Morgan Albers protects the ball
against Mt. Miguel May 27.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
Morgan Albers likes Hawaiian pizza. Francisco Ramos loves carne asada. And the La Jolla Vikings dished out some hustle, hard work, and nifty assists but fell short to Foothills Christian, 74-52, in the Alliant International University AAU league June 5.
Sophomore Alex Pitrofsky, measuring 6'6", had one of those passes leading to a bucket late in the contest, throwing the ball to his left while leaning backwards near the basket--kind of a no-look pass. Tony Doan took a pass from Ladd Castellano late in the third quarter and scored, bringing the Vikings to within 48-30 of the CIF powerhouse private school.
"So far, so good," said Coach Paul Baranowski before the game when asked to assess the group's progress so far. "Who knows? It's early. But they're working hard. They're kids.
"When school's out," the Arizona native continued, "we'll be able to work out early." That means 6 to 8 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, with games at the various summer camps Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, with Mondays off.
La Jolla recovered somewhat after suffering a 15-0 blitz by the Knights to start the game. The Vikings' first bucket was by Castellano with 5:08 left in the first quarter (10-minute running periods). Compact guard Gaynor Blackmon then scored with 1:45 left to make it 21-4.
The score at halftime was 35-23, after Pitrofsky scored inside, following a nice 10-footer by fellow front court man Mark Rawdin.
Guard Zach Duffy had a beautiful three-pointer in the second quarter. Freshman Reed Farley hit a three with 4:33 left in the same quarter for a 31-17 score.
The Vikings had to deal with full-court pressure much of the first half, having the ball stripped away numerous times by the bigger, quicker Knights from East County.
Filling in for his dad coaching Foothills was Ryan Leaf, former CIF Player of the Year who now plays at Azusa Pacific University. Ryan's "little" brother, T.J., stands 6'9" and had numerous acrobatic baskets for his team. T.J. was an all-CIF choice the past season as a sophomore. Troy also had a soaring slam dunk late in the contest.
Owen Porter commented on his diminutive teammate, Ramos: "He's quiet." He agreed Francisco has a lot of ability.
Said Baranowski on his freshman, likely to be starting point guard for the junior varsity: "The reason he's with us is we want him to get the reps."
Vikes' Gaynor Blackmon brings the ball downcourt
May 27. (Photo by Ed Piper)
Assessed the varsity head coach: "He's a hard-working kid. He wants to learn."
"He comes to every workout. He's very humble, very quiet. He wants to do it the way we want it done. He has a good sense of humor."
Copyright 2014 Ed Piper
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