Gaynor Blackmon (3) defends against a Scripps
pass while Tony Coan tries to get out from
under in action Feb. 3.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
There is no joy in Mudville, as La Jolla's boys basketball team dropped its fifth straight loss, 55-38, Tues., Feb. 3, to a Scripps Ranch team that the Vikings had beaten in the first round of Western League play. Each of those losses have come after leading scorer Reed Farley went down with a sprained ankle at the end of a 53-52 win at Bishop's Jan. 16.
La Jolla trailed by only two at halftime at Scripps, 24-22. But as has become the familiar script in the last quintet of games, the Vikings did not have the go-power to stay with their opponents in the late going or the ability to overcome a lead with defensive stops and offensive scores.
Coach Paul Baranowski held a long postgame team meeting in the visitors room just off the court in the Scripps Ranch gym. When players emerged, senior guard Ladd Castellano voiced some of the Mudville frustration when he said, "We were (only) down by two at halftime. Our mindset is holding back, that we're not going to win."
The 6'2" two-guard said, "More people need to jump in and attack. I feel like people are holding back because Reed is injured."
Faces were grim in the team room, as La Jolla has watched its once-sparkling won-lost record, which at its heights stood at 10-4, plummet to 11-10 overall, 2-6 in the Western League. The Vikings players showed up before knowing they could very well be in the game--even against tough opponents--and know they had a good chance to win.
But now there is no joy in Mudville, as the mighty Casey has struck out. Lately you don't see the anticipation, the expectation of winning a few of these. LJHS has been competitive, but not strong enough to give its opponents a real scare.
The Vikings, in the latest installment, went down early, 16-8, in the first quarter as Falcon lefty guard Dhru Patel began to light them up with threes. Castellano had an acrobatic drive down the lane, banking the ball off the backboard as he contorted his body sideways against two defenders to score, trailing 6-4.
Morgan Albers sank two free throws, but Fish connected on a long-range missile. Guard Gaynor Blackmon, handling Farley's point guard duties, scored at 16-13 but couldn't convert the free throw for a three-point play.
Big man Mark Rawdin, who continues to show moves at the lower boxes, scored with his back to the basket on the left side and La Jolla was only down 16-15. The first quarter ended with the locals leading, 19-18.
The Vikings took the lead for their one and only time, other than Castellano's first basket of the game, at 20-19 to start the second quarter when Rawdin grabbed Ladd's blocked shot in the air and lobbed it in from close range.
As Castellano said later, the Vikings played "horribly" in the first and third quarters, falling to Patel's southpaw jumpers to 33-22, then 36-23, at which time Baranowski called an abrupt timeout.
The coach juggled several players, benching big men Rawdin and Alex Pitrofsky for much of the second half and inserting sub Johannes Osypka and guard Tony Coan. Eddie Parker came in off the bench.
Unfortunately, all La Jolla could do was swap baskets with Scripps Ranch down the stretch when the red and black needed a stop. The lead in the fourth quarter, only eight at 43-35, increased to 11 at 49-38 and ballooned to the final margin of 17 points, 55-38.
The Vikings, formerly looking to be in the hunt after beating Scripps Ranch and Lincoln at the start of league play, though a cut below St. Augustine, are now looking up at Mission Bay, Cathedral Catholic--which upset the Saints in their first-round rivalry game a week ago--UC, and even the Falcons with only four Western League games left to go before the CIF playoffs. One observer pointed out that the lower the Vikes drop, the tougher their first-round playoff opponent will be.
"We just lost it towards the fourth quarter," said Rawdin after the postgame meeting. Asked why, he responded, "We stopped playing hard."
Guard Daniel Hemming got a rare minute of play at the end, and said, "It felt good, but losing never feels good. We're on kind of a losing streak. Hopefully, it will pick back up."
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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