By Ed Piper, Jr.
Ball of confusion/That's what the world is today.
The Temptations
Give credit to the Eastlake Titans. But the collective mind of the La Jolla Vikings was unsettled, cluttered, confused.
They looked scrambled. The Vikes trailed 19-11 after a quarter against a team that came in 0-2 and didn't look good in its previous games in the 40th Annual Hilltop Invitational. But La Jolla battled back to a three-point deficit at the half, 27-24.
Five-foot-9 Alonso Perez, only a sophomore, wreaked a little havoc. He hit a three to put the Titans up 34-31 midway through the third quarter.
His backcourt mate, Jarret Isaacson, 5'8", hit a bomb of his own to follow Perez's to make it 37-31. Things looked like they might slip away from Viking coach Paul Baranowski's uneven team at this point.
Starter Nick Hammel was on the bench. Reserve Francisco Ramos was in for a significant stretch for La Jolla, to his credit. Reed Farley, who after a high-flying opener against Hilltop is now trying dunks way too often, made one, then missed one in the third quarter, coming down wincing and in pain after he landed awkwardly.
Late in the period, La Jolla, 2-0 coming in after two good performances over the weekend, found itself down by 10. Sinking sand comes to mind.
"They gave us all we could handle," said Baranowski after the game. The blood had flowed up into his face from frustration. "The frustration is from the lack of a consistent minimum effort on defense," he explained. "We didn't get that."
Somehow, the Vikings got it together enough to come back and lead. After a leaping block on defense early in the final quarter, Farley drove for a basket. The La Jolla defense forced a turnover. Then, Reed stole the ball and drove the length of the floor for another bucket. The gap now: 44-39.
Daniel McColl scored out of a timeout on an inbounds play. After Eastlake's Ben Ramirez made a layup, Farley again drove to score. Charlie Gal, working hard underneath in a chaotic environment--Baranowski protested several calls, which is not always his mode--missed a pair of free throws.
Then Gal redeemed himself by putting the Vikes ahead with two free throws, 47-46. There was 3:30 left in the game. It was La Jolla's first lead since the start of the game.
Perez, a guard facing the 6'4" Farley in the backcourt, was creating headaches for the Vikings, winding his way through defenders. But Hammel drove from the left wing to score at the other end.
Baranowski got a rare technical after he slammed the ball to the floor, annoyed with his team. But he failed to catch the ball when it bounced up, and after it soared into the air, the officials "T"'ed him. Fortunately for La Jolla, the Titan shooter missed both free throws, while the coach explained to one ref he didn't intend the ball bounce as a statement to officials.
But Eastlake also was awarded the ball out of bounds as a result of the technical. So forward Brian Leonhardt scored a layup. Advantage La Jolla down to one point, 49-48.
Hammel traveled at 1:13. Eastlake missed a shot out of a timeout, then La Jolla blocked another shot. Gal failed on a layup. Then fouled with 25.4 seconds left, he missed a charity toss.
At the other end, the Titans missed, and Farley was immediately fouled to stop the clock at 20.4 seconds. He made both ends of a one-and-one. La Jolla led, 51-48.
Coach Marlon King's offense advanced the ball to the front court, then called time out with 18 seconds remaining.
Isaacson, this time misfiring, threw up an airball. Farley, snaring the rebound, was wrapped up for an intentional foul under the basket. He made one of two free throws with 4.4 seconds on the clock, La Jolla now leading 52-48.
Isaacson made a meaningless three at the buzzer for the 52-51 final tally.
Farley finished with 21 points, Gal the only other Viking in double figures with 11.
"I just don't think we were ready to play," said a controlled Baranowski after he met with his team in the Hilltop locker room, across the cold breezeway from the gym at Hilltop High. "It's my job to get (my players) ready to play, and I didn't do a very good job of that." That's taking personal responsibility.
He credited Eastlake's play. The Titans beat La Jolla to many balls, and out-fought them frequently.
Regarding Helix, La Jolla's opponent Wed., Dec. 7, in bracket play, the coach asserted, "Helix is going to be good, physical. We played them the first game of the season last year and later in the year. The difference between the two times is probably what we're going to face. We're going to have to be ready."
The winner plays in the championship game Fri., Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. The loser plays at 6 p.m.
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