SoCalHoops High School News

CIF-SS Boys Division I-AA Final:
LB Poly 47, Ayala 35--(Mar. 5, 2000)

Who:  No. 1 LB Poly (25-2) v. No. 3 Ayala (27-4)
Where: The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim
When:  7:00 p.m.
What:  CIF Southern Section Division I-AA Championship

What is it about the Pond that just brings out the worst offense in most high school teams?  Is it the distorted perspective, the tall, high roof and the imposing walls, which seem to loom like an opera house?  Is it the lighting?  Maybe it's just Long Beach Poly, which had another lowscoring game against a tough opponent in the Pond.  Last year it was the really ugly contest against Artesia for the section title, in which both teams scored season (and in some cases career) lows.  This time it was Poly's entire team, which shot just 17 of 48 from the field and missed all five three point attempts.  Were it not for the fact that Ayala just didn't get off as many shots, and missed a lot of those they did, Poly might be saying "what-if" again this year.  But the Jackrabbits instead improved to 25-2 overall and will now move on to the State Regional tournament with yet another section championship under their belts, their first since 1997, and it was their defense that won the game.  Poly had only 8 turnovers while forcing 10 from Ayala, and they picked off 7 steals, winning depsite shooting only 35.4% from the field.

Before the game, about an hour before tipoff, Wesley Stokes was checking out the court, walking around, imagining his shots, going through some motions.  He walked over to the media table, where former Laker and commentator Michael Cooper was preparing for the game broadcast, and Coop proceeded to give Wesley a little pep talk before the game, reminding him just to "take your shots, and don't worry about them falling."   Whether Wesley took that advice or not, and whether he worried about it or not, the fact was nothing he threw up was falling, and Stokes had another off night offensively at the Pond, shooting only 1 for 12 from the field and missing both of his three point attempts. If it wasn't for Joe Travis, who evidently wasn't at all bothered by the perspective he had on things from about two feet from the basket, Poly might not have been able to pull this one off.  Fortunately for Poly, Ayala had no one who could really contain Travis, and despite Marcel Burke's good size,  Travis collected 18 points and basically pulled the Jackrabbits out of this one. Travis scored eight of Poly's 10 points in the first quarter, which ended with Ayala leading, 11-10. The Bulldog's leading scorers were Marcel Burke and DJ Lucas each with 7. Poly's defense though was really what won this game and they managed to hold Ayala scoreless for 14 of the 32 minutes. The Bulldogs, who were averaging 76 points a game in the playoffs, made only 15 of 56 shots and suffered through two scoring droughts against Poly.  Chris Pacana's three-point basket with 42 seconds to play gave Ayala the lead.   Ayala, however, did not score again until Chasen Jones made a three-point shot with 48 seconds to play in the half and the Bulldogs trailed, 17-14, at halftime.  Ayala pulled to within 32-30 on Marc McCoy's basket off a drive with 7:35 left in the fourth quarter, but Poly clamped down on defense again and put together a 14-0 run that did not end until Ken Quinn scored for Ayala with 32 seconds to play.

Ayala (35)

Total FG             1st Half     6/23   261   2nd Half    9/33       273    Game    115/56    268
3PT FG              1st Half    2/10   200   2nd Half    3/11       273    Game     5/21       238
Free Throws    1st Half   0/0      000    2nd Half    0/2          000     Game    0/2        000

Long Beach Poly (47)

Total FG             1st Half     7/22   318  2nd Half    10/26      385   Game    17/48   354
3PT FG              1st Half    0/2    000   2nd Half     0/3         000     Game     0/8        000
Free Throws    1st Half   3/5     600    2nd Half    10/15    667    Game      13/20   650

©Copyright SoCalHoops 1999 All rights reserved
Questions? Comments? Need Information?
Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com