la v. Manual

SoCal High School & Prep Report

City Section Game of the Week:
LA High v. Manual Arts--(January 24, 1998)

Yesterday's edition of the LA Times billed this as the "Game of the Week". Shortly thereafter, we started getting messages over on the Prep Message Board about the Los Angeles High team. So we decided to check out the game and these two teams for ourselves.

Going into the game, the Los Angeles Runnin' Romans were 13-4 on the season. Cross-town rival in the Coastal Conference Manual Arts, had a record of 16-3 and was just coming off a pretty convincing win against a fine, but hobbled Fairfax team (See Jason Day's report of that game).

The game was scheduled at Los Angeles High on Friday, and was touted to feature key matchups between Manual's forward Ricky Duffy and forward Deon Green of LA high. Both of these teams were hyped by the Times as "two up-and-comers in the race for the 4-A title."

We managed to get over to LA High over on Olympic near Hancock Park just before the game got underway. Got the rosters set, said hello to the coaches and Gary Klein of the LA Times who was there with two of his little ones, and got settled in for the show.

And it was truly an unbeliveable show. A great game, a pretty full house (not packed, but a good size, vocal crowd), great players, and fast and loose basketball. Oh, and LA High just walloped Manual 89-80. But it wasn't nearly that close except at a few points when Manual either led by 6 or or the game was actually tied just before and just after the half.

But LA, known as the Runnin' Romans, really did run, and run, and run. And they rarely stopped running. Deon Green (6'-2" Sr. SG/F) and Leroy Dawson (6'-1" Jr. S) of LA both scored 31 points in an amazing offensive display. Green was virtually unstoppable from inside, driving, slashing and cutting to the hole, finishing fast break after fast break, while Dawson did it from the outside, with his smooth and accurate stroke, hitting for seven three-pointers, several of them dropping as he was getting knocked to the floor, literally on his butt, to convert the four-point play. After the game, Dawson was asked how he managed to hit so many three's while falling down, and he replied: "Easy, that's how I practice them. Really, I do." And after seeing him do it, we believe it.

LA was also helped by Devin Hicks (6'-3" Sr. F) scoring 15 points, which for most teams would have been a great game. But on this team of multiple-31 points scorers, it's just an ok showing. Actually, Hicks had some spectacular shots, working mostly inside and getting a couple of putbacks.

Manual's Ricky Duff (6'-6" Sr. F/C) tried to keep Manual in it with 17 points and a whole bunch of rebounds, and he received some assistance from Tomas Spain (6'-4" Sr. F) who had 10, James Wright (6'-0" Jr. PG) who also scored 13, and Curtis Millage (5'-8" Jr. PG/SG) who scored 13, but it just was not enough, and Manual was hurt by several things, including their own inability to hit their shots, an inability to hang on to loose balls and rebounds, and their difficulty adjusting to LA's 2-2-1 full-court press trapping defense. And they were also hurt by their inability to contain Green's fast breaks to the hole, and frankly Green just got incredibly lucky on several shots (or was amazingly skillful) because there were some shots which just shouldn't have dropped. At least not if you believe in the laws of physics and gravity. But then when you enter the LA High gym, it seems like there must be some new laws of nature which take over.

Manual jumped out to the first score, but LA quickly established the tempo, and with 3:21 to play in the first quarter, the Romans led 12-5. With 1:43 to play in the first, the lead was 16-9, and by the end of the first quarter, Dawson had hit for three of his seven threes, and the Romans led 26-15.

But in the second quarter, the Manual Toilers lived up to their name, just working, hammering, and clawing their way back into the game. With 4:19 to play in the second quarter, Manual had scored all the points in the third quarter, and the score was 27-26, Manual ahead. Finally, about 19 seconds later, Cary Miller (6'-7" Sr. F/C) put LA back in the lead with a tip in to take the lead again at 28-27. And Manual didn't give up there either, even though in the third quarter Dawson hit for two more of his seven threes. Duff just kept on coming, and Manual was outrebounding LA handily in the second, and LA's 2-3 and 2-1-2 shifting zone defense just was not stopping Manual, which repeatedly drove from the baseline and then the secondary rebounders got the offensive boards and putbacks. By the end of the first half, Manual was actually ahead by four points, 38-34, and looking like they were in control.

