divisiononeregionalqf0310.htm

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SoCalHoops High School News

CIF State Tourney: SoCal Division I
Regional Quarterfinal Details--(March 10, 1999)

Well, by now most everyone has seen the morning papers, and so you probably already have the details, but in case you missed them, or didn't get the complete scoring, here are the details of the games played last night in the Quarterfinals (First Round) of the Southern Regionals in the State Championship basketball tournament.

Upper Bracket

Artesia 72, Fairfax 64

Jason Kapono scored 12 of his team-leading 21 points in the final quarter to carry the top-seeded Pioneers to a 72-64 victory Tuesday night at Artesia in the first round of the Division I Southern California regional of the state tournament. Kapono made four three-point baskets, including three in the fourth quarter, and the Pioneers (31-2) advanced to the semifinals. They will play Glendora, a 61-58 winner Tuesday over Clovis West, on Thursday. Fairfax (23-7), which finished second to Manual Arts in the City Section, held a 10-5 lead after one quarter and kept it close behind the shooting of Joe Shipp and Stanley Thorne. It wasn't until Kapono's final three-point basket, which gave Artesia a 67-53 advantage with two minutes remaining, that the Pioneers could relax. Even then, the Lions didn't go away easily. Andre Hazel added 11 points and Amaury Fernandez and Ryan Reyes had 10 each for Artesia. Shipp finished with 21 points and eight rebounds, Thorne had 20 points and Jason Morrissette 14 for Fairfax. The visiting Colonials gave the Pioneers all they could handle, but another great performance by Jason Kapono and some stellar play from Andre Hazel and Ryan Reyes were enough for the Pioneers to pull ouf the victory. Artesia had struggled in their last two playoff games, including their win at the Pond against Long Beach Poly. and last nigth, they appeared to be in another slump early as Fairfax jumpted out to a 10-5 lead after the first quarter. The Pioneers turned up the defense in the second quarter, forcing five turnovers and Kapono and Hazel scored six points each as Artesia erased the deficit to lead 28-23 at the half. Fairfax' Shipp nailed a 22 fot shot to trim the lead to 35-31 in the third quarter, but then Apolinar Fernandez, who finished with 10 points, and Jack Martinez who finished with 9 pints and 8 rebounds, combined to score the next six points to give Artesia a 41-31 lead. At the end of the third though, Shipp had battled back, and the score was 46-42, and Artesia only led by 4.

Glendora 61, Clovis West 58

Demoralized from a tough loss, four hours from home and wondering whether this was the end of the line, Glendora High School's boys basketball team knew what it needed to do in Tuesday's CIF State Southern California Regional Division I first-round game at Clovis West. They did so well enough to beat the Golden Eagles, 61-58, when Ahmad swatted away a last-second 3-point attempt by Chris Hernandez to end a bizarre last-minute sequence and deal Clovis West its first home loss in three years. Glendora (31-2) advances to a semifinal game Thursday against No. 1 Artesia, a rematch of last year's Southern California semi won by the Pioneers. Tuesday's win wasn't a masterpiece by any means Glendora committed 22 turnovers and squandered several opportunities to put Clovis West (31-5) away. But All-America guard Casey Jacobsen got back on track, scoring 25 points and making his first eight shots after a 4-for-17 shooting performance in the Southern Section Division I-A final loss to Mater Dei. And the Tartans overcame an overflow crowd of 2,200 in a sweltering gym after a 260-mile bus trip. The Tartans took the lead for good on a Chris Clark layup 90 seconds into the third quarter, and held a 58-50 lead with 1:47 left on Chad Clark's two free throws. But the Clark twins missed five of their next six free throw attempts to leave the door open, and Eric Norcross' 3-pointer with five seconds left cut the lead to 60-58. Jacobsen made a free throw with four seconds left, but before his potential game-clinching attempt, a referee called a lane violation on Chad Clark for stepping inside the 3-point arc after Jacobsen received the ball. Clovis West moved the ball to midcourt and called timeout with three seconds left. Hernandez (11 points) took the inbounds pass and got a good look at the basket, but Ahmad calmly registered his third blocked shot to end it. Glendora, which got 20 points and five rebounds from Chris Clark, overcame a huge performance by 6-5 freshman center Charlie Rodriquez. The Dominican Republic native scored 27 points, mostly thanks to the crisp execution of Clovis West's halfcourt offense. Throughout his basketball career, Chris Hernandez has always believed that no matter the circumstances, his team could win. He believed it Tuesday when Glendora, ranked No. 5 in the state, came to town for a Southern California boys' quarterfinal against his Clovis West Golden Eagles. He believed it every minute of the game, even when the Golden Eagles trailed by five points with 13 seconds remaining and by three with three seconds left. He believed it right up until the instant his 3-point attempt at the buzzer was blocked by Michael Ahmad, preserving the Tartans' 61-58 victory and ending the Eagles' season at 31-5. After a close first half, the bigger, more experienced Tartans seemed to take control. Glendora led 44-34 late in the third quarter and was ahead 58-50 after two free throws by Chad Clark with 1 minute 47 seconds remaining. And even with point guard Ash Knowlton fouling out, Clovis West closed to 60-58 on Eric Norcross' 3-pointer with five seconds left. Glendora's Casey Jacobsen then made a free throw with four seconds left but didn't get a shot at the second when the Tartans were called for a violation (a player crossed the 3-point line). That gave the Eagles a chance. But the Tartans "ran through" an Eagles' attempted screen forcing Hernandez to put up the last shot against the 6-foot 9-inch Ahmad. Jacobsen, bound for Stanford, finished with 25 points. Charlie Rodriguez led Clovis West with 27. Senior forward Chris Clark had 20 to lead the Tartans (31-2).

