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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Nike Extravaganza III: Two More
From the Afternoon--(February 8, 1998)

The Nike Extravaganza, hosted by Mater Dei had two sessions: An "afternoon" session featuring local area teams, and an "evening" session featuring the headliners, the national calibre teams. In addition to the Ocean View-Etiwanda contest, there were two more: Servite v. Santa Margarita, and Los Alamitos v. Capistrano Valley, and there was at least one upset among these two as Servite beat consensus No. 1 Santa Margarita, which suffered it's second loss of the week. Here are the highlights. Maybe Jason will have some more details later, but for now here's what we've got.

Oh, and in the evening session, besides Dominguez v. Oak Hill and Mater Dei v. St. Patrick, there was one more featuring Glendora and a team from Beaverton, Oregon. We've already put up Jason's reports on Dominguez and Mater Dei, but we've been told that he didn't get to stay for the Glendora game. We're also told by Steve Kasper of the Nike Extravaganza that the reason Glendora keeps being scheduled in these one day events (they also played Bell-Jeff at about 10:00 pm at Pauley at the MLK, in a game which didn't finish until close to midnight, and which featured about 10 fans in the stands) is that all the players on the team are required to make a community commitment to youth programs, and on Saturdays they do something for a youth basketball league. Pretty nice, and makes a nice story even if it's not true; but we're sure it is. The upshot though of Glendora playing late is that Jason Day couldn't stay, and so far no one else we know has any idea what happened in the game. Maybe we'll be able to find a newspaper report somewhere. In the meantime, here are the other two afternoon games:

Servite 46, Santa Margarita 43

Sixth-ranked Servite's 46-43 victory over top-ranked Santa Margarita Saturday afternoon in the third annual Nike Extravaganza at the Bren Center was certainly a shocker. Rafael Zielonka scored 16 points, Steve Shea had 12 and Evan Friedl had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Friars (19-5), whose defense smothered the Eagles (22-2). It was the second loss in three games for Santa Margarita, which probably no longer be "No.1" this coming Tuesday as the polls are release. And Servite probably won't be No. 6. But then again, they won't be No. 1 either.

Santa Margarita played miserably, getting only one point from its leading scorer, swingman Ryan Forehan-Kelly, and nothing from their 6'-7" center Dekker McKeever or forward Carson Palmer. Point guard T.J. Williams, playing on an injured knee, led all scorers with 21 points, but that was it. The Eagles made only 14 of 43 field-goal attempts.

The loss closed a tough week for Santa Margarita. The Eagles lost, 50-47, to Newport Harbor in a Sea View League game Wednesday, but recovered with a 61-44 victory over visiting El Toro Friday night. Servite, which has won four straight since losing by one point at No. 2 Ocean View two weeks ago, had been preparing for this game since the summer, players said afterward. And they celebrated as if it was a championship final. Shortly after the final buzzer, the Friars whooped it up in front of their bench, cheering and slam-dancing with about 50 students who poured out of the stands.

Los Alamitos 69, Capistrano Valley 62

The teams were coming off big victories Friday--Capistrano Valley over Trabuco Hills and the Griffins over Marina Los Alamitos took the early lead and never looked back, getting 21 points and 15 rebounds from center Matt Komer, 18 points and 13 rebounds from Ryan Ellis and 15 points from reserve guard Rick Garibay. Enrique Phillips had five assists. Capistrano Valley made six of 22 field-goal attempts in the first half and trailed by 13 points. Guard Tom Pincott scored 15 points and center Josh Garrett had 14 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out with 5:05 remaining. Guard Jermaine McDaniel scored 12 points and had six assists and forward Mike Stowell had seven assists.