LJ b BB 45, Helix 67

Junior Gabe Solis, one of three
Vikings out due to injury.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla's basketball team got some of its own medicine from the night before, hanging in there with a taller and physical Helix team for three quarters, then "falling apart" in the fourth quarter, in the words of junior guard Behzad Hashemi.

In their season opener, the Vikings smoked Rancho Buena Vista by scoring 17 points in a row in the last six minutes of the game for a 61-42 win.

Sort of the reverse happened to Coach Paul Baranowski's ballers Sat., Dec. 2, in their second game of the annual Hilltop Invitational in the South Bay.

"Four-point game at the half," said Hashemi, a 5'10" shooting specialist who started for the first time in his junior season. "We were battling until the fourth quarter." Then the bottom dropped out for the Norsemen. La Jolla fell, 67-45.

Senior guard Jacob Ohara led LJHS with 14 points.

Teammate and backcourtmate Quinn Rawdin, a senior, acknowledged "maybe" some of the Vikings came into the contest a little overconfident after Friday night's 19-point win.

"However, I know our whole team knew how much of a challenge it would be to go against Helix," asserted the lefty. "We can beat them. It's just we have to work on our mistakes."

Evan Brown, a junior newcomer who plays in the front court, got dizzy and light-headed, losing his breath, and was limited in playing time. "I had to sit out a lot of the game because I have this heart issue that kept me out for almost half the game," said the amiable forward.

"I've worn a heart monitor to try to record it," reported Brown. "They said they couldn't find anything" in previous visits to the cardiologist.

"It is something that has been bugging me since I was little," he revealed.

Hashemi, who hit a three coming off the bench the night before, said, "We all shot poorly but we got good shots, and that's what matters. Most nights those are gonna fall, and we'll be in much better shape."

The quick guard said he was "comfortable" in his first junior start after being sat the first half against RBV for arriving late. But he said his shot felt "awful".

"We all shot poorly," he said.

Rawdin panned his team's entire performance. "We didn't box out. We missed tons of shots. Turned it over a lot. Didn't execute well at all."

But, looking ahead: "We'll get back to work Monday. It's a lesson for us to learn from."

La Jolla returns to action Tuesday night, Dec. 5, in the Hilltop Invitational.