SoCal High School & Prep Report

Reebok Vegas Prep Classic:
Jason Day's Third Day Report--(December 23, 1997)

Here's our correspondent Jason Day's report from the third day of the tournament, and his report on the LA Westchester v. Bishop Gorman Game, played Monday, December 22, 1997:

L.A. WESTCHESTER BATTLES BISHOP GORMAN (NV)
FOR QUARTERFINAL SPOT

MONDAY DECEMBER 22

by JASON DAY

After a day of rest (no games were played on Sunday) the Reebok Classic was back underway early Monday morning. Los Angeles Westchester, USA’s #6 in the nation, met Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, the Nevada State AAAA defending champions. Westchester got to this game beating Phoenix South Mountain by 29 in the first game on Friday, and squeaking by Las Vegas High by 5 on Saturday. Bishop Gorman defeated San Bernardino Pacific by 3 on Friday in a game in which they got pounde by one player, Pacific's Jr. SG Chaun Ballard who personally scored 50 points (shooting 17 for 32, 12 for 23 from the field, and downtown--all in 33 minutes). Bishop then got another 3 point victory against Ponderosa (CO) on Saturday, to meet Westchester.

Up to this point, Westchester had not looked very sharp in the first two games. Against South Mountain they seemed lethargic especially on defense, but still came away with a blowout. Against Las Vegas the defense lacked any intensity, and the offense seemed to bog down often. Vegas was able to make this a very close finish, but Westchester prevailed. The problems for Westchester would appear again later.

In this one though, Westchester looked much sharper. Chris Osborne (6'-9" Jr. C) was huge on the boards early, with 12 rebounds, 1 block, and 16 points on 7 for 8 shooting.

Brandon Granville ( 5'-10" Sr. PG) didn’t need much offensive output to help with this one, but he got the game MVP with 9 assists and 4 steals. He finished with only 5 points, but still played a great game.

Most of Granville’s dimes were dropped on Syracuse bound Tony Bland, who got 26 points, on 11 of 17 shooting, with three 3-pointers.

Albert Miller (6'-3" Sr. G) chipped in 11 pts. to go with 4 steals, 6 boards and an assist. A great game in his usual quiet but deadly fashion. I really hope this young man’s academics are in order because he’s getting college coach looks and he is a real player who should play at the next level.

For Gorman, this was a tough one from the start. Gorman's guards (Mo Terry, Jason Van Meetren, Darrell Ewell, and others) had trouble with Westchester’s 2-2-1 trap, a swarming defense tailor-made for a quick athletic team like the Comets. And these Gorman guys are not slouches either. Terry (6'-1" Sr. G) is one of the top players in the State of Nevada, and is being recruited by Washington State, Miami and Northern Arizona. Van Meetren (6'-3" Sr. G), has signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at Stanford. Gorman is a small school of only 920 students, and is the only Catholic school in Vegas, but it's produced some great athletes in its day: Detroit Pistons Center (formerly of the Clippers and Bulls) Brian Williams attended Gorman. They were the state Champions last year after a 13-1 record in league play. So they were primed to try to knock off a "nationally" rated team like Westchester. But they just weren't quite up to it.

Gorman tried aggressive physical play early, but Osborne’s presence, and his backup, wide-body transfer, Mackenzie Dent (6'-6" Jr. F) absorbed that punishment and the two of them dished out some of their own. Gorman ran a 1-3-1 half court trapping zone early, and Westchester settled for the outside J for a little while. But Tonly Bland and Albert Miller shot them out of that eventually, and Westchester rolled.

It was 36-22 Westchester at the half. And it just never got any better for Gorman.

Final score Westchester 71. Bishop Gorman 53.

So Westchester moved on to a semi-final game Monday night against USA Today’s No. 9 "ranked" team, the Rice Raiders from New York City, New York, led by Anthony Glover (6'-5" Sr. F) who averaged 19 ppg and 13rpg last season, and who is considering playing for either Seton Hall, Arkansas or St. John's. Seton Hall is coached by Felipe Lopez, who also attended Rice as a high school student. And can you imagine if he ends up at Arkansas with Chris Jeffries of Fresno's Washington Union next year? We know that the Arkansas assistant coach who was at the Vegas tourney was salivating just thinking about it.

Rice did not look very good in the last game on Saturday, and if Westchester comes out with the defensive fire that we're used to seeing them have, this could be a great game. If not, and if Glover & Co., come ready to play, then look for Westchester to struggle. We’ll have it here for you.

Jason Day

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