D1315.htm

SoCal High School & Prep Report

CIF State Playoffs: Southern Region D-I Final:
Westchester Wins Over Artesia 61-60--(March 15, 1998)

We'll get right to the point: Westchester won this, a wild roller-coaster of a game, which was significant for the number of fouls called, and the fouls not called, beating Artesia 61-60 Saturday night in the CIF Southern California Division I regional final at Pauley Pavilion before "5,500" fans-- that number may have been the total attendance for the evening session as the CIF guys claimed, but by the time the game got started, there were only about 3,000 people left in the joint; not quite the crowd expected for the State Regional Finals in the "big boy" division, but then maybe some folks thought it would be just a rehash of the last time these teams met when Westchester won fairly easily. Those folks who stayed away were wrong, and we were all treated to a great game, even if there was plenty of room to stretch out in. This was anything but a lopsided game, and while it wasn't pretty at times, it was a lot of fun to watch.

So with the win, Westchester gets to play Alameda St. Joe's, which beat Vallejo 57-50 for the State Championship. Artesia finished the season 32-2--its only losses coming against Westchester. Which reminds us that when we visited Alameda St. Joe's Notre Dame before the start of the regular season, in November just before Thanksgiving, (see our two reports "A Conversation With Coach Johnson" and our preview of St. Joe's) we had a chance to sit with Gordy Johnson, the coach of St. Joe's, and talked a bit with him about who he thought the teams were to beat this year in the State Tournament. While he asked us at the time not to write about who he thought would be the likely competition from the south (because he didn't want to seem presumptuous about his own team's making it again this year) now that St. Joe's is assured of being the NorCal representative, we think it's pretty safe to let the cat out of the bag about what he told us then. Sitting on the couch in his office, the one which is barely off the floor with no legs on it, surrounded by pictures of Jason Kidd and his teammates, Gordy told us "Crenshaw is always strong, but they've had too many guys graduate from last year; the team I think will be the team from Southern California this year is Westchester; what can you tell us about them? We hope to see them at the finals if we can get past Vallejo." Either Gordy Johnson is a seer, a genius, or a little bit of both. It probably explains why, for all these years, he and Frank LaPorte were so successful at beating the competition. But now we'll all have a chance to see just how good Gordy is at predicting outcomes, and just how good Westchester and St. Joe's really are, as Alameda St. Joe's got past Vallejo, and the two teams will face off next Saturday at the Arco Arena for the CIF State Division I Championship.

Before we talk about Westchester and how good they are and all the "usual" stuff, we've got to mention that Artesia is going to be the team next year, and for at least a couple of years thereafter if the Pioneers' two star freshmen, Jack Martinez (6'-7" Fr. F/C) and Apolinar Fernandez (6'-9" Fr. F) remain with the team. Wayne Merino will be a happy camper, and from the looks of it there are not a lot of other Division I teams who can contend with them. We're betting here that it will be between Simi Valley and Artesia next year for the Southern Regionals.

Back to last night's game: Westchester is now 29-3 on the year. Who would have believed that the Southern Regional Final would come down to a one point game? Certainly not anyone in attendance at Pauley Pavilion last night as Westchester and Artesia prepared to face off for the second time this season. And who would have guessed that David Bluthenthal would suffer the "curse of Pauley" again in the same year? Certainly none of us at SoCalHoops could have predicted this one.

And David Bluthenthal proved once again that for him, there's a "Pauley" problem. We hope for him that it doesn't carry over to next year, and the years thereafter as USC plays UCLA at Pauley, but recall that the last time Bluthenthal and his Westchester team played at Pauley, David just disappeared, playing only sparingly, in foul trouble, and getting maybe about 8 points in the MLK Challenge headliner game against Dominguez, which Tayshuan and his group won fairly easily, handing Westchester one of its only three losses this season. Well, last night's game against Artesia had a slightly similar motif as the last one, at least for David, but then the result this time was far more satisfactory. Bluthenthal played 25:09 in this game, but scored only 7 points, none in the first half. But after the game he said "this was a far more satisfying game, and a whole lot more fun for me. It's what we've been aiming for all season long." And Tony Bland also said that "it was a lot more fun that what happened to us at the beginning of the season in Vegas [where Westchester dropped two games]. It's great to be going to the State Championship in my final season."

