Sophomore Jacob Duffy
in pregame warm-ups.
(Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)
La Jolla could hardly throw a pea in the ocean, and host Scripps Ranch took advantage, throttling the Vikings while allowing only three baskets in the entire first half to win the two teams' final regular-season game, 41-28.
The loss further dampened the spirits of Coach Paul Baranowski's team, which ended the Eastern League by losing five of seven after winning its first three games back in January.
The word "brutal" was said during half time, after Charlie Gal, with two, and Nick Hammel scored the only Viking baskets in the opening half. La Jolla, facing a home team playing on Senior Night before a supportive crowd, fell back 16-5 after one quarter, 26-7 at halftime.
Baranowski inserted sophomore Jacob Duffy, promoted from the junior varsity, with two minutes left in the opening period to try to stem Falcon Baturay Koyuncu's production.
Koyuncu, a 6'3" senior averaging 24.7 points a game, sliced and diced the Viking defense, with three buckets in the first quarter.
Regrouping in the team room off the end of the Scripps court at halftime, La Jolla came back to shut the Falcons down in the third quarter and outscore them, 9-3. That reduced the gap to 29-16.
The Vikings fought back to within nine, 37-28, with 1:35 left in the game. But the hosts pulled away to win by 13.
Emblematic of the struggles the visitors had in the final game before the CIF playoffs, guard Quinn Rawdin committed back-to-back turnovers to open the fourth quarter, but then deftly canned two threes in the last minute and a half and had a stop under the basket on his man sandwiched between.
"They're missing their main guy," said Scripps Ranch guard Sean "Irish" Kelly after the game. He powdered the Vikes with three three-pointers and two other baskets.
Regarding Gal, whom the Falcons' 6'5" Kyle Mullin bottled up, Kelly said, "I played with Charlie. They don't have anybody tall enough (with Reed Farley out) to get the ball to him at the post."
La Jolla finishes at 5-5 in the league, 17-8 overall. It has been a steep fall from 10-1 and 13-2 to open the season.
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