By Ed Piper
La Jolla's boys basketball team (1-3 in league, 7-9 overall) resumes Western League action Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 16, after a three-day Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, with a home game against Mission Bay (4-0, 17-3), the number-one ranked team in San Diego County.
Point guard and centerpiece Rejean "Boogie" Ellis, a 6'2" junior, is averaging 26 points and five assists per game, according to second-year Buccaneer coach Marshawn Cherry.
"We won (over Orange Lutheran)," commented Cherry prior to the game against the Vikings. "We had 40 Division 1 scouts watching us last night. It was a high-level event. It was sponsored by Adidas."
With the event scheduled on the civil rights leader's birthday Jan. 15--the 50th anniversary of his assassination as a 38-year-old--did the meaning sink in to the team members? "Yes," said Cherry.
Manning the boards up front, 6'7" Ronnie Latting is averaging 10 points and 13 rebounds per game, according to team statistics. Alongside Ellis and Latting, Jaymaryee Norton, like Boogie a 6'2" guard, has numbers of 14 points and two assists per game.
Andrea ("He's from Japan--it's pronounced "Andre") Scott is putting up nine points and three assists a game.
Those are the big four for the Buccaneers, all four having started last year as sophomores and maturing through their initial season of play together for Cherry--and Cherry's first team at the helm after assisting long-time Mission Bay coach Dennis Kane over two decades, including time both were at San Diego High 21 years ago, Cherry's first coaching position.
Rounding out the Buc rotation, Savaughn Davis, a 6'2" sophomore, has five points and three assists a game. Michael Barcia, a 6'3" junior, contributes four points a game.
Finally, Nick Archer, a 6'3" junior, has 1.5 points and two rebounds per game.
On the opposite bench for Coach Paul Baranowski's squad, the Vikings are led by seniors Jacob Ohara, with 11.6 points a game, and Charlie Gal, at 11.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, and junior Behzad Hashemi, who has 11.5 points, 3.8 assists, 1.8 steals, and 3.4 rebounds per game.
Junior Nick Hulquist, a versatile 6'4" swingman who is increasingly showing his driving flair down the lane, is averaging 6.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. Quinn Rawdin, like Gal in his third year on the varsity, is at 5.0 points, 1.9 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.2 rebounds a game.
Junior forward Evan Brown is behind only Gal in rebounding average, with 4.3 a game, and 3.6 points. Jacob Duffy, a junior guard in Baranowski's rotation, is chipping in 2.6 points a game.
Sparkplug freshman guard Diego Solis has a stat line of 2.4 points, 1.1 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.2 rebounds a game. Finally, Langston Aron, a 6'2" junior playing an increasing role in the front court coming off an early-season injury, has 2.1 rebounds and 0.5 points a game in eight games. (The Vikings have played a total of 16 games.)
Coming off a game Monday in Orange County to play a 5 p.m. Western League contest the following day at La Jolla, Buc coach Cherry was asked if back-to-back's would affect his rotation.
"Our guys are in pretty good shape. It may change, depending on what happens," he replied.
Asked if he presses from the start of the game, the Mission Bay coach said, "I usually don't. I mix it up."
What defenses do the Bucs run?
"We use various zones: 2-3, 1-3-1, 3-2."
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