Artesia played well, but their star, Jason Kapono (6'-7" Jr. G/F) also had trouble in the first half, going scoreless as well, and turning the ball over twice in the half; Artesia committed 10 turnovers in the first half alone. Westchester also played a sloppy first half, turning the ball over 8 times, but they managed to score almost at will, while Artesia struggled from the filed, and from the line. This was not exactly a high scoring game; the first quarter, Westchester led 18-13, and at the half, they led by only 4, 29-25. But with only 3:20 left to play in the first, Westchester led 14-4, and they conitnued to struggle, or at least seemed to always be just a little behind the ball both on offense and defense, while Westchester pushed the pace.

As for the starting lineups, it was the usual suspects for both teams. Westchester started CJ Williams, Tony Bland, Brandon Granville, Albert Miller and David Bluthenthal; Artesia started James Murdock at the point, Willie Alford, Jason Kapono, Jamal O'Quinn, and Jack Martinez. As we said, the place wasn't packed, but it sure was loud. And those Artesia fans, energetic as they were, have got to get a grip on life and calm down a bit: riding every Westchester player, shouting obscenities and ridiculing one of the refs (the big white guy with the shaved head, calling him "Mr. Clean", and even the bit about Lou Wright's 'fro) are a bit childish. We love the Artesia cheerleaders and the band, but those football players in the red t-shirts should get a life or take a pill and chill out.

Brandon Granville played great, even if he was in foul trouble for most of the second half. He had his usual array of quick passes, a few no looks, and one spectacular cross-over, between the legs dribble which just faked Murdock out of his shorts, and which resulted in him taking the ball from his left hand, between his legs and through to his right hand, followed by a bullet pass to Osborne standing under the basket about 20 feet from where Granville was dribbling, had everyone oohing and ahhing. Of course, Osborne didn't expect it, and he dropped the pass. . . but as a pure passer, Granville is just awesome. Sign me up for the satellite, I want to get all the Vanderbilt games I can get. Gotta see Brandon next year after this is over. And he did a great job shooting as well, scoring 8 points in 21:53. But for all of his great play, this was not a truly stellar performance for him, and he was hampered by the fact that Artesia seemed to always be looking for the back-door alley-oop passes from Brandon to Bluthenthal or Bland, and so Brandon only had 4 assists; and he was susceptible to the pressure-defense from Murdock, turning the ball over five times in the game (1/3 of the 15 total turnovers suffered by Westchester in the game).

Of course, Murdock didn't fare too much better either to Brandon's own particular brand of pressure match-up defense, as he only had 5 points and turned the ball over four times, a total exceeded only by Jason Kaponos own 5 turnovers in the game. Kapono, as we said, was held scoreless in the first half, played pretty miserably, but then just exploded in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 of his total 17 points, 10 in the last 4 minutes of the game.

It was a stirring end to what was a thrilling fourth quarter. Artesia entered the final quarter trailing, 43-41, and found itself down, 56-48 with four minutes left. Kapono made two free throws with 13 seconds left to give Artesia its first lead, 60-59, but it was just not enough to pull off what would have been an upset, at least in this, the year of Westchester in the Southern Region. After Kapono's free throws, Granville drove the length of the court and was fouled by Jack Martinez. The winning points came with seven seconds remaining when Brandon Granville made both his free throws. After hitting the two free throws, Granville stayed back as Artesia and Westchester got into a tip-off, hitting the ball four or five times underneath the Artesia basket. Ed Azzam was praying that the ball wouldn't go in, and Granville was just holding his breath. Fortunately, the clock ran out, and the refs didn't call a foul, probably because they could figure out which of the 8 or 9 players to call one on in what turned into almost a free-for-all in the quest to grab or tip the ball in the final seconds of the game. Artesia's final chance to win began with an inbounds pass to Jack Martinez, who worked his way up the sideline before throwing the ball to Andre Hazel at the top of the key. Hazel, who had just been inserted in the game because point guard James Murdock had injured his leg, drove to the basket and put up a contested layup that missed; in the ensuing bedlam, the Pioneers were unable to get off another shot and the game ended.

