SoCal High School & Prep Report

State Finals: Verbum Dei Wins Boys' &
St. Bernard's Wins Girls' Title--(March 20, 1998)

Whew. Got to Sacramento just in time for the second half of the Division IV girls' game between St. Bernard of Playa del Rey in Los Angeles which came into the game with a 29-4 record and Colfax (28-7). St. Bernard is familiar with the state championship having won back-to-back titles in 1993-94, and they played in the finals last year but lost to Compolindo Moraga 68-54. This year, St. Bernard beat Corcoran in the regional championship 72-52. Colfax was in its first ever title game, and got here by beating the team from Marin Catholic 49-32. We didn't get to see very much of the game, but St. Bernard won it 61-57. Lauren Wilson had 14 pints, Megan Turner had 16 and Rose Calvert also had 16 for Colfax. Both teams shot 44.8% from the field, but that was the only real comparison between them. Shannon Howell led the Vikings with 20 points and Tracee Lewis had 10, as did Ndidi Unaka. Katrina Lyles had 13 pints. Howell had 6 assists, Starr Knight had 5 assists and Tracee Lewis had 4 assists. Unaka had 12 boards to go with the 10 points.

The St. Bernard win was followed by the Boys' Division IV State Championship game, which got started promptly at 4:30 p.m. right on time. And fortunately for us, we had a bird's eye view of David Greenwood during the game, sitting in the last seat in the press row directly next to him, and we had a chance (believe it or not) to talk with him during the game, and to watch him closely at work with his players.

Verbum Dei's coach, for those who don't know is alum and former player David Greenwood, who starred for Verb in the 1970's, then went on to star at UCLA and then concluded his career as he played for a while in the NBA. He later became a Blockbuster Video franchisee back in the LA area; he raised a family, started coaching his own kids, and next thing he knows, he's back coaching at Verbum this year. And in his first year, he coaches the team to the State Championship finals. Not bad. David is a man who's been places and he's still going places. If you think he's stopping at Verbum for good, think again. Think Clyde Drexler. This man knows the game, and he can deliver the goods.

Comparing Verbum Dei and Pacific Grove from the Monterrey Peninsula area was like looking at a photographic negative in more ways than one. One team is mostly white, while the other is mostly black, from the inner city Watts area of LA. Both teams are quick, relentless on offense and defense, and they both play smart. Well, almost all of them play smart. But more on that later.

Notice something immediately? This is a team of mostly juniors. Well, there were a couple of seniors who saw action, and who played very well, including Eric Moses (5'-8" Sr. PG), and Robert Watkins (6'-0" Sr. G).

PG is a team without a center, truly, and they don't even list a center on the roster. The tallest player on the team is 6'-5" TJ Bristol, and he didn't even play in the game. But if you're a team that's full of guards playing against a much larger center type of player, what would you do? Think UCLA v. Michigan? Maybe. Think tight zone? Probably, especially with a couple of outside shooters like Parmer and Watkins.

At the tip, it's Dalron jumping for Verbum, and Peiffer for PG. Dalron misses the tip completely, and Banaszek, this really bulky and better version of Brandon Lloyd, an outside shooter with a true handle and point guard skills, gets the ball and goes up, and gets fouled by Verb's Cobbs, a 5-9" little guard who plays some of the toughest defense we've seen all year. Eddie makes one, misses the other and PG rebound the ball, but misses the shot. Verbum is now on the move and they feed the ball to Dalron, who looks like he's asleep out there. He misses underneath, shooting weakly. Verbum quickly gets back, running an effective man-to-man pressure offense. PG misses, and Dalron hits first from left side for a 6' j for two. PG's Francis, coming off a cut gets called for the charge, and again turns the ball over. Both teams are playing tight, they're stiff and not playing very well. PG' coach Todd Buller apparently has had enough and yells at his team to run motion; Greenwood has also had enough, and he puts in Sauzo in for Washum Dashiell. Dalron hits again, with Verb trying to run the press, and it works as they force the turnover.

Cobb brings ball up going right to left, but it's stolen underneath by Peiffer. Cutting and weaving, PG scores off layup by Chris Castillo going to the hole on the drive from a dish by Banaszek. Castillo fouls on the way down though, and Verbum also turns the ball over. Eddie brings the ball up the floor, and feeds to Francis who hits the three to put PG ahead at 3:27 by a score of 6-4. Verb then commits another of their 15 turnovers, but PG is unable to convert. Verb's Davenport then scores off a rebound on the fastbreak, but misses the next time down after again getting the rebound after Eddie blows a layup.

