SoCalHoops High School News

Jason Day: High Flying Lynwood
Defeats Dorsey--(Dec. 1, 1998)

This one was played on Monday night, and Jason Day just managed to get it over to us, and tonight he was at the second night of the Compton Tip-Off Classic checking out Lynwood taking on Compton, Dominguez v. Crossroads, and possibly checking out the early action in the Pomona v. The Bishop's School.

But last night, while we were busy losing our notes, Jason and his photog friend Larry Gray were over at Lynwood, enjoying their beautiful multi-million dollar gym facility and a great game.  Jason is also a friend of the Ultra Student Athlete (USA) program, and several of the guys appearing in this game also play for the USA traveling team in the off season so Jason had a special interest in checking this game out, feeling fully justified in leaving us to cover, feebly we might add, the action over at Compton College. And as you'll read, these are two really good teams, certainly worth another look during the season. 

Lynwood High Defeats Dorsey High 84-77
Tuesday Nov. 30, 1998
by Jason Day
photos by Larry Gray

Ya know, I really don’t miss the NBA and if I can keep attending games like this one, I won’t be missing them anytime soon. What else can a "hoopaholic" ask for? A brand new state-of-the art facility, two quality teams with some bonafide stars sprinkled through both, a big crowd, AND cheerleaders. It doesn’t get any better than this. Oh, and it was a great game to boot.

I left the Compton Tip Off Classic and rolled on over to the brand new Lynwood High School to catch "The Wood", led by USA newcomer, Keyawn Floyd (6'3 SR SG/SF) and his fellow star, Gary Lenoir (5'11 SR PG). Freshman sensation, Jonathan Smith, another USA player, was also in action.

They took on a Dorsey team led by the ever outstanding Lamar Alexander (6'4 SR SG/SF).

Keyawn Floyd with the "high wire act"

Both teams feature a run and gun style that provides some real exciting play. It’s a style particularly suited to the high flying Floyd, who is an exceptional athlete with all the gifts any college coach could want in a 2 guard. On his way to a game high 37 pts., he put all those gifts on display. If he wasn’t tip dunking missed shots, he was flushing an alley-oop tossed up by Lenoir. If he wasn’t doing that, he was raising from 3pt. land and draining the J. His rebounding was also in "full effect" and gave Lynwood so many fast break opportunities, I
lost count.

Floyd's heroics led the way to a comfortable first half lead for Lynwood. Dorsey just appeared to be overmatched. But in the second half, Dorsey turned up the defensive pressure and it paid dividends. They cut the lead to 5 at one point before Lenoir and Floyd started running breaks left and right. Even with the onslaught, Dorsey never lost their poise, never folded. With only seconds left, and down by 6 or 7, they were still changing defensive looks, scrambling, and working on stuff for future games. Impressive, just not enough in this one.

Alexander, like his counterpart Floyd, just could not be stopped. A terrific leaper with a nice medium range J, he can also take you to the rack. And once there, he will finish. His 32 pt. outburst was nearly half of Dorsey's scoring. Their second highest scorer was a kid named Noel (his last name was garbled in the book--something like "Requenq"), anyway, good rebounder who finished with 11 pts.

Lamar Alexander says, "You better ask somebody!"

Lenoir is still as exciting in the open court as he was this summer and last season. A deceptively quick ball handler with good court vision, he can also pull up on a defender and bomb from long range. If the defender plays a little closer, Gary just blows by em to finish at the rack, or make the nice dish. He and Floyd provide the key ingredients for this very exciting team.

Smith handled a lot of the back up duty for Lenoir in this one and gave the Lynwood faithful a good look at their point star of the future. At 5’4 and all of 14 yrs. old, you’d expect him to wilt under the pressure of playing at this level against these athletes. Well, don’t worry, be happy. The kid can play. Already a deft ball handler, he put his  considerable passing skills on display as he drove to the paint, drew the "trees", then dished for the assist on the first two possessions he played. While some bouts of "freshman inexperienceitis" encouraged Lynwood Coach Lee to limit his time (that and having a guy like Lenoir to replace him), Smith drew enough oohs and ahhs to insure his place on this roster.

Nice game, great atmosphere, big fun. I look forward to catching Lynwood against Compton tonight (Tuesday) at the Reebok Tip Off, and will surely try to get to some Dorsey games this season.

A photo feature on this game should be up later tonight. Till then....

Later

Jason Day

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