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SoCalHoops Tournament News

4 "D" Labor Day Tournament: Report # 5:
SCA, USA Teams Win Big--(Sept. 5, 1998)

Lots of BIG fun today at the 4 "D" Labor Day Tournament going on at Leuzinger High through Monday. In the 14-U division, SCA beat up on a hapless team (we actually didn't get the name, we'll have it tomorrow) by the ungodly score of 125-38. . . or something like 80+ points. This one wasn't even funny, and it was actually painful to watch as the No. 1 team of 14-U players, the National Champions, simply destroyed their opponent. And as expected, Harrison Schaen (6'-7" 8th gr. C) led all scorers with 30 points. While he didn't dunk, he did post up, spin, use his great drop step, and blocked a ton of shots. And it's all the more surprising because in the morning he had injured his back and his knee playing a little one-on-one with one of his teammates, and was in considerable pain a few hours before the game. But once the tip-off came, he was all business. Wesley Washington (6'-0" 8th gr. G) also played very well, driving, slashing and using his quickness on defense.

In the JV Division, the USA Blue Team, coached by Larry Gray, won big, and plays tomorrow against IEBP (we think) at Leuzinger. The USA Red Team also won, but this one was an unbeliveable nail-biter, which actually came down to the last second, as Eric Jones (5'-10" Fr. G) from Fairfax dropped a shot in to put USA Red up over the Orange County Bulls by a single point as time apparently ran out to put USA up 47-46. However, the refs ruled that the Bulls' Joe Flores had actually managed to grab the ball as it dropped through the basket and had called time-out. So after both teams had already left the floor, the timekeeper (Dave Dove, assistant coach at Division V State Champions Pacific Hills--thanks Dave) put one second back on the clock as the Bulls tried for a desperation inbounds tip-in shot. On the inbounds play, Chris Withrow threw the ball the length of the court and it actually hit the rim bounced up, but the OC Bulls players were unable to get the tip in, and USA managed to hold on for the win.

For USA, Lester Clay (6'-3" Fr. G) who will enroll at Crenshaw, played steady and strong throughout the game, scoring 12 points, including a three-pointer, grabbing 8 rebounds, and one assist. David Gale (5'-10" Fr. PG/SG) handled the point for about half the game, alternating with Jones at the 2 spot as well, and he finished with 6 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, and 1 blocked shot. Another big player for USA Red was Terrance Jones (6'-5" Fr. F) who will attend Cleveland and play varsity this season. Terrance is a huge guy, sort of an Alex Holmes/Anthony Garrison-type, but who handles the ball better than they do, and they certainly are capable players. Terrance can dish, drive, and uses his body very well under the basket, taking advantage of his size to with a nice drop step and spin move under the basket. Terrance had at least 8 rebounds in addition to his 18 points, a team high. Nick Jones finished with 11 points, 3 blocked shots. The USA Red Team also featured a few players who were different than those who played on Friday, so we'll give you today's roster:

David Gale (5'-10" Fr. PG/SG)
David Cotton (5'-10 8th Gr. G)
Chris Singh (5'-9" Fr. G)
John McGee (6'-2" Sr. F)
Terrance Jones (6'-5" Fr. F)
Tyrell Hendrix (6'-0" Fr. G)
Lester Clay (6'-3" Fr. G)
Vincent Williams (6'-7" So. C/F)
George Williams (6'-3" Fr. G/F)
Eric Jones (5'-10" Fr. PG/SG)

The Orange County Bulls were no pushovers, and they gave USA Red everything they had. The team featured some really tough, athletic players, who unfortunately had gotten pretty well hammered by the team from Lancaster yesterday afternoon, and so they came out with nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Today they seemed much more relaxed, and they played tremendously well, especially Patrick Neopoli (6'-7" Fr. F/C) who will play this season at Esperanza. Neopoli is a big, athletic player, not tremendously wide, but very strong, and today he was a rebounding vacuum machine, and we're willing to bet that he had more than half of OC's 46 points. We were also impressed with the play of Joe Flores (5'-11" Fr. G) who will attend Mater Dei. We don't have heights on the rest of the players, and we're pretty sure that they're all going to be freshmen this season, so here are the rest of the OC Bulls: Robert Cherney (Mater Dei), Brian Garcia (Fullerton), Chris Withrow (Troy), Joe Flores (Mater Dei), Ben Alvarado (Esperanza), and Baker Spencer (5'-7" Fr. PG). Spencer played very well, driving, dishing, but he drove a little too much for our taste, often finding himself with nowhere to go and no one to dish to, but in the open court, he's very quick and has decent court vision.

This was a game which see-sawed back and forth throughout, and neither team led by more than 4 at any point. And, as we noted, this one came down to the final second, literally. It doesn't get much better than that.

Tomorrow, the Red team will meet up with either Lancaster or the Norco (yeah, it was a "Norco" not Norcal team) Stampede at 12:40 p.m. at Gardena High. For those interested in attending any of the games at Gardena tomorrow or Monday, the gym is located on 182nd Street, near the intersection of Artesia and Normandie and 182nd.

See you there.