Lazzari the Australian import, is guarding Parmer, but not too effectively. Dalron gets the ball and misses again. The crowd is mostly PG, and goes nuts everytime they do something worthy of applause, such as score, which is not too often in this first quarter. With 55 seconds Francis hits for three again from the right sideline, but then Robert Watkins, a slim, and quick guard, who would have scored far more tonight than the 16 total points he finished with had Parmer looked to his left more and passed the ball, answers right back with his own three wth 15 seconds on the clock in the first quarter.

Parmer plays for the last shot of the quarter and takes Lazzari to the hole for the basket to bring Verb to 11-9 at the end of the quarter. Both teams, with the exception of Dalrn, appar quick, speedy and matchup well; except for Dalron that is, who can't seem to get his head in the game, and in the opening seconds of the second aquarter, Dalron fumbles the ball, lets it get away on the dribble, and then just watches as Parmer recovers it. The latter gets Greenwood infuriated, and he screams at Dalron "Get your head in the game". He said a bit more, but we can't print that here. Well, we could but we choose not to. It seems to get Dalron's attention, but not enough, as he's still having trouble turning over the crank and getting the motor started.

Parmer scores two quick free throws and Watkins scores, but then Washum gets slammed in the face off an elbow and hits the deck hard: We look over and there he is, in front of the Verb bench, looking like a fish out of water, flopping on the floor and kicking his legs with his face buried in his hands, in obvious agony; he lays on the floor for at least a minute before he goes to the bench. Looking at the TV monitor set up next to me, it's clear that he just took a vicious elbow to the face square on the nose, and he probably broke it.

As the action resumes, Lazzari makes a three, and brings the score to 12-13; Parmer hits two from the line, answered by Castillo; on the next play down the floor, Castillo also blocks the entry pass to Dalron, who still looks asleep. With 5:27 to go in the half, it's 14-15. Dalron gets a rebound off a missed PG shot, and he's bringing the ball up in the backcourt, and instead of getting it to a gurd, he immediately passes to a PG player on what had to be one of the worst passes of the year. We start to wonder if the tank is just empty for Dalron, but he redeems himself as Parmer hits him for a backdoor on the next possession. With 4:39 to go, it's 15-17. PG misses their next opportunity, Watkins misses a three and Eddie is moving the ball to Lazzari, to Castillo, who scores on the cut to the hole, picking up the foul for the "and-1". Shooting the free throw he misses and it's 17-17. Parmer plays great defense, and he's quicker but not as big as Eddie, and is getting pushed around a bit. Eddie loses the handle, and Watkins is now guarding Eddie, scores, and then Parmer comes right back and scores off the fast break, and with 2:39 to go, it's 17-23. David Greenwood is now happy, telling his team, "that's basketball, now you're playing. . . get rid of the butterflies. " Greenwood looks over at me, since I'm sitting next to him, and winks, saying to Dalron "go get 'em now". . . then he says to me "Every now and then you've got to strike the match".

But it looks like the match is not of the waterproof variety, and it's still a bit wet from all the travel, and on the next play, Dalron misses his assignment, and PG's Castillo scores off the backdoor cut. Greenwood has had it. He pulls Dalron and puts Drummond Beck in the game instead, and he's full 5 inches shorter, but he's just what they need, as he forces Lazzari to shoot an airball for the three. Parmer goes to the line with 20.1 showing on the clock and misses the first, hits the secnd, and it's now 20-24. PG playing for the last shot in a motion weave, Lazzari shoots and it hits the rim missing, Verb gets the rebound, and shoots at the buzzer, but Parmer only manages to hit the shot clock.

In the first half, PG shot a miserable 29.2; Verb shot 47.6%, not great, but good enough to get the job done here. Verb was 1-4 on three pointers and shot 50.% (3-6) from the line. PG was 3-9 for three's (33.3%) and shot 42.9% from the field.

In the second half, PG comes out pressing full court, forcing a Davenport turnover, but PG can't take advantage as it misses several backdoor easy baskets; Parmer scores off the transition fast break for the first score of the half, which is answered by a very nice J from the line by Lazzari, but then Dashiell is back and he hits for two from the perimeter. The refs apparently have forgotten how to count to three, as PG decides to set up some tents in the key and camp out there, but even that doesn't work as PG misses several attempts at point blank range. On the way back toward the Verbum side of the floor, Dalron gets a feed from Parmer and jams it which gets the crowd going a bit, but it's answered right away by a sweet J from Castillo for three, and another J from Lazzari. With 5:00 to playin the third, it's 29 PG, Verb 30. Parmer scores, and Verb goes man to man which seems to work as Watkins breaks free for another score, but then misses the second time after another PG turnover. Castillo scores and picks up the foul call, but misses the "and 1" and it's now 31-34 as PG runs a screening motion offense which works eventually. Parmer comes right back with a drive to the hole. Lazzari drives and scores over Dalron which makes Greenwood just go nuts. With the score 35-36, Verb's Sedric White misses both from the line and it's still 35-36 Verb. Sauzo and Francis get into a double foul situation with a hook and some elbows, and with 28 seconds to go, both teams have just traded possessions several times but without any change in the score. PG has put Dolowich into the game, and at 5'-9" he's the shortest guy out there, but he plays tough, guarding Watkins well, and he prevents him from scoring the rest of the quarter.

