Guard Zach Duffy keeps the ball moving
in the Vikings' offense in the first quarter.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
We're down to brass tacks now, as my dad, Ed Piper Sr., might have said.
Here on this long school weekend, we have time to sit back and relish the win last night (Feb. 12) over UC with the return of the full line-up for La Jolla's boys basketball team.
On a lucky Friday the 13th, we have time to reflect on the way it happened. The Vikings trailed going into the fourth quarter, 49-48, and came from behind in a close, lead-swapping contest.
The UC crowd would not be quiet, with the PPR camera going, but more importantly the Centurion fans' entrance in the "Battle of the Fans" competition against three other schools. CIF officials were in attendance evaluating them from the opposite side of the floor.
La Jolla didn't take the fans out of the competition. But the red and black did take the stuffing out of their noise.
How did they do it? With Coach Paul Baranowski's core of seven players he used in the league contest. Six, if you discount bigman Mark Rawdin's nine minutes. Five, if you discount Morgan Albers' 10 minutes.
The "Wizard of Westbourne" used Ladd Castellano, Owen Porter, Zach Duffy, Alex Pitrofsky, and, of course, Reed Farley on his first game back after a sprained ankle.
Dance with the one who brung ya. Something like that.
These five who played substantial minutes--in each case, 23 minutes or more (of the 32 game minutes)--brought you this far, so you stick with them. The equivalent minutes of three of the four quarters.
With the win so important, the number of games dwindling to the last three of the regular season, CIF seeding in play for Feb. 24, these are probably the key ones who we will see the most of in the final stretch.
Rawdin played well against St. Augustine. Match-ups can vary. Mission Bay has some tall folk. UC wasn't so tall.
Interestingly, Pitrofsky played all 32 minutes. He was clicking in the interplay between him and Farley, who got him the ball inside multiple times.
Duffy hit his trey of threes.
Porter, not noted previously, grabbed 10 rebounds, which is humongous.
Farley copped seven rebounds on the defensive end, Porter five. They had almost all of the defensive rebounds La Jolla recorded.
Mission Bay defeated Cathedral Catholic Thursday night while LJHS was edging UC. Cathedral has been on a roll recently, upsetting leader-board number-one St. Augustine. But the Saints would seem to be a lock for the Western League title with a week to go.
The Vikings have a chance to avenge their first-round losses to the Buccaneers and Dons next Tuesday and Friday. That should be a lot of fun.
It's too bad that more students didn't show up at the away game at UC. One, it was an away game, which is always problematic. But UC is a close-by rival. Look at the attendance at the game at Bishop's. Humongous. Two, there hadn't been the buzz around the team due to their recent losses playing a man down.
Tuesday's game at home against Mission Bay is a 5:15 start. Unfortunate for attendance. The late afternoon games always have lower attendance.
Friday's hosting the Dons should yield a good turnout. It's part of a girls varsity-boys varsity doubleheader. And the cheerleaders should be in attendance. That will raise the noise level.
Enjoy your Presidents Day Weekend.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
No comments:
Post a Comment