LJ b BB 73, Kearny 63

The Vikings' Nick Hulquist hits one of a pair of
free throws on the way to 16 points in a
torrid second half to help lead
La Jolla to a 73-63 win at Kearny.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

In the story of Samson, Delilah reveals his secret and his enemies cut his fulsome hair, rendering him weak.

In La Jolla's 73-63 win at Kearny Tues., Jan. 23, Nick Hulquist reversed things. Having trimmed three inches from his bushy hair, the junior proceeded to shoot and drive home 16 points for the Vikings in the second half and help save the day against a bothersome Komet team.

"We tend to play down to the competition," said the 6'4" guard after a treacherous matchup with the only winless team in the Western League.

He was right: With senior DeAndre Andrews bombing from outside and Brenton Bell driving inside, Kearny (now 0-6 in league, 4-18 overall) rallied from a 12-2 La Jolla start to lead 46-45 early in the third quarter.

It looked like the Vikings (2-4, 9-10) would run away with things at the beginning, with fleet Jacob Ohara beating the Komets' defense back and taking feeds from point guard Behzad Hashemi for a quick three baskets in the first minute.

Lefty Quinn Rawdin added his own layup in transition, then Hashemi, who would fire at will during the evening, canned his first of five three-pointers. 11-2, Vikings.

La Jolla still led 22-16 at the end of one quarter, but then proceeded to be outscored 22-19 in the second by a Kearny team that saw an opening in the Vikings' sloppiness and gained some confidence after looking like the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight--or do much of anything else.

After ending the third quarter almost even, with the visitors leading 57-56, the Vikings then won the fourth period, 16-7, and the game.

In the closing quarter, Charlie Gal battled for two baskets and Hulquist a pair of his own.

Gal, the 6'6" senior, had a putback of an Ohara missed layup for a 59-56 La Jolla lead with five and a half minutes left. Hulquist sank two free throws after he was fouled on a trademark drive on the left side of the basket.

The junior swingman then pulled up to make a 10-footer, again from the left side at an angle. A reporter wrote "on fire" in his notebook.

Gal scored on another putback a short time later, this time after a Behzad miss. That gave the Vikings a nine-point lead.

The closest Kearny got after that was six points, at 69-63. Hashemi made two free throws on a one-and-one with 54 seconds left. He came back and did it again 11 seconds later, as the Komets were forced to foul to stop the clock.

A Viking led scoring in each of the first three quarters: Ohara with 10 points in the first quarter, Gal the same in the second quarter, and Hulquist ditto in the third.

Hashemi finished with 21 points, Hulquist 17, Ohara 15, and Gal 14 in one of the more balanced team scoring efforts of the season.

For the Komets, who, as their coach Foad "Todd" Ahwazi said, would not give up despite adversity, Andrews scored 20 points and Bell 19.

LJ g soccer: Grace Dessert, senior co-captain

By Ed Piper

Grace Dessert (pronounced "desert")
Team co-captain
Year in school: Senior
Went on an eye-opening trip to India during Thanksgiving vacation.

EP: Tell me about your trip to India.

GD: It was absolutely amazing. Honestly, life-changing. It's such a different culture.

EP: Did you go with your family?

GD: Yeah, my dad and I went to a wedding. The wedding was three days long (with emphasis).

EP: Who was in the wedding that you know?

GD: My dad's colleagues son. I don't really know him, but by the end of it... It was four days of three meals a day at his house.

EP: You had never been there before?

GD: Never.

EP: Describe it. What did you see, hear?

GD: There are rituals. Like one day you put turmeric on the groom. You go get water at the nearest temple and carry it back. There is a marching band that goes through the street. There are three days of parties.

(According to online information, the haldi ceremony in an Indian wedding involves the elder women applying turmeric or haldi paste, brightly colored orange or yellow, to the bride's and groom's bodies as a blessing, purification, and warding off evil.)

EP: Being someone from a different culture, were you asked to do anything special?

GD: People took photos of me. We went to the Taj Mahal and there are these little kids pointing at me and taking photos. (chuckling)

EP: Because you're lighter, or what?

