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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: Division II-A
Dominguez Defeats Redondo 80-69 For Title--(March 8, 1998)

Dominguez yesterday captured it's fourth consecutive Southern Section Championship by beating the Redondo Seahawks 80-69.. Dominguez is now 25-4. Redondo's Seahawks, are now 27-3. Both teams will advance to the State Regionals which will begin on Tuesday. We'll have the brackets later today. The two-time defending Division II state champion Dons are expected to get the No. 1 seed when the CIF Southern California Regional pairings are released today. Dominguez is aiming for its fourth consecutive trip to the state title game.

In the first half of this game, it looked as if anyone might win. And that anyone was Redondo Beach, which jumped out to an 18-13 first quarter lead, and a 33-29 halftime lead. In the first half, Redondo played brilliantly, as Marcus Moore, a junior, passed inside to Andrew Zahn for easy layups, and shooting guard Tyler Hoffman hit from the perimeter, shooting for 12 points all in the first half. Zahn was effective in the post, scoring 8 points and seemingly not bothered by the the three inch diffference between him and Dominguez' 7'-0" center Tyson Chandler. Moore finished the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists

But whatever the Dons weren't doing in the fourth period, they more than made up for in the third and fourth quarters, as Coach Russell Otis demanded that they play offense and defense. And as a result, Dominguez won its foruth consecutive Southern Section Division II-A championship yesterday.

And they did it playing defense rather than just pouring on the offense, something they were forced to do after their star offensive player, Tayshaun Prince (6'-8" Sr. PG/SG/SF/PF/C) injured his knee with 2:37 to play in the third. Prince went up for a shot, but when he came back down, his foot landed on another player's foot, and he went down, grabbing his knee, and left the game. He came back early in the fourth quarter, but stayed in for less than a minute, and did not return to the game. Prince will be examined by a doctor today, and hopefully will be in shape to play on Tuesday as the State Regionals begin. Prince left the game with 22 points. Prince had 13 of his points in the first half, but thanks to 12 points by Redondo's Tyler Hoffman and nine by Seahawk Marcus Moore, Redondo took a 33-29 lead at halftime.

The sequence which led to Prince's injury was also the pivotal series of plays in the game for Dominguez. Prince made a follow shot while being fouled to open the second half and converted the free throw to trim Redondo's lead to 33-32. Keith Kincade then stole the ball and scored on a fastbreak layin to give the Dons a lead which they never relinquished. Kincade scored again a minute later and Prince converted a four-point play - on a successful 3-pointer and free throw - to give Dominguez a 40-33 advantage. The lead was still seven - at 48-41 - when Prince hurt his knee. But, the advantage grew to 55-43 by the end of the quarter when the Dons followed a 15-footer by Ryan Kittel with a 3-pointer by Mike Carson, a 10-footer by Keith Brooks and a driving layup by Hurst.

As a result of Prince's injury, most of the fourth quarter was played without Dominguez' star and so the Dons were forced to go to a more defensive strategy. But not before Prince helped the Don's Keith Kincaide to go on a Dominguez 11-0 scoring run which quickly erased the deficit. When Prince left the game in the fourth, the Dons were ahead 57-47, and so they tried to hang onto that lead for the rest of the game. In the first half, the Dons played uninspired ball, missing picks and shots, and leaving huge gaps in the defense. After the halftime break though, the Dons came out smoking, and pressed, and pressed and pressed. Redondo was forced to rush it's shots, turned over the ball repeatedly, and in the first three minutes of the second half, the Dons just took over the game. Dominguez erased the halftime deficit quickly in the third quarter - largely thanks to the defensive efforts of Dominguez point guard Willie Hurst and backup Janal Johnson in keeping Moore from getting the ball inside to 6-9 Andrew Zahn. The Dons didn't do it on defense alone, as they outscored the Seahawks 26-10 in the third quarter. But defense did figure prominently into the win, as Redondo actually "won" the fourth quarter 26-25. But it was not enough to overcome the lead built up during the third quarter by Dominguez.

Keith Kincade had 12 second half points, and 14 overall in the game. Dominguez led by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter. Any chance of a Redondo comeback ended when starters Brian Morris and Zahn fouled out early in the fourth quarter. Zahn, one of the country's best sophomores, had 15 points and 12 rebounds despite good defense by the Dons' Walter Small.

"Give credit to the Dominguez defense," Redondo's Coach Jim Nielsen told the Long Beach Press-Telegram "They picked it up two levels, not one level." Neilsen also told the LA Times' Gary Klein, "Thir defense to start the third quarter picked it up two level, not one. That was the difference in the game."

The final scoring for Dominguez was Willie Hurst 8, Brooks 4, Johnson 1, Blurer 1, Prince 22, Mike Carson 10, Smith 2, Boulton 4, Keith Kincade 14, Tyson Chandler 8, Walter Small 4, and James 2.

For Redondo, Morris had 2, Thompson 1, Matthis 1, Hoffman 12, Kettle 2, Moore 17, Zahn 15, Hunt 2, Egerer 2, White 11, and Stuffer 4.

Congratulations to the 1997-98 CIF Southern Section Divsion II-A Champions, Compton Dominguez, and to the runners-up, Redondo Beach Union High.