LJ b BB: Water cooler

By Ed Piper, Jr.

As Reed Farley's fourth and last Senior Night at La Jolla High Tues., Feb. 14, was bittersweet, so has the Vikings' final week to the regular season been.

With a 60-46 loss on their home floor to Patrick Henry, Coach Paul Baranowski's 2016-17 bunch, which had touched the heights of sixth place in the county rankings earlier in the season, took a defeat to a team they had beaten in their previous encounter.

With Farley's ACL injury, La Jolla--which had been in the Top Ten since early in the tournament portion of the season in December--dropped out of the rankings and had to take a workman-like approach to their six remaining regular-season games.

The Vikings drop to 5-4 in the Eastern League, down three slots from the first-place Patriots (8-1). The locals won their first three games in the conference in January, setting hearts aflutter with high hopes for a league championship.

La Jolla went 10-1 overall through December, 13-2 up to mid-January.

At 17-7 overall now, the red-and-black have played well often, even without their point guard. Their power ranking by CIF is 44.38, seventh in Division 2, just behind Patrick Henry. They will benefit greatly from their success the first two-thirds of the season in the seeding that they will receive Saturday morning for the playoffs.

The advantage will come in being paired with a lesser opponent due to La Jolla's high ranking. That way, Baranowski's bunch could be awarded a home game in the first round, as well as greater likelihood of winning its initial game in the post-season.

Looking at the season as a whole, the development of junior guard Jacob Ohara is a highlight, and Charlie Gal's sturdiness in the front court has been a major contribution, despite his having an off-game against Henry.

Quinn Rawdin's shooting from beyond the arc in the fourth period Tuesday showed what he is capable of, when he hit four three-pointers as the Vikings furiously fought to come back against the Patriots.

Accompanying the good feeling that came with the graduating seniors' impassioned effort early and down the stretch in the Valentine's Day contest--featuring reserves Francisco Ramos, Garrett Brown, and McClain Thiel, besides starters Daniel McColl and Nick Hammel--are the playoffs next week and the knowledge that anything can happen in a sudden-death game.

Also, we Viking basketball adherents have the future to look to: smart guard Jacob Duffy was moved up to the varsity for the end of the season, while Behzad Hashemi, a hot-shooting guard, spent much of the season on the varsity roster.

Evan Brown looks great on the junior varsity, and Nick Hulquist is going to create all sorts of match-up problems as a taller guard, a rarity among La Jolla players.

Plus Gabe Solis has already shown the sparks he can create when he starred for the Viking varsity football team in the late season. There are folks I don't even know on the junior varsity who will light things up for La Jolla this spring, this summer, and next winter.