LJ b BB: First-round opponent

By Ed Piper, Jr.

Looking at the season of Valhalla, La Jolla's opponent in a CIF Division 2 first-round playoff game Wed., Jan. 22, one thinks of "Rich Man, Poor Man."

Or: sticking your head into the blades of a chipper machine.

First, as seems to have been their practice of the last few years under head coach Keith Jackson, who has been at the helm since 2006, the Norsemen clocked their December opponents by playing down a bit and entering tournaments in the South Bay against lesser teams.

In doing so this season, Valhalla won the San Ysidro Cougar Classic, beating the host school on its home court 71-56, and the Montgomery Aztec Holiday Classic.

At one point, the Norsemen, behind seniors Kai Komaki, a 5'9" scorer, and Malique Shaw, a 6'4" rebounder/shot-blocker, as well as Ramzi Sultan and Evan O'Neill, had a 13-game winning streak early in the season.

They stood at 16-2 and looked on paper like world-beaters.

Then the "poor man" part clicked into gear; the chipper action came into play.

Valhalla returned home to play in the Grossmont Hills League after the New Year, and quickly dropped all but one of its conference games, going 1-7 to Helix's 8-0.

In fact, Jackson's squad had the unenviable task of facing the Highlanders, newly equipped in January with Mater Dei transfer Miles Norris, a 6'9" power forward. Norris, whom La Jolla didn't have to face when the two teams met in December, is rated four stars (out of five by national prep rating services).

Needless to say, Komaki, Shaw, Sultan, O'Neill and their teammates--earlier having enjoyed so much success in the December tournament season--were no match, losing both games to Helix.

The Norsemen's one win in the Grossmont Hills League appears to have been a 58-54 upset of Grossmont to end the regular season, after the league race was basically decided. Against the Hillers, a mediocre team at 4-5 in league, 13-15 overall, Komaki sparkled with 26 points, adding four rebounds and four assists.

Shaw recorded a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

Junior Ty Schimke, not to be confused with his older brother Trey, who graduated last year, scored 24 points, with four assists, three steals, and two rebounds.

Sultan grabbed seven rebounds, adding two blocks, an assist, and a steal.

Micah Campos collected four rebounds, three assists, and a blocked shot.

Austin Pola had two rebounds and one steal in a limited role.

For the Vikings, one thinks of all the yoga sessions Coach Paul Baranowski had his players take part in last year. They need to somehow bring a new outlook to the gym for Wednesday's match-up, different from the locked-down one they had after the Scripps Ranch disaster last Friday. Even Reed Farley, on crutches, was muttering. He's not coming back to save his teammates.

The two first-round opponents have both experienced a before-and-after split this season, for different reasons. The Vikings went 10-1 through December's tournaments, started league play, then lost Reed Farley, a key player, to an ACL injury Jan. 24.

Last year, La Jolla went through a similar tournament-success-then-crash a la Valhalla's current season, because the Vikings still played in the Western League and were crushed by private-school opponents Cathedral Catholic (the first game after the New Year, after over a week without practice) and St. Augustine.

Now, this year, with the equity approach newly leading to re-leaguing by recent performance, instead of the long-time traditional standard of school enrollment, the Vikings were looking forward to playing Eastern League opponents much more in their sphere of ability: Henry, Scripps Ranch, and Serra, besides lowly Madison and Hoover.

Henry downed Serra on Serra's home court last Friday to secure the Eastern League title, but the Patriots also lost starter Christian Choice to injury.

La Jolla can focus on some of the following results of the two teams against common opponents:

Both squads, with their presumed current lineups, edged Serra, La Jolla by four points Feb. 7, Valhalla by a mere point Jan. 13, Friday the 13th.

Both squads, with their current lineups, defeated Madison, though Valhalla enjoyed a wider margin of victory. The Vikings prevailed Feb. 11, 55-46, in an Eastern League game, the Norsemen a week earlier, 45-28, in the Coaches vs. Cancer fund-raiser.

Both lost to Patrick Henry with their current rosters, La Jolla by 14 on Feb. 14, Valhalla by a whopping 23 way back on Dec. 8.