Vikes' Owen Porter (background left)--
nearly "unconscious" in hitting
four 3's in the late-going.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
La Jolla High was afforded the rare opportunity of hosting crosstown rival Bishop's in the first CIF match-up of the two schools' boys basketball teams in recent history Tues., Feb. 24--the result of the San Diego Section's shift to power rankings from school enrollment in the last year.
But the Vikings and their bulging student turnout didn't enjoy the result as the private-school Knights rode steals and some clutch shooting to a 53-42 win.
Viking Owen Porter, a senior, didn't go out without making a statement as he hit four heretofore unseen three-pointers in the third and fourth quarters to keep his team in the ballgame.
The last one, an exclamation coming with 3:47 left in the game to bring La Jolla within seven, 46-39, turned out to be more of a period as Bishop's held onto its lead and forced LJHS into a pressing/fouling situation in the closing minute or two.
Asked about his near-unconscious shooting from long range, Porter said he hadn't gone into the game planning to shoot. "I was feeling good," he said as the reason he continued putting shots up.
Earlier in the game, it was apparent he was being more aggressive in looking for shots in the lane. Again, no, he hadn't been told to shoot more. The opportunities presented themselves for him to shoot.
For example, in the second quarter the senior wing, playing his last high school game, scored on a left hook at 21-17, Bishop's in the lead. He hadn't been known to take such a shot in his two years on the varsity, but the result was good.
A short time earlier, the righty had connected on a 10-foot jumper. He hadn't taken too many of those recently. Again, aesthetically pleasing, result pleasing.
The Vikings, down a man with point guard Reed Farley out, struggled with their frequent nemesis, the turnover. Knight guards Eric Yu and Connor McCroskey made life difficult for Farley's fill-in's on the ballhandling front.
First-year Bishop's Coach Nick Levine said before the game, "We want to do what we do: defend in the half court." He named Yu and McCroskey, his senior co-captains who have played together since youth league, as the key players for his team in the game. The Knights carried out their coach's mandate, and the two backcourt players proved him right in his assessment.
But the beauty of the effort on the red-and-black side was that the Viking players didn't have that deer-in-the-headlights look before the game. You didn't sense a cloud of inevitability that La Jolla was going to lose the way it seemed to hover over the team during a streak earlier in Western League play when LJHS lost six of seven games while Farley was out.
Shooting guard Ladd Castellano played hard and sacrificed his body on numerous drives from the right elbow of the lane extended, slamming to the floor as Bishop's defenders fouled him in trying to detour him.
Fellow senior Zach Duffy brought desire. It was evident Morgan Albers, who didn't play in the previous game, was more intent in fighting for the ball and trying not to get beat physically by his Knight counterparts.
By winning the first round game, Bishop's most likely wins the right to face Division II power Foothills Christian, which features T.J. Leaf, an outstanding 6'9" big man, Friday night, Feb. 27.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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