BELLFLOWER, Ca. – A barnburner was anticipated.
And the Long Beach Poly and Bellflower St. John Bosco hoops teams delivered exactly that Friday night.
A SRO crowd estimated – by me – at about 2,800 jammed the newly refurbished, and spiffy, Cerritos College gymnasium for one of three of the first-ever California State Southern Regional “Open Division” playoff games.
And the Jackrabbits prevailed over the (technically) host SJB Braves, 61-59, in a contest with an outcome that was sealed until Jordan Bell grabbed the rebound of miss by Poly teammate Roschon Prince and laid the ball through the cylinder of the iron ever-so-gently as time expired.
The gut-cutting victory by the Jackrabbits (28-3) and the results in Fresno (L.A. City champion Westchester prevailed over Central Section champ Bullard, 60-58) and Santa Ana (second seed Mater Dei pulled away in the second half for a 79-54 decision against L.A. City runner-up El Camino Real) set the stage for a couple of mega-power showdowns in the Tuesday night Southern Open semifinals.
Etiwanda (27-3), which knocked off Mater Dei in the Southern Section 1AA final on March 2 in Anaheim, plays host to Westchester while the Mater Dei (31-2) is at home to Poly (28-3).
The Poly Jackrabbits and SJB Braves played a tight one during the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei last month, 60-54.
The rematch was created by the State CIF Commissioners Sunday and it figured to be even tighter via the presence in a SJB uniform of McDonald’s All-American guard of Isaac Hamilton, who was suspended for disciplinary reasons during the first meeting.
And that was the case, as Hamilton, young brother Daniel Hamilton and sophomore Tyler Dorsey helped the Braves – the Southern Section 3A champions – moved up by 11 points late in the third quarter.
But, sparked by the defense of senior guard Brandon Staton and the all-around play of future Pac 12 players Prince (who signed with USC in November) and Bell (a soon-to-be Oregon Duck), the Jackrabbits were in front by three points after three quarters.
The final eight minutes were frantic, with a seemingly equal measure of superb individual plays and not-so-much so on both sides.
The final possession proved to be Poly’s and, after a timeout by Coach Sharrief Metoyer with about 11 seconds to go, ball was in Prince’s hands in a 1-4 set.
Prince penetrated, crashed into traffic – video examination seem to showing him charging in Darien Williams – and the ball flew out of his hands.
And went right into the mitts of Bell, who all along on the right side of the rim and calmly laid the ball in at the buzzer, then promptly snatched it off the floor and fired into the west bleachers loaded with Poly students, parents and alumni.
Yes, it was quite the celebration.
There is a lot of action before Tuesday night’s semifinals (in all divisions).
Quarterfinals will be played in Divisions I-V tonight.
Some of the intriguing of those include: (I) Palisades at Santa Monica and Inglewood at San Diego Section Div. I champion Mission Hills; (III) Lawndale Leuzinger at San Diego Section Div. III champion St. Augustine and La Verne Damien at West Hills Chaminade; (IV) Encino Crespi at San Diego Section Div. IV champion Army-Navy.
I’ll be at the Div. I L.A. Loyola at Lake Forest El Toro clash, so follow by tweets at @FrankieBur.
Well done, Frank …