GD: Yeah. I wore a traditional Indian dress. (Showing photos on her phone) The groom's name is Gagan. Okay, we need to go warm up now. (She is running warm-ups.)

EP: Give me a quick comment on the team.

GD: We've been playing really well.

EP: What's the highlight lately?

GD: We just beat Cathedral (Jan. 16), 2-0, long-time rivals, there (at Cathedral).

EP: How'd you do it?

GD: We worked as a team. Cathedral has some really good players, but they don't pass. They go straight toward the goal. We worked together and we worked for each other. (Ran off to warm-ups, leading team members.)

LJ b BB: Quinn Rawdin

By Ed Piper

Quinn Rawdin
Position: Shooting guard
Year in school: Senior
Year on varsity: Third
On Jan. 20, Rawdin scored 11 points, including a trio of three-pointers, in a 65-45 win over Parker in the "Battle at the Bay" showcase at Mission Bay High.

EP: You had a little streak in there (during the first half). Tell me about that.

QR: I've just been getting told a lot lately to shoot the ball, and I know I just need to do something about it, so I went out early and did it.

EP: I talked with some of the other guys. You put the different parts together. It just all seemed to flow together.

QR: We all have our own little specialties. We bring a part to the team. When we're all together and we play well, we do very well.

(Teammate Charlie Gal approaches.)

EP: How about this guy? (To Gal) You made summer league look like nothing.

CG: You got Quinn knockin' down everything.

QR: (smiling) It's back-and-forth with us.

CG: Does that help your team reset a little bit? This is a really good effort.

QR: We've been on a cold streak lately, and we wanted to do something about it. So we started off for this week early.

LJ b BB: Nick Hulquist

By Ed Piper

Nick Hulquist
Height: 6'4"
Position: Guard/forward
Year in school: Junior
Year on varsity: First
On Jan. 20, he made three three-pointers and scored 11 points in a 65-45 win over Parker in the "Battle at the Bay" showcase at Mission Bay High.

EP: The different parts, you really put them together.

NH: Oh, yeah. Everyone was shooting. Everyone was playing well. Everyone was moving. We just put all the pieces together.

EP: It starts well, then people relax, it keeps happening, then you win by 20.

NH: We kept our foot on the pedal and we just kept going. We kept playing good defense and we were shooting well, as you could tell.

EP: One of your favorite spots is top of the key, and you were feeling it tonight.

NH: I was.

EP: How did it feel?

NH: It felt great. It hasn't been the best the last couple of games. It was good to see some shots go in.

LJ g water polo: MC Rendon, goalie

By Ed Piper

MC (MariCarmen) Rendon
Year in school: Sophomore
Position: Goalie
Fast fact: MC's sister Leslie, a senior, is one of two team captains for the Vikings...Their mother's family is from Puebla, Mexico, in which the capital is famous for having 365 churches, one for each day of the year.
La Jolla 9, Oaks Christian 4, Sat., Jan. 20, in the America's Finest City tourney at Coronado Community Center. Day 2 of the tournament, after going 1-1 in pool play on Day 1.

EP: MC, you went the whole way (in goal). That's a long game.

MC: Yeah.

EP: You guys (MC and fellow starting goalie Shauna Franke, who was injured) weren't sharing duties. Did you pace yourself? Did you go to the extra tank? How'd you propel yourself to have enough energy?

MC: I took advantage of the breaks, and I would take really deep breaths, and I would get really confident for the next quarter and tell myself I would do good.

EP: You (La Jolla) won, 9-4. You pulled away at the end. You were leading by only two goals at one point. How did you do it as a team to pull away and put that team away?

MC: I guess we all realized that we are capable of beating them. So we tried our hardest to get back and score.

EP: Who was a teammate who stepped up today?

MC: I'd say (junior) Katy (Koenig).

EP: She had some key goals.

MC: Yeah.

EP: And she's got some gumption in there, too. A little spirit... Your family is from Puebla?

MC: Yeah.

EP: Did you live there at all?

MC: No, I've just gone for vacation. I haven't been there in four years.

EP: Your mom grew up  in Puebla?

MC: Yeah.

EP: She must be really proud of you and your sister, playing on the same team.

MC: Yeah. (laughing)

EP: How is that, playing on the same team as your sister?

