cathedral city 222

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: The Living Desert--
Cathedral City--(February 22, 1998)

Well, it looks like putting out the word to our friends in the desert and Inland Empire areas has drawn some attention. And we've now got something to tell you all about Cathedral City's game against the Ridgecrest Burroughs Burros played Friday night. For those who don't know it, Cathedral City plays in the Desert Valley League with teams such as Coachella Valley, Indio, La Qunita, Palm Desert, and Palm Springs. In case you wondered where Cathedral City is, it's HERE:

As you can see, it's just south of Palm Springs, and just north of Palm Desert and Indio on Highway 111.

You wouldn't think of this area as a hotbed of basketball. When you think of the Palm Springs area you think golf, tennis, spas, retired folks, huge shopping malls, more retired folks, outlet stores, huge hotels, more golf courses, and more retired folks, figs, dates, and lots of desert. But the one thing you rarely if ever think about with the Palm Springs area is basketball.

But the desert is truly alive with hoops, especially during playoffs. And one team which is having a major impact this season is Cathedral City.

The team this year features :

Bryan Burnett (6'-1" Sr. G)
Josh Alvarez (5'-9" Jr. G)
Marquise Strange (5'-8" Sr. G)
Kevin McElroy (6'-0" Sr. G)
Edgar Reyna (5'-9" Jr. G)
Eddie Martinez (6'-0" Jr. G)
James Lake (6'-3" Sr. G/F)
Royce Boone (5'-11" Jr. G)
Caleb Gervin (6'-1" Sr. G)
Lavouse Long (6'-1" Jr. G)
Aaron Smith (6'-2" So. G/F)
Nathan Davenport (6'-6" Sr. PF)
Max Patrick (5'-11" Jr. G)
David Peters (6'-8" Jr. C)
Josh Haltman (6'-6" Sr. F/C)
Jacob Marcos (6'-5" Sr. F)
Clifton Cooper (6'-4" Jr. F)

They are this year's Desert Valley League Champions, and with a record of 23-4 were ranked third in the CIF Southern Section Poll of Division II-A teams, behind only Dominguez at No. 1 and Redondo Union at No. 2 going into the last week of play (as of 2/9, the latest poll issued by the Southern Section). They are currently the No. 3 seed in Division II-A playoffs, and on Friday, they played an opening round game against Ridgecrest Burroughs. We had some real difficulty getting any details, but a few folks have come through for us, including one of our friends who sent us the details from the Desert Sun, the local Palm Springs area paper. Here it is:

The Desert Valley League champion Lions (23-4) romped to an 82-52 win over Burroughs of Ridgecrest, the third-place team from the Mojave River League, taking the lead in the first three minutes of play that they never relinquished.

Although the Lions won the CIF titale last year, they have no title to defend, haing moved from Division III-AA to II-A this year. But, that didn't lessen the pressure of being the hunted - back into the playoffs. Cathedral City senior guard Caleb Gervin finished with 39 points- just eight shy of breaking into the top five all-time scorers in CIF-Southern Section history. And although he put the sparkle into the team's showmanship with five high-flying slam dunks, it was the team's 71 percent field goal shooting in the first half that boosted the Lions to a cushy 50-22 halftime lead. Cathedral City senior forward Nathan Davenport also finished the game with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Cathedral City's pressure defense led to 20 steals. The Lions also controlled the backboards, allowing the Burroughs only four offensive rebounds.

"In the first half, we played extremely intense ball," Cathedral City coach Rob Hanmer (Who was just honored with Coach of the Year in the CIF Southern Section) said. "I was real happy because against the zone, we didn't settle for shooting threes. We took it inside." And, 71-percent field goal shooting in the first half - 52 percent through all four quarters - buried the Burros, who shot just 45 percent from the field in the game.

"That's playing at a high level," Hanmer said. "Fortunately, we picked the right time to start playing at a high level."

The Lions will now play Elsinore in the second round, at Lake Elsinore on Tuesday, February 24, at a time yet to be determined.

Burroughs.......... 9 13 19 11 - 52
Cathedral City..... 18 32 11 21 - 82
Burroughs - O'Neil 16, Rollingson 5, Montoya 14, Pich 2, Moffitt 7, Curtis 4, Bazile 4.

Cathedral City - Gervin 39, Strange 11, Davenport 13, Cooper 4, Patrick 4, Marcos 2, Smith 2, Alvarez 3, Haltman 4.

Three-pointers: B - Montoya 4. CC - Gervin 2, Strange 3, Smith 1, Alvarez 1.

So there it is. Now we all know what happened. And hopefully we'll have more information on Cathedral City as they advance towards the showdown with Redondo Union, and as the two No. 1 regional seeds try to make it to either Dominguez or Paso Robles in the Division finals.