SoCalHoops High School News

CIF SS Division IV-AA Championship:
Serra Chops Down Twentynine Palms, 78-60--(March 5, 1999)

Serra came into this game and the playoffs as an at-large entry from the Del Rey League, and they improved to 18-12 with tournament wins over Morro Bay (57-49), knocked off No. 1 seed Lagunea Bach (63-45) and beat St. Paul in a squaker 61-59 in the semifinals.  Twentynine Palms, a team which was mostly a mystery to those of us who reside south of Lancaster, was the De Anza League runner-up and they were looking to win their fist ever section title in the school's history.  The Wildcats came into the game by beating Rosamond (61-51), Paraclete (77-59), and Crespi (62-53) in the semifinals, amassing a 22-4 record.  Maurice Buchannan came in leading the Wildcats with a 19.5 average per game, followed by Vili Morton (6'-8" Jr. F/C) who was averaging 16 ppg.  By way of background info here are the rosters, with the starters indicated with an asterisk (*):

Greg Harris-- Remember the name because even if he is senior, and this might be his next to last game unless the Wildcats knock off somebody in the State Tournament,  the 29 Palms point guard single-handedly kept 29 Palms in this game in the first half as he scored 8 of their 10 points, and after watching him for an entire game, we're pretty certain that if any college coaches really watch this young man, he'll end up playing somewhere at the D-I level.  Maybe at the lower end of the D-I spectrum, but he's definitely college material for some team somewhere looking for a nice point guard. He's a bit on the small side, but then so is Stanley Thorne of Fairfax.   Harris finished with 13 points on the evening, and had it not been for Sean Westin in the third and fourth quarters, who just shut Harris down, he would certainly have gone for more than 20.  Harris hit from everywhere, three pointers, floaters in the lane off the penetration drive, and he also had 8 assists that we counted.  This guy is a smart, savvy point, and we're willing to bet that with him and Vili Morton, who finished with 11, John Cooley who finished with 10, and Maurice Buchanan, who finished with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, that Twentynine Palms will beat somebody in the State tournament.

Palms actually led this game at the end of the first quarter, 12-10, but then Serra, mostly on the efforts of Aerick Sanders, Doyle Cole and Earl Lewis, went to work, and chipped away at the lead, eventually outscoringTwentynine Palms 20-13 in the second quarter to take a slim 30-25 halftime lead.  In the second quarter, 29 Palms led briefly, 15-16 but then Serra threw three guys on Harris, briefly shutting  him down and extending the lead on Earl Lewis'  shooting and Aerick Sanders' great defensive plays.  Serra went up by as many as 10, with the score 30-20, but then Harris went to work again, scoring once with three guys in his face for three, and Maurice Buchanan also hit for two to cut the lead to 25-30 at the half.

In the opening seconds of the second half, Harris hit again to pull within three, but then Harris and the rest of the Twentynine Palms guys went cold for almost the tneir third quarter, at least until Palmer hit two threes to pull to within 48-41. Cole scored on a nice sky slam dunk, which had him looking about as much like Michael Jordan with his legs split, kicking and looking down at the basket, just flying. At the end of the quarter, Serra had again stretched it's lead, and they led by  9 points, 52-43 Serra.  In the third, Ryan Odums had been playing tremendously good defense, and Sanders and Cole were trading off on the high low pick-and-roll post moves very effectivey, and Twentynine Palms was just getting hit with fatigue and poor shot selection. Buchanan was fired up, but not really scoring much, Vili Morton was great around the paint and we were very impressed with his abilities, and looking forward to finally seeing Vili at the Rockfish Spring League when (and if) 29 Palms loses. 

In the fourth quarter, Ryan Odums, who has gotten stronger, tougher, and a lot bulkier in the legs than we ever remembered him,  hit for three to start the period. Ryan played a great game, and finished with 16 pints, a team high, and 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 turnovers. Sean Westin, who was so effective guarding Harris and pretty much shutting him down, shot 5 for 6 from the field, and 5 for 5 from the line to collect 15 points. 29 Palms missed two shots in succession, but then after an Aerick Sanders putback, 29 called a timeout to regroup, and they scored two in a row,one for Vili off a nice feed and assist from Harris, and then a Mitch Harkley pull up jumper from about 10' out to bring the score to 57-48 with 6:02 to play in the fourth.  All this scoring by the Wildcats was just too much for Serra coach Dwan Hurt, who called his own timeout to give the Cavaliers some instructions and settle them down. 

And of course, this strategy worked, and the rest of the game was not all, but mostly, dominated by Serra. In particular, Doyle Cole was instrumental, hitting for 14 points on the night, and it looks like he has grown since the beginning of the season about two inches. He's now a ligitimate 6'-6",  while Aerick has also hit about 6'-9' or 6'-10"  (Tracy Pierson, who sat next to us during the game kept insisting  Aerick was bigger than Vili Morton, who's clearly 6'-8", but they looked about the same size to us. . . well, maybe we'll take Tracy's word for it).   Aerick had a great game, scoring 12 points, and 12 rebounds (8 offensive and 4 defensive), and we could have sworn that the sky-walking slam that Tracy insisted was Cole's really was Aerick's.

With 3:36 to play, Serra had stretched the lead to 13 65-52, , and with 2:00 to play, Serra had stretched the lead even further, to 70-56. Again, Sean Westin, who we hear is also a pretty big football prospect, can largely be credited with shutting down Harris, and without Harris hitting from the outside, Serra pretty much ran away with the game.  Others scoring for Serra were Palmer Brown with 9 ponts, Earl Lewis with 10, Eugene Jeter with 2, Doyle Cole 14. For Twentynine Palms, Greg Harris scored 13, Maurice Buchanan had 19, Bobby Phillips had 10, and Vili Morton had 11.   Others for Palms were Mich Harkley with 4, Terrance Cotton with 2, and Tony James with 1. 

Both teams now move on to the State Tournament.  Serra is a team that we predict will go far, but against schools like Horizon or Verbum Dei they may have a bit of difficulty. Still, it's going to be fun watching these two teams move on to the next level.  The State Tournament starts Tuesday, and we'll have the first round matchups on Sunday.  Stay tuned, and we'll see you there.

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