long beach poly wins first round over austin

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Reebok Holiday Prep Classic: LB Poly
Beats Austin Westlake, 65-55--(Dec. 18, 1999)

Millenium Cup Game: Game No. 17 Long Beach Poly v. Westlake (Austin, Texas) Durango Main Gym

Not a pretty game, but it got the job done, as the Jackrabbits disposed of their first round opponent, Austin Westlake. Not pretty, because we have not seen Wesley Stokes shoot this badly since he was a sophomore. . . 1 for 8 from the field and 0-2 from three point range, the only good thing about his game was that he knew when to stop jacking up the shots (unlike some of the other teams at the tournament). Stokes played 29 minutes (all but 3) and he only came away with 2 oints, and 3 assists (at least that's what the official scoring had, and at these tournaments they are notoriously bad at times picking up assists. . .still, we'll have to go with the official box, because it's all we've got).

But Poly did have one player step up, and that was Markee White (6'-6" Jr. SF/SG) who managed 14 points on 3-5 shooting, and 8-11 free throw shooting, and he also got 6 rebounds, and was named the game's MVP. Joe Travis (6'-8" Sr. PF/C) also had a good game, hitting for 15 oints on 6-12 shoooting and 3-4 from the line. Adrian Martin had 10 points (3-5 frm the field, 3 of 4 three pointers and 1 of 2 free throws). A.J Diggs also played well, getting 8 points (8 for 8 from the line), and Ramaan Shotwell also had 8. Carlos Rivers (5'-11" So. PG) evidently didn't make the trip, at least he didn't score and he's not listed on the roster, and from what coach Palmer told us earlier in the season, it's possible that he's playing JV in order to get more minutes, given the crowded guard situation at Poly.

The only other scorers for Poly (4-1) which shot 19-50 from the field overall were Ryan Love with 6 points (3-6 from the field), and Lonnel Penman with 2 ponts (1-1 from the field).

If there was one stat that jumped out in this game it was the one caused by Poly's great pressure defense with it's swarm of guards: The Jackrabbits got 14 steals in the game compared to just 3 for Austin, and Poly only turned th eball over 5 times compared to 16 total turnovers for Austin. As you can see from the box below, the game was tight throughout the first half, with Poly taking a two point advantage into the locker room 29-27. In the second half though, Poly pulled away, outscoring Austin 36-28.

Here's the box:

Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.) 65, Westlake (Austin, TX) 55
Box Scores
Long Beach Poly (65) - Shotwell 8, Stokes 2, Diggs 8, Martin 10, Wilder 0, Penman 2, White 14, Travis 15, Love 6. Totals 19 24-3165.
Westlake (55) - Scacco 2, Woodard 0, Franey 0, Bender 0, Garwood 0, Steenken 0, Gressett 14, Jones 14, Boxberger 0, Boon 2, Buckman 17,
Dischert 6. Totals 25 2-4 55. Long Beach Poly 29 36 -65 Westlake 27 28 -55

Long Beach Poly will play Woodlawn on Monday at 5:05 p.m. in the Durango Main Gym, and this should be a good game as well. Woodlawn (from Birmingham, Alabama) beat Dobson (Mesa, AZ) 65-56.

See you there.