Morgan Albers passes
around the imposing
Harrison to Quinn
Rawdin (4).
In the last game of pool play in the 39th Annual Hilltop Invitational, Francis Parker came cocked and fully-loaded, with 6'8" mobile cannon Tim Harrison hitting from way out. But La Jolla came short-handed, and the difference was a 79-73 Lancers victory Wed., Dec. 9, to send them into the championship game Friday night and the Vikings into the third-place game.
La Jolla hadn't faced an atomic weapon like the talented Harrison--to mix metaphors--this early in the season. He bombed, strafed, and chafed the Vikings for 35 points, hitting five long threes in the first quarter, while brothers Matt and Jack Brady were shooting threes like they were unconscious.
And the Vikings weren't ready for the assault. Already only carrying 10 players on their roster this year, they were missing two of the 10--Tony Coan and David McColl, two important cogs--then Nick Hammel went down with only 57 seconds elapsed in the game, injuring his shin. Hammel did not return.
The red and black, gunning for a tourney title shot if they won the game, shortly found themselves down 27-12--that lead on another Harrison bomb from beyond the arc. Then, after halftime, a seemingly horrific drop to a 56-32 deficit--guess who, the Rice-bound Tim man again--looked insurmountable.
But instead of the Magnificent Seven still standing folding, to their credit they didn't give up, even when things looked hopeless. By the end of the third period, Reed Farley, who had an off shooting night, and his cohorts had whittled the Parker lead to 13. A last furious comeback fell short.
A real battler has been Morgan Albers, a 6'5" senior for the Vikings. At one time last year, Albers was a starter. His role since then has been coming off the bench. But subbing in early, Morgan strained and stressed against the imposing Harrison. He made two buckets inside against the slender Lancer, one on a nice fake before taking the ball up. The other one was on pure grit, clenching his teeth to score down low.
Hammel's injury forced Viking coach Paul Baranowski to insert sophomore Quinn Rawdin, who played most of the game. The varsity newcomer's shot from outside wasn't blazing hot, but he stayed in role, moving the ball in the half-court offense.
Fellow reserve Bijan Hashemi hit a three after La Jolla fell to its low point of 24 behind early in the third quarter. That had to encourage everyone. Eddie Parker fouled out with three minutes remaining in the game, so that left six players in nervous time.
Vikings' Charlie Gal (left) guards Harrison, who
hit from long range as well as in the key.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
At one point, Baranowski had a lineup on the floor that included Hashemi and Rawdin--folks we wouldn't normally see down the stretch.
But the Vikings held it together enough to not completely give up the game and to come back from down 20-plus against Harrison and the Brady bunch. Farley, obviously feeling the weight of the burden, tried to take things largely into his own hands. On spectacular burst-through-the-lane drives to the hoop, twice he was called for offensive fouls.
On the second one, with 7:20 left in the game, he got up wincing and rubbing his right arm, which he had fallen on in the high-flying collision. Right after that, Alex Pitrofsky, who was working hard, scored to put the Vikings within 63-52 and a fighting chance.
As the Lancers' insane outside shooting of the first half cooled, La Jolla had a three from the left-handed Rawdin, a feed from Farley to Pitrofsky, and a Reed score off an inbounds play. The public schoolers had gotten the lead down to under 10, 69-60.
Albers, finding any way to contribute he could, found the 6'6" Alex for a basket. After Parker, who was pretty quiet offensively on this night, was called for his fifth foul, reacting in disbelief, Pitro made one of two free throws and LJHS only trailed by six with 2:42 remaining.
Quinn hit another three at 72-66. But Matt Brady, a sophomore, made a bucket with 44 seconds left and his brother Jack, a junior, sank one of two free throws nine seconds later. Farley then scored, 75-69, with 19 seconds on the clock.
The junior point guard made two free throws for 77-71 with 10.7 seconds left. But Lancer guard Mike Pelaiz, a thorn in the Vikings' side the whole night, made two free throws, rendering Pitrofsky's goal before the buzzer meaningless.
Farley scored 27 points, including five threes. Pitrofsky, in a fine effort, had 16. Albers finished with 11 in a lunch-pail performance. The Vikings outscored Parker 21-15 in the final quarter, despite falling short.
For the Linda Vistans, besides Harrison's 35 points and intimidation on the defensive end, Matt Brady had 20 points, including four threes, and Jack Brady scored 12 on a trio of threes. Senior guard Jonathan Taylor stayed glued to Farley much of the first half in Parker coach Jim Tomey's white-on-rice man-to-man defense.
La Jolla (3-1) plays in the third place game of the Hilltop tournament Fri., Dec. 11. The game time, originally scheduled for 6 p.m., may change, according to information received.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
No comments:
Post a Comment