west v. manual

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Jason Day: Westchester v. Manual Arts--(January 17, 1998)

We're pleased again to present Jason Day's take on the Westchester v. Manual Arts game from the Coastal Conference played Friday, January 19, 1997. This is always a tough battle between these schools, and as you'll see from reading Jason's take on the game, Westchester almost let the Monday game against Dominguez get in the way of business on Friday. For those who don't remember, or who haven't been paying attention, Dominguez and Westchester will square off at Pauley Pavilion this Monday, January 19, at Pauley Pavilion at 6:30 pm. Don't miss the game, and don't miss Jason's report on the Manual game:

WESTCHESTER ROLLS OVER MANUAL 81-68, AIMS FOR DOMINGUEZ

by Jason Day

The Westchester Comets almost got caught looking ahead to their Monday showdown with Compton Dominguez, at the Martin Luther King Classic, before they had sufficiently dealt with the opponent at hand.

A very able and determined Manual Arts team rolled into Westchester’s gym and played a first half that brought the Comets back to the "right here, right now, right quick"

Westchester coach, Ed Azzam, said he had been worried about his team getting caught up in the hype that has built up around the headline game scheduled for 6:30 pm at UCLA.

"It’s all they’ve been talking about for awhile now" "We’ve been trying to get them to focus on this game and take care of business here first."

If the coaching staff didn’t get the point across, then the Toilers certainly did, and early.

Both teams came out playing to their strengths. Tough full court pressure and push the ball up the court on offense at every opportunity.

Manual’s 1-2-2 press gave Westchester fits right away. Guards James Wright (5'-11" Jr G), and Tomas Spain (6'-4" Sr. SG), got their hands on a lot of Westchester passes early and often. Wright, as quick a guard as you’ll find in SoCal, pushed the turnovers up the court and dished nicely to Ricky Duff (6'6 Sr SF), or Johnny Hardwick (6'9 Jr PF/C). Hardwick finished a couple of those breaks with rim shaking slams that fired up the Manual partisans in the stands and his team. Duff opened the scoring by hitting a 3 off a turnover.

Westchester didn’t help themselves early by throwing 3 half court diagonal passes that were all intercepted by Manual and converted on the other end. Westchester just didn’t seem to want the ball as much as Manual did. And when Manual got their mitts on the rock, they attacked and got an easy shot. At the end of the 1st quarter, Manual was ahead 24-16.

In the 2nd, Westchester did a better job of keeping the ball, but Manual continued to push it at em relentlessly. Curtis Millage (5'-10" Jr PG) teamed with Wright for a one two punch that blew by the Westchester defenders for sweet layups or dishes to teammates. Both of these kids played with a lot of determination and skill. Westchester’s guards are no slouches, and these two made them look as if they were standing still at times.

Of course the Comets weren’t exactly helpless at this point. All everything, Tony "Pretty T." Bland, who didn’t start because he’s still nursing an ankle, came off the bench and dropped 11pts in his usual fashion, pretty takes off the dribble for pretty finishes. The ankle only seemed to effect his elevation, his dribble moves and cuts to the rack were vintage Tony. Bland and David Bluthenthal (6'-7" Sr. PF), carried the scoring burden for Westchester and kept them in the game. David had to work for everything he got due to the tenacious tag team defense of Manual’s Hardwick, Duff, and Brandon Moore (6'-7" Jr PF). But Bluthenthal showed once again that teams may come up with ways to slow him down, but he will "get his". He ended up with a game high 21. And while I didn’t keep the stats, I know he had double digit boards too.

In my mind the turning point for Manual came at 5:30 of the 2nd quarter when Hardwick went to the bench with 3 personals and Manual ahead 27-24. Even though Manual still had Duff, a formidable inside player, and Moore, a slightly built but agile and aggressive defender, they just didn’t seem to be as successful at attacking the basket with Hardwick on the bench during this period. Manual’s rebounding also dropped almost immediately. Westchester started executing a bit better, particularly when trying to get it inside to Bluthenthal, or his frontcourt mate Chris Osborne (6'9 Jr PF/C) . At the half, Westchester had taken the lead 39-36

By the time Hardwick came back in the game, at 5:20 of the 3rd quarter, Manual had been outscored 26-12 without him, and now trailed 50-39.

The lead would grow to 18 points as Westchester’s defense started to wear on the Toilers, particularly when Manual had Wright, or Milage out of the game. They got a grip of turnovers in the 3rd.

But James "Mookie" Wright was not going to go quietly. He brought his team back to 11 down, almost singlehandedly, with some impressive quickness and deft ball handling to get in the lane for the finish or the foul. He had only scored 3 pts in the first half. He finished with 19. His performance seemed to pick his team up a bit and they played Westchester even for the rest of the quarter still trailing by eleven, 63-52.

Manual eventually succumbed to the strength, talent, and depth of Westchester. Just too much Tony, David, Albert, and tonight, Chris Osborne. Azzam has said several times that he believed people would really see Osborne’s game improve as he played more minutes with Bluthenthal in the lineup. I’ve given my opinion, on why this might be so, in previous coverage, but the bottom line here was that tonight he had 14 points, a bucket of rebounds, and was a defensive force. With Osborne as another inside presence on THIS team, Dominguez, and everybody else, had best beware.

Miller, the 6'3 senior guard, who plays like a forward--a very good forward, finished with 14 points and another great defensive game. Bland finished with 15, and senior point guard, Brandon Granville chipped in 8. C.J. Williams, yes another guard, had 7pts and a great defensive effort of his own.

That’s a lot of weapons. Maybe they weren’t all clicking early, but once they woke up, Manual was simply outgunned. I also have to note that Hardwick and Duff seemed to disappear offensively in the second half. Neither scored in that period, they both finished with 7, but I think for different reasons. Hardwick’s long stretch on the bench was at a crucial juncture and he never seemed to get himself back to the same hyped level of play and effort after he came back. Manual coach, Randolph Simpson, felt Duff’s problem was that he didn’t play "his" normal game. After Ricky scored a 3 and another jumper, he couldn’t seem to get into his "inside" game where he is at his strongest. But after Westchester answered the Manual wake up call, and started focusing on the task at hand, I really don’t know what else Manual could have done to derail this team on this night. Final score: Westchester 81; Manual 68

So with this one in the books, the Comets can get back to daydreaming about the Monday rumble. As we say in the "community", IT’S ON.

See ya at Pauley Pavilion on Monday at 6:30 pm.

Jason Day

elgee333@pacbell.net