MC: Well, because of my sister's birthday, she stays down a year (on younger teams). So in water polo, I've been playing with her ever since I was little. So I've always played with her.

LJ FB: Max Smith, freshman linebacker

By Ed Piper

Max Smith
Position: Linebacker
Year in school: Freshman
Fast facts: Max's father's mother speaks Japanese...Max had games of 12 tackles versus Santa Fe Christian in the playoffs, 11 versus University City, and 10 against Serra.

EP: How do you do it (anticipate and make tackles)? You're in your position. The other team is going to snap the ball. What's running through your mind? What are some things you're doing?

MS: Before the game, there's a lot of scouting... (interrupted by a phone call to reporter)

EP: What's your middle name?

MS: Gregory.

EP: Go back. You're in your position. The other team is about to snap the ball.

MS: There's film. You watch to see what they're (opponents) going to do on downs. Like, they pass on first down, they run on second down. Or you look at players and what they do. In high school, obviously, a lot of them are nervous and you have to key off that. Maybe a running back will look towards the hole he is going to run through.

EP: Oh, so he'll give it away.

MS: Yeah, sometimes. The quarterback will put his foot back. You have to read off those keys and you play off that. You're guessing, but you're not guessing. When you don't get what you think you're gonna get (laughing, but holding it together as two friends make faces at him over the interviewer's shoulder), you change it up. Ride whatever you see.

EP: But what I was thinking of, too, is they're nervous. You have to slow it down for you, too.

Friend: I love you, Max.

MS: So, I try to slow it down, make sure I'm not nervous. Obviously, in the beginning of the game, it's worse. But as the game goes on, you get in the flow, you start making plays without having to think about it too much.

EP: You slow down?

MS: Once the game is going on, you relax. You always have to make sure you focus in on the game, but not too much so that you're not surprised by what's coming and you're not over-anticipating something. Because you always want to keep it calm and do what you know you can do.

LJ b BB: 'A thing of beauty'

The Vikings' Charlie Gal (seated, center, before
their game in the "Battle at the Bay" at
Mission Bay High), lit up the gym with
23 points in a 65-45 win over Parker.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Charlie Gal has always had nice form on his jump shot.

On Saturday evening, Jan. 20, the La Jolla forward was able to show it off as a thing of beauty before college scouts who were in attendance at the "Battle of the Bay" showcase at Mission Bay High.

The stout, 6'6" inside/outside threat rained down five outside shots--three of them from beyond the arc--during the Vikings' 65-45 rout of a humbled Francis Parker team.

Charlie has put up respectable numbers this season, his third playing for varsity coach Paul Baranowski. While averaging 11.9 points a game through La Jolla's first 17 games to lead his squad and teammates Jacob Ohara (at 11.4 points) and Behzad Hashemi (11.1) by a smidgen, the senior is shooting 46 percent from the field on 73 of 160, third on the team.

His number of attempts leads the team, with only Hashemi close (147). From three-point range, which he showed off from against the Lancers, his percentage is 28 percent, which is decent but, of course, a number that he would like to improve.

At the free throw stripe, the burly front court man is sinking 66 percent on 41 of 62. His 62 attempts lead the team, evidence of his bruising inside play that often involves sticking a shoulder into his defender from either box on the side of the paint and plowing his way toward the basket. There is nothing subtle about the big man's play.

"He was just doing it today," said fellow front court player Evan Brown of Gal's 23-point performance. "He was pulling up from almost anywhere (to shoot)."

Commented Brown, a junior who watched Gal play on the varsity for two years from the junior varsity, "It is just nice when we can follow him and (point guard) Behzad guide us to those victories."

Gal, characteristically, was modest and deflected credit to his teammates. "My teammates did a really good job of finding me open to get me the ball, so I just caught it there," he said in the after-game din of the "Battle" event.

Acknowledging his shot "felt really good" coming off his hands, the senior said, about the 65-45 win over Parker, "Honestly, everyone did really well and made their shots. Quinn (Rawdin) and Nick Hulquist knocked down a couple of three's apiece. I hit a couple (actually thre). We just knocked down all our shots. That was really the difference."