dada final

SoCalHoops Tournament News

Long Beach Fall Hoops Classic:
The Hood Beats Reebok/Compton In Finals--(Sept. 13, 1998)

It was a long road getting there, but there really was a "final" to the 1998 dada Long Beach Fall Hoops Classic. And Dinos Trigonis is probably happier than anyone now that the 1998 edition is history. It was fun, and he and his crew did a great job and we want to thank him for hosting the event.

We'll work our way backwards with this, so stick with us. The Hood, which is the Compton Dominguez team in different shirts, played the Compton High team which was wearing shirts which said "Reebok/Compton" on them. Other than the fact that the high school coaches weren't on the bench, this was really a prelude to the great cross-town rivalry between these two schools. And this time, the boys from Dominguez had more gas and more legs, defeating Tito Maddox and the Compton crew by 20 points, 79-59 to take the 1998 Championship.

The Hood with Tyson Chandler, rear, Micha McKinney (24),
Ronald Jackson (10), Darius Sanders, Keilon Fortune, Keith
Kincaide Keith Brooks, Cedric Thompkins, Larry Johnson
(red shirt), Joey Arby, Lyman Edwards, Donald Bluitt, Bobby
Jones, James Jackson, Steve Moore (not pictured)

The Hood had to beat the Bay Area Ballers in today's first quarterfinal, and they did it 57-61 in a close and hard fought win. Next they faced the IEBP All Stars in a game which they won 72-61 but in which the IEBP All Stars led for most of the game.

Compton got to the final by beating the San Diego Future Stars by a single point 57-56 and they were lucky to escape with the win. Then, Compton got the pleasure of playing Houston Hoops, last year's champion, and again it was a close game, with Compton winnning 60-55.

The big news in the final game tonight was Keith Kincaide (6'-4" Sr. SG) who scored 36 points, hustled, rebounded, played smothering defense, and shot from inside and outside, and generally was the star. Keilon Fortune (5'-10" So. PG) had a little to do with Kincaide getting the ball so often, and he pushed the break and actually played pretty good defense. Tyson Chandler (7'-0" So. C), "the franchise" had some spectacular dunks and blocks, and generally played the best that we've seen him play ever. He seems to be developing a real killer instinct, and the only thing we'd tell him is that at times it's going to get him in trouble, as it did today when he got tired of getting hooked on defense by Terry Hosendove (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) and Ellis Myles (6'-7" Sr. F/C) and it earned his opponents several trips to the line.

Actually, Tyson's temper was not so bad in the final against Compton. But in the semi-final against IEBP All-Stars, it almost earned him and Kameron Leonard (6'-8" Sr. C) from JW North in Riverside trips to the showers, as they both got called for double technicals for throwing elbows, taunting, and in general getting way out of hand with each other. And when the refs weren't looking, these two should have had boxing gloves on. At least Tyson answered his critics today, those who say he's too soft. . . hey, this guy's for real. Soft like concrete we'd say.


Tyson calls for the ball from the wing	Tyson Chandler about to slam dunk

Keith Brooks (6'-6" Jr. SG/SF) played well, but not so well that he obscured anyone else on the floor, and there was really no obscuring Keith Kincaide tonight. But Larry Johnson (6'-6" Jr. SG/SF) actually came close, at least defensively as he stopped Tito M repeatedly. Cedric Thompkins (6'-6" Jr. F) got his share of rebounding and scored inside too, while Micha McKinney (6'-2" Jr. SG) came in off the bench and hit a couple of three's right away to silence Dony Legans (6'-1" Sr. SG) from Compton, who likewise did the same, came in off the bench and hit a couple of three's to bring Compton to within 6 points with about 10 minutes to play in the second half. Unfortunatey, when Michah hit his, they were unanswered, and Dominguez/The Hood quickly extended its lead to 11, then 13, then 15, and finally at the end, 20 points.

Compton is a good team, and could be a great team, but besides Ellis Myles they really need a big man, and with David Hamilton (6'-9" Fr. C) who is now at Auburn sitting on the bench in his Auburn University hat, it really made everyone realize just how undermanned Compton was against The Hood. Dominguez had something like 16 players sitting on the bench, while Compton only had 6, and in the end, Compton just ran out of gas.


Tito on the dribble in the open court	Tito Maddox bringing the ball up court against Houston

All things considered, Tito Maddox has got to be one of the best point guards in the senior class, but he just can't do it alone. He had some help from Myles, Terry Hosendove (6'-5" Sr. F) and Lanere Anderson (6'-0" Sr. G) but they were missing Jeremiah Thompson (6'-5" Jr. F) and he sure would have helped. James Cummings (5'-9" Sr. PG) did a great job on Keilon too, but it wasn't enough.

Congratulations to The Hood on their victory in the 1998 dada Long Beach Fall Hoops Classic. .