Nick Hammel (12) is a blur not totally due to
his quick movement in the second quarter
vs. Valhalla: The point-and-shoot is a bit
over-matched by the Big Gym's lighting.
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Reserve Garrett Brown scored a bucket underneath. This was at the midpoint of the second quarter.
Forward Daniel McColl followed with a lunch pail putback: earned "the old-fashioned way".
La Jolla's basketball team, down 20-7 in its first-round playoff game to guest Valhalla only a short time before, now trailed a little less, by nine.
These were the beginning of the Vikings' resuscitation, getting off the floor in their opening CIF action.
The fact Brown was on the floor was significant. Coach Paul Baranowski has used the friendly senior at times to bring some new energy, to break the spell of whatever may be holding its power over a La Jolla offense in the doldrums.
As Baranowski said the next day, "We played well on defense. We didn't play so well on offense."
Another sign something was different at that juncture in the sudden-death contest was the presence of Jacob Duffy: The 6-foot sophomore aggressively drove to the hoop, and his shot was blocked--something that happened more than once with the Norsemen's 6'5" Malique Shaw in the area for the evening.
Duffy was recently promoted to the varsity when Baranowski phased out the freshman team, moved those players up to the junior varsity, and began suiting up Duffy and other JV teammates for the varsity games as well. (Stated reason: an unexpected number of "injuries", including Reed Farley's ACL tear.)
Shaw, a rough gem on offense who has good leaping ability and swatted a few of Charlie Gal's shots, was one of the more effective parts of the Valhalla attack. Another was guard Kai Komaki, who potted a trio of three-pointers in the first half.
Baranowski, likewise, had inserted Duffy in the second quarter, giving starter Jacob Ohara a break.
Jacob D. (sounds like a rapper--now we have two Jacob's on varsity) had the next word, driving down the lane and throwing the ball on a high bank off the backboard to score, whittling the scoreboard tally even more, to 20-13.
The flow of the game didn't change instantly.
Daniel McColl made a steal, but then instead of throwing the ball down court--which Baranowski, impassioned on the sideline, pantomimed after the play--he threw it across court and out of bounds. Turnover, cancelled out by another turnover.
Shortly, guard Nick Hammel tried a jumper and missed. But Shaw, reaching over while rebounding the shot, was called for an over-the-back foul.
McColl put up a jumper. It was off-target.
Hammel, showing healthy aggressiveness, drove and was fouled with 43.5 seconds left in the half. He missed both free throws.
Brown, still in and working hard, was fouled and missed the front end of a one-plus-one.
Duffy, a little high energy as a recent promotee to the varsity but showing good effect, turned the ball over with 12.1 left.
Hammel committed a personal at :07.9. The half ended that way, the Vikings trailing 20-13.
Right after halftime, Quinn Rawdin's two treys brought La Jolla up to 20-19, and it was a whole new ballgame.
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