But if the second quarter belonged to Manual, the entire second half belonged to LA. If LA had committed turnovers and made silly mistakes in the second quarter, it was now Manual making the blatant fouls, missing wildly on their shots, and just not getting back on d.

Manual actually stretched the lead to 10 when they went ahead on a Millage leaping, flying layin with the score 34-44. LA quickly called a 20 second timeout. Until now, we had believed that there was nothing useful which could actually be accomplished in high school with a 20 second timeout, other than to maybe tell a kid to calm down. We're not sure what the LA coaches told the team, but whatever it was, it worked. By the end of the third quarter, the lead had been whittled away by LA to one point, 61-62, and from there it proceeded to switch back and forth on alternating fast breaks, turnovers, and exciting, fast open court play.

But as the fourth quarter got well underway, it was evident that there was no way Manual was going to contain either Green, Hicks, or Dawson, and LA got some helf from Carey Miller who scored 5, and Brian Segbefia (5'-10" Jr. SG) who also scored 5 points. With 1:58 to play in the game, LA, mostly on scoring by Green, who was literally unstoppable, had brought the score to 80-70 with LA leading.

Not content to win it by 10 points, it seemed as if LA might allow Manual to get back into the game. At 1:47, Duff was fouled making both free throws and it was 80-72. Deon Green then drove the court, had three defenders on him, including Johnny Hardwick (6'-9" Jr. C), who got his hand on the ball from the top, and it looked like Green was going to get stuffed. But somehow, unbelievably, the ball just went springing up, and into the basket. The crowd was going nuts, and in addition to the shot, he also drew the foul, and made the and-one, and the score was back to 83-72 with 1:36 to play.

LA then proceeded to run the clock down, and at 1:01, Hicks again shot from outside, and extended the lead to 13 with less than a minute to play. Green then again broke out on a fast break, and LA led 87-72 with about 52 seconds to play.

Manual's James Wright, then make a great drive into the lane, did a jump stop, and continued forward for the floating, flying layin. A pretty shot, and also as it turns out, inconsequential. But almost not.

With 35 seconds on the clock, Green was fouled by Manual to stop the clock. He airballed the first shot, and made the second. Manual had chipped away at the lead by one, 88-76. With 27 seconds on the clock, Manual stole the ball, and Wright hit a three and suddenly it was a 9 point game. With 17 seconds left, Manual fouled Segbefia who went to the line, missed the first and made the second and it was back to a 10 point game. But Manual wasn't giving up, even if it was "make-work", and with 7 seconds on the clock, Hicks was called for a foul, sending Spain to the line. Unfortunately, he missed the first, but made the second. Buzzer sounds. Game over. LA 89, Manual 80.

These are two very good teams, but frankly based on what we saw today, LA is clearly the more athletic and exciting team. Millage of Manual did show a couple of very nice, flashy and quick passes, but not often enough, and at least on one of those great no look passing attempts, the ball went flying out of the receiver's hands. Millage and Wright are guards we like, and they're only going to get better as the season progresses. We didn't see a whole lot of scoring by Hardwick, who had only 8, but he proved he's one of the best rebounders around.

Manual's other scorers were Otis Belisle (6'-2" Jr. G) who had 1 point, Brandon Moorer (6'-7" Jr. F/C) who scored 3 points, and Cuentin Witherspoon (6'-4" Sr. SG/F) who had 7 points.

The most amazing thing about LA's performance was that only Green, Hicks, Dawson, Miller, and Segbefia scored.

This was a great game. Yes, it was the "Game of the Week". And we're glad we could tell you about it. Now, next time, get out there and see it for yourselves. You won't regret it.