At the end of the quarter it's Verb 38, PG 35.

Last quarter-- Lazzari to Francis who turns it over with the pressure from Sauzo. Verb goes with a double high post, feeds the ball to Dalron, who fumbles again, but then gets it down low, turns shoots, misses and gets called for the over the back. Greewood is not happy. PG's Eddie shoots, misses the three goes out to the left, missses again but then Lazzari hits from his favorite place, the high right side of the three point range. Parmer scores, but then Eddie is fouled on the way back down, goes to the line, and with 6:04 to play, it's 37-40 Verbum. Eddie misses the first, misses the second,(remember those, they'll be important later) and Watkins misses the layup, then Dalron gets it, missing the layup too. Finally Davenport fouls giving Verb it's seventh team foul and sending Peiffer to the line where he misses the freethrow (remember that too later). Verb gets the ball, and feeds it to Dalron who again misses thelay up; PG gets the board, brings it back and scores: 40-39. Verb comes right back, and draws the foul sending Davenport to the line: He hits one, but then Johnson scores for PG. Lazzari off the fast break scores, then Watkins comes back for Verb and hits a three, then Lazzari again, and in less than one minute, the score is now 44-46 PG.

Eddie feeds down low to Coleman, who can't really handle the pass, but manages to pass back to Eddie who's filling the lane and he scores. On the way back, Verb misses the shot, and with 3:39, it's tied at 46.

After a series of interesting but non-productive plays, Parmer scores his 13th field goal of the game and Eric Moses at 5'-8" comes in and gets shortest player honors: He's assigned to guard Eddie, and he does a tremendous job of it; he forces the turnover and Parmer scores again and it's now 50-46 with 2:27 to play. Greenwood calls a timeout to settle the boys down, and he keeps Moses in the game, as he's doing a great job on Eddie. Eddie was fouled on the last play by Dalron, who goes to the line, making one of two. Parmer scores again off a beautiful cut, but then Francis hits too for three, and it's now 50-52. Parmer drives, misses, gets the board, passes to Dalron down low, and he's fouled on the way up. He hits on of two, and with 1:20 to play it's 53-50.

PG playing for the three gets the ball in the frontcourt, passing it around, looking for the open shot, but then Coleman takes one of the worst shots of the game, a rushed almost airball, and PG turns it over again. Parmer is foued by Eddie on the way down , shooting one at the line, misses, and PG gets the rebound.

PG calls the timeut with 29.7 to play. Greenwood decides to switch from the man to man overplay matchup, and instead goes to a 2-3 zone to defend against the three. "I thought I would gamble" Greenwood said after the game. "I was betting that the other coach was going to expect to see us in a man-to-man press, and we just laid off, backing up, and packing the lanes; when Banaszek went to look to his left and his right, he didn't know where to look, because we extended at the baseline, cutting off the three from the perimeter which had been so successful for them. It worked".

Yes, the zone sure confused PG, and Eddie was just completely flustered and shot frm three point range after not being able to see the open man on the left; so confused was he, that in a pressure situation, with valuable seconds clicking off the clock, he shot. . . an airball. . .You gotta feel for him. Of all places to do that. And in a game in which he might just have been the best player for his team. Oh well, everyone is entitled to screw up once in a while, right?

Watkins recovers the loose ball, and is fouled, goes to the line, shoots two, makes, and it's now 55-50 with 15.5 to play as PG goes inside for a layup, missing, seemingly conceding the game. Dalron is quickly fouled as he gets the board, goes to the line and hits them both. On the last play of the game with 1.8 seconds left, Parmer is fouled hard, and he hits the first, then the second and PG's Eddie dejectedly throws the ball toward the rim, almost hitting the shot at the buzzer.

Final Verum Dei Eagles 59, Pacific Grover Breakers 50.

For Verbum Dei, Watkins had 16 points and three assists; Dalron Johnson had 13 points and 15 boards, 4 assists; Parmer had 21 points and 4 assists, but also had 3 turnovers. Others scoring were Dashiell with 2 pints, Davenport with 5, and Suazo with 2.

For Pacific Grove, Castillo had 8, Lazzari had 16 and 6 assists; Banaszek had 12 pints and 4 boards, while Brandon Francis had 13 points and 5 boards. The only othe scorere was Peiffer who had one point.

This was a great game, and for Verbum Dei and coach Greenwood it was a tremendous way to cap a great season. Congratulations to both teams, and especially to Verbum Dei, the 1997-98 Division IV State Champions.

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