IIIAA228.htm

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: Division III-AA
Semifinal Results--(February 28, 1998)

Only two games played last night, which makes complete sense, since there were only two games left to determine who'd be in the finals next week. Ocean View beat Pomona 71-58, and Barstow beat La Canada Blair to set up an Ocean View v. Barstow final. Here's how they did it:

Division III-AA Semifinals

Game 1: Ocean View 71, Pomona 58

Garid Beeler scored 18 points on Friday night, including four threes, and he grabbed eight rebounds to help Ocean View (24-4) reach the championship game for the first time since 1985. The Seahawks face Barstow, a 66-61 winner over La Canada, in the finals on March 7 at 1 p.m. at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. Beeler had two three-pointers and a steal and a layup during the run a 25-5 run from the end of the first quarter into the second quarter as the Seahawks took a 35-17 lead. Ocean View dominated the boards, outhustling the Devils (21-7) to get second and third chances on offense. The only thing that kept the game interesting was Pomona's 6-4 guard Jerry Green, who scored a game-high 36 points. Green scored 19 of his points in the second half and Pomona closed the gap to eight points on several occasions. Ocean View point guard Tony Dow finished with 20 points and six assists and Hanson added 11 points.

The key sequence in Friday's contest was Ocean View's 25-5 run, a sprint of points that began during a deliberately-played first quarter and ended when Dow's superb drive for a layup gave the Seahawks a 35-17 lead with less than four minutes remaining in the second. Ocean View was then content to set up its shots - the Seahawks once passed 12 times before attempting a basket - while relying on an inside advantage that led to a final rebounding edge of 34-20. Seahawk 6-foot-10 center Kevin Hanson had 11 points and five rebounds for Ocean View, whose scoring average leader is Dow (12 points). Pomona relied on Green, who scored 17 of the Red Devils' 27 points at halftime. In the second quarter, the other Pomona players were a combined 2-of-10 shooting from the field and Ocean View led at the break, 39-27. Hanson and Ocean View's swarming rebounding attack held Sarpy to four points and two rebounds. Sarpy's best contribution was on defense: four blocked shots. The second half was a series of Pomona threats thwarted by a Seahawk team that never let the Red Devils creep closer than eight points. Green, a point/shooting guard who's considering scholarships to USC, Oregon State, Arizona State and UC Irvine, pulled the Red Devils within 43-33, but Beeler answered with a 3-pointer. Pomona used a 10-3 fourth-quarter run to get within 59-51, but Green and teammate Auzi Gutierrez missed shots and Beeler again frustrated with his fourth and final 3-pointer. In the final two minutes, Green stole a pass and dunked, but that only made it 64-53 and Ocean View's Casey Lawson, taking just his second shot since the first quarter, connected on a back-breaking 16-footer.

Unseeded Pomona had a 6-foot-9 center, Shomari Sarpy, who averages 11 points and 10 rebounds. But Sarpy was badly outplayed by the 6-foot-10 Hanson, who outscored Sarpy 10 to four and outrebounded him six to three. Pomona began the game in a loose zone that Ocean View easily carved up by swinging the ball around the perimeter or by driving into the lane and passing the ball outside for wide-open, three-pointers. Beeler hit four three-pointers, two in each half. Jason Martini, a reserve, sparked the Seahawks with four points, four rebounds and three steals in the first half. Jerry Green scored on runners in the lane, double-clutch jumpers with two defenders hanging on him, pull-up jumpers and hanging layups. But Green was no match for Ocean View's swarming defense fierce rebounding and solid perimeter shooting.

Game 2: Barstow v. La Canada at Blair

Alvin Yarber's basket with 24 seconds remaining gave Barstow (25-3) a 62-61 lead and the Aztecs held on in a Division III-AA semifinal at Blair High. Matt Moore, who scored a game-high 27 points for La Canada, fouled out trying to block Yarber's shot. Yarber missed the ensuing free throw, but Barstow's Chris Mann pulled down the rebound and put it back for a 64-61 lead. Mann finished with 19 points. La Canada (24-6) had an opportunity to tie the score, but Brian Hudes missed a desperation three-point attempt with two seconds left. Tim Chung's free throws with 3:05 left had given La Canada a 59-48 lead, but Barstow answered with a 12-0 run to go up, 60-59. Moore's bank shot with 46 seconds left allowed La Canada to reclaim a 61-60 lead, but he twice missed front ends of one-and-one free-throw situations in the final minute.