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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: Division I-AA
Poly Defeats Etiwanda 84-71--(March 4, 1998)

There were two Division I-AA Semifinals last night. The first was Artesia v. Simi, in which Artesia just powered their way through the other Pioneers in I-AA Southern Section competition, 70-45. The details of that game can be found here. In the meantime, here are the details of Poly's striking win.

For Poly, it was a senior center playing on a shaky ankle and a sophomore point guard playing with brains and heart. For Etiwanda, it was the greatest senior class of boys basketball players ever at Etiwanda High School, with three pending Division 1 scholarships, two Mt. Baldy League championships, two straight trips to the CIF semifinals, one berth in a CIF championship game.

But on Tuesday night it was Ricky Anderson and Wesley Stokes, one held together with a brace and adhesive tape and the other the glue that holds his team together, who led the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits, the overall No. 2 seeded team in Division I-AA, to an 84-71 win over Etiwanda. Etiwanda finished the season at 23-7. Poly is now 24-6 going into the finals.

So once again the seeding geniuses figured it out correctly again, and in the finals, this will be the dream matchup, the No. 1 Seeded team, Artesia, against the No. 2 seede team, Poly. The finals is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Saturday night at the Pond. It will be the fifth time in 8 years that Poly has advanced to the Southern Section Finals. Impressive by any standards.

Anderson, who has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the defending NCAA champion Arizona Wildcats next season, was hampered only slightly by a three week old injury to his right ankle, and was feeling well enough that he just controlled the paint. Anderson, Poly's 6'-9" senior center was not doing much hobbling on his sore ankle on Tuesday. Instead he was busy scoring 28 points to eliminate the No. 3 seeded Eagles. Anderson, playing through the pain of a sprained right ankle, scored 20 in the first half, and grabbed seven rebounds. Anderson just overpowered the smaller Eagles in the low post, using good footwork and fine touch around the basket. And Stokes too, proved that he can do more around the court to control the tempo of a game than most guys his age, and perhaps only he and Russell Lakey, the other fine sophomore point guard from Harvard-Westlake have the same natural ability to control the game. Stokes hit 14 of his 18 points in the second half and finished with eight assists; he regularly broke down the defense and created easy scoring opporunities for others.

Poly, the defending 1AA champion, never trailed after beginning an 8-0 scoring run late in the first quarter.

Both teams were on a hot pace by the end of the first half. Poly, Moore League champions, were shooting 17 of 27 from the field (63 %) and had a lead of four points, 41-37. Etiwanda hit on 17 of its 29 attempts (59 %). In the opening minutes of the third quarter, the Jackrabbits ran the lead up to 9 points, 48-39, as Etiwanda missed four shots, committed five turnovers and went scoreless during the first 3:55 of the third quarter.

Poly took the game's first double-digit lead when Mike McIntyre hit his third 3-pointer of the game, a bomb from the top of the key with 4:55 left in the third quarter. The Jackrabbits led by 10 with three seconds left in the period, but Etiwanda guard Gary Colbert took an inbounds pass and hit an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the gap to 54-47. The emotional lift Colbert's shot gave the Eagles didn't last long. Stokes led Poly on a 9-2 run to open the fourth quarter, putting his team up by 12 with 5:28 to play. The highlight of the spurt was Stokes' twisting, left-handed layup that led to a three-point play.

Etiwanda had one more run left. The Eagles got a 3-pointer from the corner from Matt Donahue and Colbert's backcourt steal and 10-foot bank to close the gap to 69-61 with 3:37 to play. Poly called a timeout to regroup, and McIntyre (15 points) made two free throws at the 3:28 mark to help hold Etiwanda off. Stokes followed with a 12-foot floater in the lane that put Poly up by 12 with 2:48 remaining. Etiwanda was forced to press and foul the rest of the way. Poly made 15 of 23 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold on.

In all, Jackrabbit shooting guard Mike McIntyre knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with 15 points, sophomore point guard Wesley Stokes scored nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and reserve forward Keyon Cooley added 11 points for Poly. Colbert, who finished with a game-high 28 points, kept the Eagles within reach. They trailed by 13 early in the third, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer pulled the Eagles within 54-47. A 7-0 Poly run, keyed by Stokes' three-point play, was answered by a Donahue 3-pointer and a Colbert steal and basket to put Etiwanda behind 69-61 with 3:35 left. With Landrum fouled out, however, Anderson settled his team and the Jackrabbits attacked a weakened middle.

So, with Etiwanda now retired, it's truly down to a clash of the giants, Long Beach Poly v. Lakewood Artesia for all the marbles, the Divison I-AA CIF Southern Section Championship.

We'll be there. We hope to see you there too.