Senior Ladd Castellano (12) guards Kristopher
Wixted (22) of Scripps Ranch, while teammate
Mark Rawdin (far right) defends inside.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
Ladd Castellano got his usual 14 points against Scripps Ranch Feb. 3, even though the Vikings basketball team lost. The senior guard had four field goals and was six-of-eight on free throws.
Number 12 also scored 14 points in a bad loss to Lincoln Fri., Jan. 30. In fact, he has scored that many or more points in eight of La Jolla's games this year.
That is what Ladd does. He scores points consistently. What's more, he does it by attacking the basket.
"I thought that I did (attack the basket)," he answered when asked if he felt he was being aggressive after the discouraging loss at Scripps Ranch.
He's not a point guard, and he knows that. The Vikings know that. In Reed Farley's absence, Coach Paul Baranowski has gone a lot with Gaynor Blackmon in that role. He even plugged Zach Duffy into that slot for a game or two.
Castellano hit a high of 30 points in a dominating non-league 89-58 win over Bonita Vista Jan. 3 to start out the new year.
When Ladd burst onto the scene, it was the start of his junior season and he seemingly appeared out of nowhere to cash in key points for the varsity. He attributed his effectiveness partially to participation on a non-school club team, which is the way Farley grew up his skills beginning in the sixth grade.
Castellano moves the ball on
offense against Falcons'
Carsten Denherder (2).
Club and travel squads, apart from school teams, are a newer generation in many youth sports. In an older generation, AAU teams were not a factor. Playing youth baseball was common, with formal Little League as well as Bronco League/Pony League available for young players.
The newer era with the prominence of non-school sports teams was signaled by the drafting of baseball player Justin Hayward by the Atlanta Braves. Other major league teams had missed on the lefty bat cracker, because they had only sought to scout him during high school games, whereas the majority of his at-bats came in non-school competition.
Castellano has benefitted from the same emphasis. He'll acknowledge, though, that the school coaching he receives from Baranowski is critical in his development as well.
Especially during his junior year, Ladd had a father-son relationship with his school coach that included struggles over the young man "learning his role", in Baranowski's words. That task is a priority in Baranowski's system, in which "playing for the other" is emphasized over "playing for oneself".
Highlights statistically for the two-guard (shooting guard) this season have included 11-for-17 in 28 minutes against Bonita Vista. Castellano has played all 32 minutes in three games this year, against Morse, Cathedral Catholic, and the Lincoln game at home.
He dished out a season-high six assists to teammates against Morse, when he also had three steals. He also had six assists in a home win against Scripps Ranch in the first round of Western League play.
Ten rebounds came in losses to Santa Fe Christian and Morse in December tournament play.
Finally, Castellano has had three games in which he hit three three-pointers.
Ladd felt sheepish after his playful push of Farley after Farley's impressive two-hand slam dunk near the end of a win at rival Bishop's Jan. 16 led to Reed spraining his ankle. Asked about the celebratory push of his teammate the day after the game, he answered via Facebook, "I mean Ed there is no way I knew it was going to happen you know?
"I mean now that I look back on it, it was definitely a dumb thing but, it was one of those things that when you were in the moment you're not thinking cause I was just going wild on reeds dunk."
C'est la vie (That's life), as my mother used to say.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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