LJ b BB 51, Foothills Christian 91

The Lilliputian:
5'6" Diego Solis.
(Photos by
Ed Piper)

The giant:
6'10" Taeshon Cherry.
 

By Ed Piper

One play during La Jolla's basketball game against number-one-ranked Foothills Christian Sat., Dec. 16 encapsulated the Vikings' feistiness despite the wide scoreboard margin.

With 33.8 seconds left in the second quarter, 6'10" Taeshon Cherry drove hard for a slam dunk. Little Diego Solis, a freshman measuring 5'6", knocked the ball out of Cherry's hands before he could take flight, and fouled him in the process.

The ball went flying out of bounds, and to the CIF Player of the Year's evident disgust. Cherry scowled at the tiny Viking who had thwarted his second straight slam, he having just deposited one from on high only 15 seconds earlier.

The Knights were leading by 19 points at the time, and would eventually go on to win by a lot more. That play wasn't consequential to the score. But it provided a snapshot of the grit and lack of quit the heavy underdogs, unranked and playing for pride, maintained through the four quarters.

The final score was 91-51, and Cherry led all scorers with 28 points. The game came on the second night of the Grossmont Winter Classic, with La Jolla hosting a full slate of games as an alternate site.

Before the game, Foothills coach Brad Leaf said, "We're just still trying to get our group together. We just got Taeshon three days before the start of practice." (He came over from St. Augustine.)

While still working on team cohesion, the Knights brought lots of firepower. Junior forward D.J. Carter, at 6'5", shot effectively from outside as well as drove in compiling 21 points. He was the player who really moved his team.

Meanwhile, the host Vikings, looking like Lilliputians in the land of giants, saw all able hands play. Charlie Gal led La Jolla with 12 points, while Nick Hulquist had 10. Quinn Rawdin added nine, Evan Brown eight in a reserve role.

The bulge was 20-10 in favor of Foothills at the end of the first quarter, 41-23 at halftime. After the lead widened to 25 points at 55-30 midway through the third quarter, the Vikings scratched back to within 20, 55-35, on Gal's putback with a couple of minutes left in the period.

Foothills' lead surpassed 30 by the conclusion of the third quarter.

Two other moments in the game, one scary and one that went unnoticed, involved Cherry and Solis. The Vikings, especially Gal, pounded Cherry physically throughout the game to try to slow him down, Charlie eventually using up his five fouls by four minutes left in the game.

With 1:28 left in the third quarter, Cherry went high for a rebound on the offensive end. As he soared, he was bumped off balance by a Viking and fell heavily on his back. The giant, who hit the floor multiple times during the game, writhed in pain, holding his hand to his lower back, for several moments before walking off on his own power.

In a basically meaningless game like this, with a 24-point margin between the two teams at the time, the fear is that someone will be injured. But Cherry, after sitting on the sidelines for several minutes, was seen smiling and then reinserted into the game by Leaf to begin the fourth quarter. He played over half the final period. The big man showed a nice touch, hitting 11 of 14 free throws.

With 1:40 left in the contest, Solis was joined on the floor by his older brother Gabe, the first time the Solis brothers have been on the floor together as high school teammates. Diego is a freshman, Gabe a junior entering a game for the first time this season since suffering a back injury in the Viking football team's final CIF playoff game a month ago.

Diego has said that "playing with my brother" is one of the things he enjoys the most on the varsity.