DV313.htm

SoCal High School & Prep Report

CIF State Playoffs: Southern Region
Division V Semifinal Details & Results--(March 13, 1998)

Horizon 80, Santa Clara 47

Lou Cvijanovich had nearly run out of words. It was not a kind visit for the Santa Clara High coach and his team at Horizon Christian on Thursday night. The Saints fell, 80-46, in the Division V semifinals of the Southern Regional in boys' basketball.

Cvijanovich voiced displeasure with the officiating during the game but then declined comment except for a brief statement after taking the Saints directly off the court without congratulations for the winners.

"We were extremely proud of our players because they held their composure," said Cvijanovich, who has won 798 games in his 40 years as coach. "Otherwise, I don't want to make a comment because you saw the game."

The reaction by the Saints (15-14) surprised Horizon Coach Zack Jones, whose Panthers (27-2) extended their school's home winning streak to 47 games. "I've coached around the world and never had a team walk away after a game in that manner," Jones said. "I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't get to talk to Lou after the game because I respect him a lot for what he's done in high school basketball in California."

Neither team shot well at the outset but Horizon Christian pulled away with eight straight points for a 15-6 lead with 5:10 before halftime. The last two field goals in the streak came after Santa Clara turnovers.

The Panthers also had a 30-12 edge on the boards on the way to a 27-18 halftime lead. They hit only 10 of 31 shots from the field in the first half, slightly off the 7-of-20 showing by Santa Clara.

"At the beginning, our adrenaline was flowing. It wasn't because we were nervous," said Jones, discussing his club's early shooting woes. "The kids get so fired up that they just overdid it. After about seven minutes, we got our composure."

All 12 Horizon players scored--led by Zack Jones Jr. with 15 points and Jeremy Robinson with 14. Nick Jones scored 17 points for the Saints.

Pacific Hills 79, Rolling Hills Prep 68

Here's what the LA Times had in this morning's paper: "Center Rodney Harvey scored 16 points and had eight rebounds and Conrad Adamczak had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead the Bruins in a Division V semifinal at Daniel Murphy. Junior point guard Brandon Owens added 14 points for Pacific Hills, which will play Santa Clara in the championship game Saturday at Pauley Pavilion."

And here's what we got from Anne Ibarra, who has become the one person bandwagon for PH. We're not sure where some of this material is coming from (it sounds vaguely "newspaperish") but at least its a lot better than we're getting from Division IV folks:

Thursday night's state quarter-final [sic--it was a semifinal] game matched up the 3rd rated division V team in the State, Pacific Hills, against 4th rated Rolling Hills Prep. Pacific Hills jumped out to an impressive 43-24 halftime lead using full court pressure which led to several easy buckets. The Bruins managed to keep the Rolling Hills in check until the Huskies rallied to within eight points with 5:10 remaining in regulation. Back to back baskets by junior center Rodney Harvey (16 points) and junior guard Ryan Abrahams (13 points) opened the lead by to 12 points as Pacific Hills earned the right to face the state's number 1 team Horizon this Saturday at 11:00 A.M. at UCLA's Pauley Pavillion. Rolling Hills Prep, who last week captured their first CIF championship, was led by 6'-3" sophomore standout B.J. Hart who scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half. Sophomore guard Jason Zellers connect of four three-pointers in the second half to keep the Huskies within striking distance. Senior forward Kai Edwards finished off his high school career with a 16 point effort. "We just didn't have an answer for Harvey," said Rolling Hills Prep coach Brian Kneegan. "I felt we contained Conrad Adamczak and Abrahams but Harvey hurt us down the stretch." Harvey, the 6'-5", 245 lb. junior center finished with 10 rebounds and was eight for nine from the field. Two time all-CIF forward Conrad Adamczak, who had 47 points in the teams' previous playoff meeting was held to just 15. "I felt they did a good job keeping me from getting good positioning", said Adamczak. "I felt several other players did a fine job of stepping up to help us move on to Pauley (Pavillion).

Most experts feel Horizon of San Diego is in a class by themselves. Horizon opened up the state playoffs by defeating Laguna Blance by 62 points and then knocking off a very good Santa Clara team 80-47 to advance to the Southern Region Division V final. "We're going to have to put a big one together on Saturday," said Pacific Hills Coach John Bobich. "At times we have proven we can play with the best of them. Now we will need to put an 32 minute effort together if we want a shot at the title", explained Bobich. Horizon feature a front line of 6'11, 6'8 and 6'7. This to go along 6'1 Zack Jones one of San Diego's top guards at any level. Horizon has already knocked off Poway by 20 and was within 2 points of beating Crenshaw. The Bruins will have their hands full but they have shown sign of brilliance throughout the season. Other key players for the Bruins have been junior point guard Brandon Owens, who has the ability to be a real standout when he stays in control of the Bruin's offensive attack. Senior guards Kamaal Davis and Charles Pagan have also been instrumental in the success of Pacific Hills who have captured 3 consecutive CIF section crowns.