As a basketball enthusiast and sports fan in general, I trekked my long way up the I-15 Friday night, March 13, to watch Foothills Christian's contingent play highly-ranked Etiwanda in Rancho Cucamonga in the CIF Southern California Regionals.
T.J. Leaf is the real deal. The 6'10" junior for the Knights basically battled the host Eagles alone during the first half before a large home crowd. He was fully in his element, though hounded and double- and even triple-teamed on offense, but his teammates looked over-matched and intimidated--just the way Foothills made its opponents look in last week's CIF San Diego Section playoffs.
This was the second game in the postseason I've taken in of the Knights. I enjoy good basketball, and I also relish being close to the action--which my media credential and camera make possible--to see the whites of players' eyes and see up close how good they are in tough competition.
It's one thing when Leaf, whose father Brad is the Foothills coach and whose brother Troy set San Diego scoring records from long range before playing college ball, scores 43 points against teams the Knights beat by 40 points (as they did in the Division II final against Mira Mesa a week ago).
But it's another then when he can score 22 points, grab 14 rebounds, and block three shots against Etiwanda, which is one of the top teams in the state. Foothills Christian had no one that Coach Leaf substituted in in his rotation. The Eagles had numerous players in their rotation, who kept coming when T.J. got a defender in foul trouble. Another 6'7" or so player would substitute in and start banging his body.
T.J.'s teammates finally settled down and contributed in the second half. Foothills had the ball with 21 seconds left, down one point, the ball in the versatile and talented Leaf's hands.
I took a photo (albeit with my tiny point-and-shoot to rest my spasming back) of T.J., having been double-teamed and lost the ball, lying on the floor as Etiwanda took the ball to the other end of the court and slam-dunked the ball (which didn't count) as time ran out. Foothills lost 56-55 despite the big man's efforts.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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