SoCal High School & Prep Report
SoCal High School & Prep
Report
Exhibition
Doubleheader: Game Two--
LB Poly v. Serra.--(December 19,1997)
Our trusty reporter Jason Day, just filed this second report from the games played at the Long Beach Goldmine on Wednesday night. Jason will be at the 21st Annual Reebok Las Vegas Holiday Prep Classic (as will we for the first few days), and we'll be filing some reports sporadically throughout the weekend. In the meantime, enjoy Jason's take on this game and some of the players featured.
Exlusive to SoCalHoops by Jason Day
Long Beach--Game two of this exhibition double-header featured Long Beach Poly against Gardena Serra and was played at the Long Beach State Goldmine. Artesia defeated L.B. Wilson in the first game.
This was my first chance to see Poly star Ricky Anderson play with his high school team. He finished with 4 pts. and had already picked up 3 fouls by the end of the 1st quarter.
So what’s all the hype?
Simple. This kid can flat out play. He’s got great hands, a little jumper, and real good fundamentals in and around the paint. Then he can go outside and shoot it or hit the open man with electrifying passes. He’s a very aggressive defender (hence the foul trouble), and runs the floor on the break as well as any big man I’ve seen in this young season.
Anderson was matched up against Aerick Sanders, Serra’s 6'-7" sophomore star for most of the time both were on the floor. Early on, Anderson seemed to be having the better of it, especially on offense. He was getting some easy shots around the basket off of nice entry passes and polished post moves. Unfortunately for his stat line, most of them weren’t falling. Soon he was in foul trouble and Sanders came on.
The problem for Serra at this point, was that they weren’t getting the ball to Aerick. At the beginning, Serra was exposing Poly’s weaknesses in the interior. When they took the ball to the rack, either from the wing or the baseline, they got some nice looks at the hoop. Poly’s 2-3 zone looked a little "stiff" at times and they would lose offensive players in the seams at the baseline. But Serra went away from attacking and relied on point guard Davon Johnson to generate some offense from the outside. Bad news. Davon was off in this one and the shots simply didn’t fall. He finished with 9pts. while taking a "grip" of shots.
So, with neither team really able to set the tone, it was 18 - 12, Poly, at the end of the 1st.
With Anderson heading to the bench,
Poly’s attack shifted outside to their perimeter players.
Coach Ron Palmer started 5’-5" sophomore Wesley Stokes
at the point. Mike McIntyre, 6’-1" senior handled the 2
and Sheldon Diggs (6’-2" Sr SG), rounded out the 3
guard attack. Stokes against Johnson was mildly interesting
between the tops of the keys. Johnson has a good open court
handle, as does Stokes. The difference was that Stokes was also
passing the ball to the open man. Often that was McIntyre who got
some nice jumpers to fall and finished with a game high 14.
Diggs and Stokes combined for 17 points on good shot selection and drives to the hoop. Shea Anderson (6’-6" Jr SF) did a great job on the boards in Ricky’s absence. He also chipped in 11 pts. Marcus Sargent, yet another shooter, had 9.
Serra was down by about 13 early in
the second quarter, mostly because Poly got some fast breaks off
of long rebounds. But Ryan Odums (6’-1" Jr PG), who
overcame some early turnovers, and Earl Lewis (6’-5"
Jr. SF), who was more animated and involved than he’s been
in awhile, teamed with Sanders to play some tough d and score a
few points while Johnson struggled. Davon did have a pretty good
defensive game and that helped keep Poly in sight.
At the half, Poly was up by 15, but Serra showed no signs of going quietly. In fact, they closed to within 8 early in the 3rd. With Ricky back in the game, Poly still didn’t change their focus. They kept moving the ball around and hitting the open man who usually hit the jumper. Anderson (Ricky) played on the perimeter a lot in this quarter, and got to showcase his passing skills with some bullets to open team-mates under the basket.
The lead was back up to 15 when the Serra coaches got a tech called on em with 3:40 left in the 3rd. Stokes dropped both of them, the air seemed to go out of Serra, and Poly cruised.
Opposing coaches take note. When
Poly went up by about 25 or so, Palmer went DEEPER into his
bench. Out walks 6’-6" (at least 220) SOPHOMORE Joe
Travis. He looks like a project right now, but is agile, had a
block, and a few boards.
Are you getting the picture here? This Poly team is loaded, and very well coached. They play together, look for the open man, and get the pill to him. They run the floor and can finish the break, inside or outside, and they have the patience and discipline to run the half court offense. And, they’ve got the horses to get it done, starters and reserves. Coach Palmer related that they will be without one big (6’-10") factor for the rest of the season because Chris Stevens, a highly touted senior center, is recovering from back surgery. Jaison Waltower, a 6’-6" power forward, didn’t play in this game because he apparently had trouble getting to the gym. After watching them dismantle Serra, it’s scary to think about them at full strength.
Final score: Poly 73 ; Serra 42
Jason Day
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