we be without Ron Coleman inside?" Watts scored 11 points but was credited with eight assists resulting in an added 17 points. And Bernard -- playing with a swollen mouth, the result of losing a tooth in the quarterfinals -- tossed in nine points, six on long-range three-pointers. Watts and Bernard keyed a defense that forced four key turnovers in building a 65-50 lead in the fourth quarter. As for Coleman, the 6-8 transfer from Lincoln pulled down nine rebounds and managed to avoid fouling out against a tall, physical Crossroads club that liked to attack the basket inside. "I see my role as primarily rebounding," said Coleman, who also tossed in five second-half points after collecting his fourth foul early in the fourth quarter. "The way I see it, each rebound I get on defense is one less basket they can score. And on offense, it gives us one more opportunity to score." Crossroads, led by sensational junior Felipe Williams (14 points, 10 rebounds), appeared hopelessly behind when the Roadrunners trailed 39-25 early in the third quarter. But the 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter got them even, forcing Jones to call a time out. "We'd lost our momentum," said Jones, "so it was time to go back to basics. That meant protecting the ball, playing tough defense and giving whatever they gave us." Early on, the Roadrunners mistakening allowed Horizon open shots from three-point range. When they adjusted, however, that left the middle open and the Panthers were quick to take full advantage. Jones was not concerned about the lull when the Santa Monica school made its move. "These are just kids; sometimes people forget that," said Jones of his team. "These certainly aren't pros or even college players, yet. They just needed to be reminded of a few things. "This was a big crowd (capacity) and sometimes they get caught up in that, too. They just needed to get their emotions under control, to get focused again. This is a team that listens very well, so I wasn't worried."

HORIZON 69, CROSSROADS 60

Crossroads 9 12 17 22 -- 60
Horizon 14 11 21 23 -- 69

Crossroads -- Locke 8, Gordon 12, Williams 14, Anderson 11, Taylor 6, Utsinger 2, Gersten 3, Chiamulon 2.
Horizon -- Bolden 9, Jensen 4, Fellows 29, Bernard 9, Watts 11, Coleman 6, Henry 1.
Three-point goals -- Fellows 2, Bernard 2, Anderson.

Lower Bracket

Verbum Dei 70, Serra 56

Absolutely unbelievable. A State Semifinal game, and not a single media outlet covered the game? Well, we were at the Artesia game too, so I guess we're just as much at fault as anyone in this. No details, just a score. If anyone knows what happened, send it in. A box, anything.

Division V

Upper Bracket

Santa Clara 62, Price 54

Lots of coverage of this game. We know that Chris Alexander of Price played a great game, even in the loss, and he either scored 21 or 19 points, depending upon which paper you read. Obviously we weren't at the game, so we are sort of at the mercy of the print media. See for yourself. Everyone was in agreement that "defense" was what finally did it for Santa Clara.

Here's some stuff we found in the the Ventura County Star:

At the moment when its championship hopes seemed in question, the Santa Clara High boys' basketball team found an answer, the one drilled into it time and again by coach Lou Cvijanovich. In three words: defense, defense, defense. Trailing by 13, that defense sparked Santa Clara to the final 11 points of the first half and a 21-4 run in the third, propelling the Saints to a 62-54 win over tiny but talented Price High on Thursday in the second round of the CIF-State Division V Southern California Regional. The victory before a packed house at Friedrich Pavilion was the 11th straight for the Oxnard school, 28-3. It keeps the team on track for a shot at its third state championship under Cvijanovich, at 827-261 the state's career leader in victories. Price, the 55-student school from South Central Los Angeles making its first state tournament appearance, finishes 28-3. Santa Clara will face El Cajon Christian for the Southern Regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach. The winner of that game plays for the state championship the
following Friday in Sacramento. El Cajon Christian beat Cambria Union, 57-52.

Santa Clara was down 26-13 with 2:57 left in the first half, having given up 11 straight points to Price, which built the lead on the strength of its quickness and a tenacious matchup zone defense. But on Price's next possession, center Terrance Dotsy came up with a steal, leading to a basket by B.J. Ward. Jason Angell then came up with a steal and a layup, and Santa Clara was on the way to an 11-0 run of its own, cutting the halftime lead to 26-24. Among other things, this was the night that demonstrated Cvijanovich's ongoing contention that his is not a two-man team. With Ward and Nick Jones both struggling from the field (a combined 14 of 34), the burly 6-foot-4 Dotsy came with a huge game: 18 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.

Santa Clara pushed its game to an even higher level in the third quarter, outscoring the Knights 21-6. After failing to score on the first three possessions of the quarter, the Saints scored on the next 10. Coupled with the second-quarter spurt, that gave them a stretch of 15 scores in 18 possessions. Ward had 12 of his 15 points in that quarter, but overall, he wasn't too happy with his night. "It was like I wasn't there," he said. "I had a lot of turnovers and I was missing my shot. In the second half, I just had to concentrate on doing other things. ... No. 4 (Price's Christopher Alexander) was killing us early. I had to play better defense on him and make better decisions." Alexander had 19 points, 10 in the first half. Othel Johnson added 14 for Price, which trailed by up to 13 points, but three times pulled back within seven -- and would have been closer if not for their 5-of-14 free-throw shooting. That, though, wasn't the sole costly aspect of the game, said Price coach Michael Lynch. "It was free throws and that second quarter," said Lynch. "Against a veteran team, you can't let them back in the game. "We had them on the ropes. If it's a double-digit lead at the half, it changes everything." Jones had 16 points -- including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at halftime to cap the 11-0 run -- as well as nine rebounds and three steals. Jason Angell scored seven points off the bench; Anthony Camper had four points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

