div1AA308

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: Division I-AA
Artesia Defeats Poly, 90-74 For Title--(March 8, 1998)

This was the headline event last night at the Pond. The prime-time show. And as you can tell from the headline above, Artesia won, and they won big, by 16 points. Both of these teams will go on, and qualify for the State Regionals which begin on Tuesday. But before we get to that, here's the report from last night's game.

Artesia 90, Long Beach Poly 74

Artesia captured it's first Division I-AA CIF Southern Section Championship last night, by winning 90-74. Artesia is now 30-1 overall for the year, while Poly is 25-7. Poly played well considering that their star center/forward Ricky Anderson, who has signed with Arizona next year (but who will probably red-shirt in his freshman season) played on a bad ankle which caused him obvious discomfort, and clearly bothered his game.

Artesia and Poly have both been to the finals before. In 1996-97, Poly won the I-AA title with many of the same players on their roster as this year. Artesia, which had played "down" in Division II-A, Dominguez' division, advanced to the final but was beaten by the Dons. Sensing either better opportunities in Division I-AA, three full divisions "up", or sensing a higher enrollment (we're not sure which) Artesia went movin' on up, and like the Jeffersons, they finally got their piece of the pie by beating Poly in last night's headliner game played at the Pond in front of approximately 8,500 people.

And because both teams will advance to the CIF Southern California Regionals, this game seems somewhat only like a prelude, rather than a Championship, a phenomenon which we're sure the CIF did not intend when it started up the State Championship series, but something which has nevertheless come to pass, as both of the finalists in the various divisions make it to the State Regionals. Stay tuned since the brackets to the next series of playoffs, will be released by the CIF later today, and we'll have them here. Most analysts agree though that Artesia probably secured itself two home games in the regionals with this win.

Artesia, which had defeated Long Beach Poly by two points last month, turned a 45-40 halftime deficit into a seemingly effortless win as Martinez and junior center Jason Kapono powered the top seeded Pioneers. Kapono had 18 points in the game.

Freshman 6'-7" forward Jack Martinez was really the difference in this game. He had 27 points and 16 rebounds, 20 points and 14 rebounds in the second half alone. . The teams entered the halftime locked in a close battle with Artesia holding a slim, 25-22, advantage and Poly's Ricky Anderson, who had 19 points and seven rebounds before intermission, dominating play. Less than three minutes later, largely thanks to Martinez, the Pioneers had pulled away to a 57-40 lead. Artesia's 12-0 run to begin the second half consisted of six free throws and a layin by Martinez and two buckets by Jason Kapono. That pretty much set the tone for the remainder of the game.

Poly threatened to come back a coupt of times, but each time, Artesia would either shut them down, or power inside to Martinez and Kapono for additional scoring. While the Jackrabbits were hampered by the ineffectiveness of point guard Wesley Stokes, there are those who say that his scoring ability is far outweighed by his ability to create situations for the Poly big men inside, and when that doesn't happen, Poly's offense is likely to stall. Stokes was hounded by Willie Alford most of the night, finished with five points and made only 2 of 9 shots, and equally important, he was unable to get the ball inside to Anderson, who was also shut down after halftime, again largely thanks to the defensive effort of Martinez. Anderson, still playing courageously on a gimpy left ankle, was held to three points in the second half and didn't make a field goal until there were four minutes left in the game and Artesia led, 80-65.

Jason Kapono was healthy Saturday night after playing with the flu in a semifinal win over Simi Valley on Tuesday. In addition to Kapono's 18 points, he had 10 rebounds. Eight of his points were scored in the fourth quarter. Martinez and Kapono were not alone in scoring in double figures, as Artesia's James Murdock had 12 points, reserve center Apolinar Fernandez had 11 points, and Jamal O'Quinn scored 10. Poly's Mike McIntyre finished with 11 points, but only three were in the crucial second half. His two 3-pointers in the first half helped keep the Jackrabbits close, and Keyon Cooley came off the bench to score 16 points and grab nine rebounds.

Congratulations to the Lakewood Artesia Pioneers, CIF Southern Section Division I-AA Champions for 1997-98, and to the runners-up this year, last year's defending Champions, the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits. Now on to the State Regional playoffs and the State Finals in Sacramento. See ya there.