BHS301

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Bakersfield Report: Central Section
Playoff News--(March 1, 1998)

The Central Section Playoff were well underway on Friday night. Here are some reports of several games played in the various divisions.

Division I- Quarterfinals

Bakersfield High 66, Clovis-Buchanan

There were plenty of numbers for Kevin McKinney to look at after Bakersfield High's 66-45 victory over Clovis-Buchanan in the Central Section Division I playoff quarterfinals Friday night. There were the 13 points that McKinney, a senior forward, scored and the five assists he dished out on his home court. But McKinney wasn't particularly interested in those numbers. "Nobody on this team is really worried about how many points they score,''McKinney said. "We just want to win the game.'' No. 2 Bakersfield advanced to a home semifinal game Wednesday against No. 3 Hanford as McKinney was one of three players with five or more assists, but McKinney wasn't particularly excited about that number either. "With all the really good shooters we have on this team, it's pretty easy to pick up assists,'' he said.What McKinney did like about his own game were the 18 rebounds he pulled down. "They run a 1-3-1 (defensive) zone and they try to trap you out of it,'' McKinney said. "And we knew that if we were quick getting there, the middle would be open because (of the defense). We knew that if we controlled the boards, we would win the game.'' Seventh-seeded Buchanan scored the first basket of the game, but Bakersfield used its crisp fast break and capitalized on four early Bears turnovers to take an 11-2 lead. Buchanan got back into the game by holding the Drillers to a single field goal a layup by Terrance Dunn after a nice pass from McKinney over the final 4:31 of the quarter, but Bakersfield still led 13-8.

"We were taking bad shots,'' Bakersfield coach Mark Hutson said. "And they were in that 1-1-3 and they matched us up and we decided we didn't want to move around.'' Terrance Dunn led Bakersfield with 15 points, but McKinney was one of three Drillers scoring 13. James McGill had six of his 13 points in the second quarter, but Bakersfield missed on its first five 3-point attempts and Buchanan got a late 3-pointer from Jason Perry to get within 29-23 at halftime. Perry, a 5-foot-11 guard, kept Buchanan in the game, scoring 22 points.

Bakersfield (24-4) opened some breathing room in the third quarter as Nick Thomas, who had 13 points and nine rebounds put in some strong work underneath. "Nick had a good game,'' Hutson said. "I'm glad he hit a few shots at the end of the game because he worked so hard. And McGill has always been a tough guy for us.''

Both have been getting more playing time lately as the Drillers play without starters Gary Austin and Pat Osborn, who both are finished for the season because of knee injuries. Al Williams, the Drillers' sophomore point guard, was in foul trouble most of the game, but had some of his best moments of the night in the third quarter, which ended with Bakersfield holding a 45-35 lead. The Drillers put the game away with four 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Thomas had two and McKinney and Dunn each made one. Buchanan made four-of-nine 3-pointers, but had trouble finishing and committed 16 turnovers. "They're a good team, but I don't think they'll advance any further,'' Buchanan guard Pat Thompson said. "We knew they were a good rebounding team, but we shot the ball OK. We missed a lot of layups and we had a lot of stupid passes.''

While the 3-point barrage ended the game, it was Bakersfield's rebounding performance that made the win possible. McGill and Dunn each grabbed 11 rebounds, helping the Drillers to a semifinal game against a Hanford team improved to 22-4 with a 61-38 win over Hoover. "They kicked us out of the tournament two of the last three years,'' Hutson said. "At this point in the tournament, there aren't any weak teams.''

Division II- Quarterfinals

East High 63, Lemoore 58

East High's Marquese Jingles made his living from behind the 3-point line Friday night, hitting seven shots against Lemoore in a Central Section Division II quarterfinal playoff game. But Jingles' biggest 3-pointer came with 12 seconds left and broke a tie, powering the fourth-seeded Blades to a 63-58 victory over the fifth-seeded Tigers at East. Jingles' crucial shot came after he stepped in front of a pass as Lemoore (13-14) was setting up for the last shot. The Tigers had called a timeout with 22 seconds left after Davy Ray Hall's layup had tied the game 58-58. "Coach said not to go for any stupid steals, but I went for the steal anyway,'' said Jingles, who led the Blades with 21 points. "We had a fast break, but I put up a 3-pointer, and I guess that iced the game. I'm glad we won.'' The Blades' Nate Peterson hit an uncontested layup at the buzzer to cap the win, sending the crowd packed into East's old gymnasium swarming onto the floor. The Blades advance to face top-seeded Fresno-Edison Wednesday in the semifinals. East coach Milt Henderson laughed when told Jingles had acknowledged ignoring the instructions to play it safe. "Sometimes, somehow it works out,'' Henderson said with a chuckle. ``You tell them don't do this, don't do that, but sometimes their natural instincts have to take over on the floor.'' Henderson had no quarrel with Jingles' decision to try for the steal, nor did the coach question the decision to pull up and take the 3-pointer. "He has put in the time practicing and shooting threes,'' Henderson said. ``He shoots an awful lot of threes in practice, he shoots them in the games all the time. ... He has the green light to shoot it.'' Jingles' big shot negated a spectacular performance by Lemoore senior Danai Young, who led all scorers with 33 points, including 20 in the second half as Lemoore led by as many as five points after trailing by nine in the game's early stages. Lemoore coach Jeff Cardoza said though Young had been the cannon all night, point guard Ryan Cleares was supposed to take the final shot for the Tigers. "We figured they would be keying on Danai, so we set it up for our point guard to get the ball for the final shot,'' Cardoza said. "He was going to try to penetrate with about five seconds left and draw the foul or kick it back out, but of course, we never got that far.'' The Blades (14-11) started fast, taking a seven-point lead twice in the game's first eight minutes, settling in at 21-14 by the end of the first quarter. Jingles hit three of his treys in the first quarter and it looked as if East was going to be in control. But the Tigers turned up the heat defensively in the second quarter, holding the Blades to just eight points and forging a 29-29 tie by halftime. Young scored Lemoore's first 10 points of the second half as the Tigers took their largest lead at 39-34 before the Blades got back on track to tie the game again at 41-41. But Cleares banked a 25-footer off the glass at the buzzer to give the Tigers a 44-41 lead as the fourth quarter began. The game was tied three more times in the final quarter at 51 and again at 53 before Jingles' 3-pointer finally beat the Tigers. Ricardo Toomer and Steve Carter both joined Jingles in double figures for the Blades with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Cleares reached double digits for the Tigers with 13 points.