The last few series of possessions were critical and the fourth quarter was played about as closely as a game can get without remaining tied the entire time. The quarter opened with a great drive from left to right by Tony Bland, who slammed home a 2, and got the foul called on Fernandez which brought the score to 45-41. But then Artesia's O'Quinn came right back, scoring a layup which brought Artesia back to within 2, 45-43. O'Quinn then hit again on a low turnaround J to bring the score to 45-45 with 6:41 to play. Buthenthal then missed an outside shot, got his own rebound, dished to Granville who missed. Artesia's Jack Martinez, who played a great, but flawed game, scoring 18 points, 10 in the second half, hit in the lane, to bring the score to 47-45 with 6:05 to play. Albert Miller then scored a two for the Comets, and Ferandez picked up his third personal. With 5:32 to play, Brandon Granville picked up his 4th personal, sending Murdock to the line, and he missed. The score was then 49-46 Westchester. Bluthenthal, like Kapono, started to come alive offensively, drove the land, scored and then got the and-1, bringing the score to 54-46. Kapono came right back, hitting from the right perimeter for 2, and the score os 54-48.

At that point in the game, apparently the refs had had enough of the Artesia bench (and perhaps egged on by the Artesia fans) and called a T on the coach; fortunately for Artesia, the call was almost meaningless as Miller, shooting foul shots missed both, but Tony Bland shooting the t's game Albert redemption, getting his own from the line, to keep the score at an 8 point lead for Westchester, 56-48. Things got interesting thereafter, as Artesia went on a 7-0 run over the next three minutes. In fact, Wechester didn't score again until 2:01 to play when O'Quinn sank his free throw to tie the game at 57-57. On the next possession, Bland went to recover a loose ball and was fouled, but missed both of his free throws, and with 1:29 it was still tied 57-57. With only about 1 second ticked off the clock after the second Bland miss, Osborne who had recovered the ball was fouled. Fortunately for the Comets, he went to the line and sank them both, putting Westchester up 59-57 with 1:20 to play.

On the next possession, CJ fouled Kapono, sending him to the line; unfortunately for the Pioneers, in what would be a critical missed basket, he sank only the first of two, and Artesia still trailed 59-58 with under a minute to play. The next series was something nobody would have anticipated, and it looked like a giant, human pinball game. Kapono dribbled badly enough to expose the ball to Tony Bland, who stole it, passed down to Osborne who passed back to Tony. On the fast break, Tony decides to forego a pass to Bluthenthal, standing wide open under the right side of the hoop, and instead passes to CJ on the left side (where all the defenders had now congregated); CJ couldn't shoot, passed back to Tony, who fumbled the ball out of bounds.

The only saving grace for Westchester about this series of events on the possession was that it didn't really cost them anything except possession, and ran the clock down to 23 seconds. Artesia brings the ball down, and the worst of all possible things happens: Bland is called for a foul on Kapono, sending him to the line for the double-bonus. So with 13 seconds showing on the clock, Kapono makes the first to tie the game 59-59.

He makes the second. Artesia is now up 59-60, with only 13 seconds.

The ball is inbounded to Brandon Granville, taking the ball left to right down the floor, about as fast as he can, drives, tries to penetrate the lane, and . . . Martinez is called for the foul, with 7 seconds on the clock.

Granville was not the guy to foul in that situation. He was 3 for 4 last night, and he calmly sank both free throws to put Westchester back in front by the final margin 61-60 with only 7 seconds left to play. The only person worse to have fouled would have been Bluthenthal, who made all 3 of his attempts from the line. Now Miller, who was only 1 for 7. . . he's the guy they should have fouled if they were going to foul someone.

But the real answer is you don't foul anyone, especially not a good shooting point like Granville when there are only 7 seconds to play. But Westchester did not have the victory secured until Artesia sophomore Andre Hazel missed the final shot in the lane, as the ball was tipped several times in the scramble and the buzzer sounded, sending the Comets to the state final. Westchester is seeking its first state title ever. It would be the 11th by a City Section team since 1982.

For Westchester, CJ Williams had 7 points and 6 rebounds; Tony Bland had a team-high 13 points and 2 rebounds; Brandon Granville had 8 points, four assists and 2 rebounds. Lou Wright had 6 points, both on three-point shots (2 for 2), while Albert Miller had 10 points and 5 rebounds while Chris Osborne also had 10 and 4 rebounds.. David Bluthenthal only had 7 points and 4 boards.

Artesia's scoring was let by Jack Martinez with 18 points on 7 for 10 shooting from the field and 4 for 5 free throw shooting; Martinez also led al players in rebounds with 14 total boards (9 offensive and 5 defensive) more than twice as many as the next leading Westchester rebounder, Williams with 6. Kapono had 17 points, O'Quinn 10, Fernandez 8, and Murdock 5.