LJ BB 56, Mission Bay 77

Morgan Albers (right) contests 6'9" Armstrong

Ojunkwu for the ball. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Welcome to the Western League.

At the end of a tough opening week of league games, La Jolla fell decisively to host Mission Bay, 77-56, Fri., Jan. 8, despite demonstrating effort and aggressiveness.

The Vikings, who couldn't make a shot to save their lives, quickly fell behind 16-9 at the end of the first quarter after leading briefly in the early going. They only trailed at halftime, 31-23, but they had no firepower to prevent Mission Bay's building a 16-point lead after three periods.

The Buccaneers displayed various tools, including Tulane-bound Justin Moore, leading with 23 points, 6'9" Armstrong Ojunkwu, and a host of other fast, athletic team members.

"It was a game in which we couldn't make any shots," said La Jolla coach Paul Baranowski. The Vikings haven't been a great outside shooting team, but in this game even point guard Reed Farley was able to hit only a single three-point shot and not much of anything else.

Attribute some of that, rightfully, to the intimidation of the Bucs.

Reserve Daniel McColl led La Jolla with 14 points. Center Alex Pitrofsky, who fouled out, had 12. Farley finished with 8.

In the first quarter, guard Nick Hammel sank a three to begin the scoring. Morgan Albers followed with a putback. Ojunkwu obliged at the other end with his own follow shot. Albers became the beneficiary of a basket off a fast break.

Farley came up empty on two shots. After Mission Bay's Jerome Crayton-Sherman scored on a layup, he then hit a shot from beyond the arc to tie at 7-7.

The last time the Vikings led, at 9-7, was after Albers found Pitrofsky for a breakaway hoop as the Bucs were caught napping in not getting back on defense.

Farley had a nice block before the 6'2" Crayton-Sherman sank another three-pointer. Baranowski called a timeout to try to stem the bleeding after Moore's trademark layup, hanging in the air to avoid the block, made the score 14-9.

Coach Dennis Kane's team's lead stretched to as much as 13 points midway through the second quarter, 25-12. For the Vikings, it doesn't seem to be so much their ability as their belief they can stop an opponent. They were working hard, it was just that they couldn't afford to trade baskets and make any headway.

Farley hit his three with 2:18 left in the half, the Vikings trailing 27-19.

Baranowski began calling plays to free the 6'4" junior up to shoot, but Reed was shooting at a basket with a lid on it. Kane, shouting from his bench, said to his players, "They're calling it out for you: 'Double for Reed.' You know it's coming."

In the fourth quarter, the long Ojunkwu slammed a dunk home on a feed from Moore for 64-43. The Buc crowd went crazy. It looked like that might be the proverbial nail in the coffin.

But after McColl made two free throws for a technical on Moore for hanging on the rim on a missed dunk, and Daniel made another basket, sophomore Quinn Rawdin hit a three. When Farley made one of two free throws, the Vikings trailed 68-53 and there was hope if La Jolla made a couple of threes.

But Mission Bay, before a vocal partisan crowd, closed the door despite pairs of free throws by Charlie Gal, then Hamel.

Before the game, Kane said, "They're (La Jolla) a physical team. We like to press, so there are two different styles. Paul is a hell of a coach." The Vikings bumped and bruised, with McColl, Pitrofsky, and others willing to dive on the floor for loose balls. But Mission Bay's height in the middle made things more difficult.

"We rely on our speed and quickness," said Kane, whose squad is now 2-0 in the Western League, 10-4 overall. La Jolla is 0-2, 9-4 overall.

Moore, with his 23, came in averaging 18.7 points a game. Ojunkwu, averaging 15.2 points, had 12, with 10 rebounds. Armstrong averages 7.8 rebounds per game. Moore was credited with 8 steals, up from his 2.8 average.

University City has been the only soft touch so far in the Western League. Scripps Ranch beat Lincoln Tuesday. The elite teams are St. Augustine and Cathedral Catholic. The Vikings are going to have to assert themselves against Lincoln at home Fri., Jan. 15, if they are to play any role in the league race, which ends in mid-February.