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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: Division V-A Finals
Rolling Hills Defeats Laguna Blanca--(March 6, 1998)

Palos Verdes Estates Rolling Hills Prep 52, Santa Barbara Laguna Blanca 43

Rolling Hills Prep (23-3) built a 14-point lead at the end of the third quarter at UC Irvine Thursday and was never threatened after that. Joey Perry finished with 14 points. David Cochran led Laguna Blanca, (21-5) with 15 points. The defeat broke Laguna Blanca's 16-game winning streak.

Rolling Hills Prep dominated the third quarter. Though the third quarter determined the outcome, the turning pointd was probably at the half. Both teams were tight, nervous and a bit scared and intimidated at playing in the Bren Center. The Huskies came on after Chris Tamas scored consecutive baskets that narrowed Laguna Blanca's deficit to 28-27 with 5:45 left in the third quarter. Rolling Hills Prep then went on an 18-2 run managing to move the lead to 46-29 forty-six seconds into the fourth quarter. The Huskies stopped Laguna Blanca's offense with a 2-2-1 trapping half-court zone press forcing 11 turnovers in the second half, 22 for the game, while the Owls made just eight of 23 shots from the floor in that half.

Laguna Blanca had 11 second-half turnovers, and 20 in the game. Kai Edwards finished with six steals, while Aaron Hillier made five. The turnovers resulted from fatigue at running against the press. With the press draining the Owls, they were less able to contain the Huskies' B.J. Hart and Jason Zellers. Hart had just three points at the half, but he scored eight points during an 18-2 run, and finished the night with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Zellers added another two three-point baskets during the same scoring run.

Laguna Blanca's David Cochran tried to lead a rally by scoring five points during an 11-0 run which closed the margin to 46-40 with only 2:17 to play, but Johnson hit a two with 1:46 left, then was fouled and went to the line where he hit a free throw with 43 seconds remaining to bring the score to 49-40, insurmountable as Rolling Hills won.

Cochran was named Laguna Blanca's Most Valuable Player for the game after amassing a game-high 15 points, four assists and three steals. Tamas finished with a game-high 12 rebounds while Garrett Wilson added five assists and Lewis made four steals. The Huskies' Joey Perry, who went to the hospital Wednesday night with severe stomach cramps, scored 10 points in the first half and finished with 14 points. He was Rolling Hills Prep's MVP.

Congratulations to Rolling Hills Prep, the Southern Section Division V-A Champions for 1997-98, and congratulations to Santa Barbara's Laguna Blanca, runner up this year.

Now on to the Southern Regionals and the State Championships.