Lower Bracket

LA Manual Arts 67, Long Beach Poly 57

This was a replay of that game at the Nike Dream Classic, the one that Manual won, and which resulted in a small fist-fight by fans and players at Pauley Pavilion on January 18. There were no fights this time, and frankly there was no reason for any of the Manual folks to get upset because the Toilers (28-3) beat a team of Poly Jackrabbits who, with the exception of two players, barely showed up to play. Manual's James Wright scored 26 points for Manual Arts at home to lead all scoring. The game also featured a 25-point performance by Poly guard Wesley Stokes, who combined with Joe Travis' 23 points to score 48 points, but unfortunately for Poly, the scoring was a bit unbalanced as both Stokes and Travis were the only Poly players to score during the final three quarters. Not a single other Poly player scored during that time, which is unusual even for a team as erratic as Poly has been over the last few games. Poly also turned the ball over 10 times in the first quarter, and trailed by as many as 9 during the first quarter. For the game, Poly committed 25 turnovers in the game. Poly trailed 37-23 one minute into the third quater and then proceeded to cut the Manual lead to just 3 at 44-41, but each time Manual would threaten, Manual's James Wright and Curtis Millage would just come storming back with their frantically quick offense. For Poly, Shea Anderson only scored 1 pokints, Jonathan Harper scored 4, Wright 2, and White scored 2. The remaining 48 points came from Travis and Stokes. For Manual, the scoring was just about as unbalanced, largely coming from three players. In addition to Wrights' 26 points, Curtis Millage scored 13, and Brandon Moorer scored 10. Johnny Hardwick scored 4, Ron Cass scored 4, Mario Roberts had 3, and Otis Belisle had 7. Manual will take on Mater Dei tomorrow night.

Santa Ana Mater Dei 79, San Diego Bonita Vista 53

The Monarchs blew the game open with a 14-0 run to start the third quarter at Eastlake High. Mater Dei fell behind by nine before the game was three minutes old. But the Monarchs regrouped, blew the game open with a 14-0 run to open the third quarter and eventually wore down an undermanned Bonita Vista team--winning, 79-53, in front of about 3,000 Tuesday night at Eastlake High in the first round of the Division I Southern California boys' basketball playoffs. Bonita Vista was missing its best inside player, Lamar Robson, who was in bed with a 103-degree fever. Without Robson, Mater Dei (32-3) dominated the boards, outrebounding Bonita Vista, 46-27. Still, Bonita Vista (30-5) led, 11-2, and trailed only 35-34 at halftime. But third quarter started with an alley-oop dunk by Jamal Sampson off a perfect feed from Imram Sufi and Derrick Mansell sank a three-pointer after Bonita Vista turned the ball over. After that, Steve Scoggin put the game away. Scoggin hit five three pointers, breaking out of a shooting slump, and finished with 15 points. Jamal Sampson started for only the fourth time this season, scoring 11 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and blocking two shots. Sampson is still recovering from a broken hand, broken foot and broken finger.