REDONDO BEACH, Ca. – The Long Beach Poly and L.A. Westchester teams came into the 61st Pacific Shores Tournament at Redondo Union High as the top seeds in the 12-team event.
And, during Friday night’s semifinals, they played the parts of the 1 and 2 seeds quite adroitly, thank you very much.
Playing at 5 o’clock (instead of 6:30) since its opponent’s football team was play host to a Southern Section title game at 7:30, L.A. City power Westchester used its depth and balanced scoring attack to pull away from Gardena Serra, 60-45.
Senior guard Tyler Batiste led Coach Ed Azzam’s Comets with 14 points with Kevin Rutledge and Joshua Rideau also playing well against a Serra team that is still waiting for highly touted transfer (from L.A. Price) Chris Sandifer to become eligible in December.
Another transfer (from Pasadena after spending his freshman season at Taft), junior guard Ajon Efferson, hit a few jump shots, while 6-7 classmate Tavarion Dawson was he springiest and most gifted frontcourt prospect in the game.
In the final championship semifinal, the Jackrabbits jumped out to a quick and big early advantage with their defensive pressure and overall aggressiveness before rolling to a 73-41 victory over the host Redondo Sea Hawks.
Pacific 12 Conference-bound Roschon Prince (USC) and Jordan Bell (Oregon) did a pretty nifty aerial act, dunking everything that wasn’t nailed down.
But Coach Sharrief Metoyer’s club also got solid perimeter play from point guard Ke’Jahn Feagin and wings Brandon Staton and Chris Sullivan.
The Jackrabbits are awaiting the results of an appeals hearing with the California Interscholastic Federation last week to determine the status of 6-7 junior transfer (from Portland Jefferson) Kameron Chatman, who was declared ineligible by the Southern Section office of the CIF recently.
With Chatman as an active member of the squad, the Jackrabbits are likely a solid choice to win CIF Southern Section IAA and State Open Division championships.
Redondo showed a lot of promise (winning against Mayfair and Locke Tuesday and Wednesday before its Friday loss) during its first three games under new coach Reggie Morris Jr., with junior Ian Fox, sophomore Jeremiah Headley and freshman Leland Green demonstrating promising potential for outstanding seasons.
The championship game is set to tip off at 5:30 Saturday evening, with the third-place game between Redondo and Serra scheduled for 4 o’clock.
Consolation bracket action begins at 10 a.m.
CANT BELIEVE THAT YOUR ENTIRE ARTICLE WOULD GO WITHOUT NOTICE OF TESORO’S PERFORMANCE IN THE TOURNAMENT. SEEMS VERY SAD THAT YOU CAN SPEAK OF THE 1ST AND 3RD CHAMPIONSHIP GAME BUT CANNOT BREATH A WORD OF INSPIRATION FOR A GROUP OF KIDS THAT WERE MOST LIKELY NOT TO SUCCEED IN THIS TOURNAMENT. NOT ONLY DID THEY WIN SECOND PLACE THEY ALSO CAME WITHIN 6 POINTS OF BEATING SERRA. TESORO HELD ALL THE TOP SCORERS TO SINGLE DIGITS AND TANNER LANCONA LED EVERY GAME WITH 20 OR MORE POINTS PER GAME.
I would like to gve a shot out to Tesoro for their outstanding performance in the Pacific Shores Tournament as well. This team had an outstanding performance and the most shocking performace witnessed during the Serra game. They proved that they are ready for the challenge this upcoming season! Great Job!
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