And here are some excerpts from the LA Times story on the game:

Facing its largest deficit of the season against a team that was flying and flowing on the court, Santa Clara
High found an old friend that seemed to have been lost in the chaos. Defense. The Saints allowed six points during a crucial 11-minute span and withstood a severe test from Price in a 62-54 victory in a Division V quarterfinal of the state boys' basketball tournament Thursday night at Santa Clara. Leading the way on offense was neither B.J. Ward nor Nick Jones, but rather center Terrance Dotsy, who needed a big game and came up with it against the taller Knights, scoring 18 points for the top-seeded Saints (21-3). It might have been the final game at Santa Clara for 41-year Coach Lou Cvijanovich, who is considering retiring after the season. "I can't answer that," said Cvijanovich, who extended his state record with his 826th career victory. "There are a lot of things I have to [ponder]."

There was no questioning the defensive intensity the Saints displayed after falling behind, 26-13, with three minutes left in the first half. Santa Clara appeared in trouble when Ward suffered a cut under his nose, forcing him to miss two minutes of the second quarter. When Ward returned, the Saints went on an 11-0 run and
trailed at halftime, 26-24, after a three-point basket by Jones beat the buzzer. Down, 30-26, two minutes into the third quarter, the Saints went on a 19-2 run to close out the quarter and take a 45-32 lead. Ward, who was held to two points in the first half, responded with 12 in the third quarter and finished with 15. Dotsy scored seven points in the fourth quarter and finished with 12 rebounds, consistently boxing out Price's front-court players.
Fourth-seeded Price (28-3) was led by guard Christopher Alexander with 21 points. victory over Price.

Lower Bracket

Christian 57, Coast Union 54

We found nothing but a small tag line in one story located in the San Diego Union-Tribune, and apparently the local guys couldn't afford to send a reporter all the way up to Cambria (actually Morro Bay) for this one, so we had to go looking for the details elsewhere. The only thing we could find was a good writeup from Darrick Meneken of the SLO Telegram-Tribune. Here are some excerpts from his report:

Afterward Matt Brody and Drew Brause sat together in silence. Brody, the senior point guard, dressed in street clothes and subconsciously dribbling a ball under his bent knees. Brause, the lone junior, in uniform, eyes swollen and red. Both players were instrumental to Coast Union's successful season. A season which saw the team win its first-ever division championship. A season which saw the team win its first-ever state playoff game. A season which saw the team end undefeated at home.
A season which ended Thursday night at Morro Bay High with a 57-52 loss to Christian of El Cajon.

The Patriots took the Southern California Division V Regional semifinal game after building a 19-point lead and holding off a furious Bronco comeback. Down 41-22 early in the third quarter, Coast got as close as four late in the game. A pair of Brody free throws with 1:12 remaining cut Christian's
lead to 52-48. Brody and Brause then caught Christian's Ben Wohlfeil in a backcourt trap, causing a traveling call which sent the Coast crowd crazy.

But the Broncos were whistled for a five second violation on the ensuing possession and the outcome was all but official as Christian sank free throws down the stretch. "This team has heart," said Bronco coach Barry Silvers. "They always have had it." Coast could have rolled over; could have given up. But instead the Broncos nearly did the impossible. Nearly. But even Brody and Brause have off days.

And though Roberto Covey had his best performance in the playoffs, it still wasn't enough. No, the Broncos didn't play their best game. But even their best game may not have been enough against a bigger and deeper Christian club. Two technical fouls on the Patriots also helped Coast get back in.
The Broncos used one of the technicals -- on Christian's leading scorer Nick Gonzales -- to spark a 13-2 run from the end to third quarter to the beginning of the fourth. But still it wasn't enough.
Covey did all he could to help spark the team. He made the diving saves and the speedy steals and finished with 15 points. Brody added 14 points though hardly permitted to penetrate by a stingy Patriot defense, and Brause scored 12. Still it wasn't enough. "For the first time this year all three of our shooters were cold," said Silvers. "It's the first time I can remember that happening."

Though the points scored by Covey, Brody, and Brause look to be decent outputs, it was the three-point shooting that hurt. The Broncos, a small team with quick guards and good shooters, made just four three-pointers, two of which came late. "We just dug ourselves a hole," said Brody, with Brause still sitting silently and Covey already gone. "It was pretty much great playing ball her," Brody went on, now also sitting still. "It meant everything." Coast Union finished it's year at 24-4, making history along the way.

CHRISTIAN 57, CAMBRIA COAST UNION 52
Christian 12 19 12 14 -- 57
Coast Union 11 9 12 20 -- 52
Christian -- Gonzales 20, Benton 7, Brown 15, Henkel 6, Rodrigo 1, Cully 6, Wohlfeil 2.
Cambria Coast Union -- Brody 13, Covey 16, Brause 12, Hollingsworth 2, May 1, Robinson 8.
Three-point goals -- Gonzales 3, Covey 3, Henkel 2, Benton, Brause.