SAN DIEGO – The fifth and final game of Saturday’s Battle at the Bay could have easily been deemed a sneak preview of the CIF San Diego Section’s Open Division championship game in March.
El Cajon Foothills Christian and the host Mission Bay team are as good as there is in San Diego this season and they looked the part Saturday night, going into a four-minute overtime before the visitors prevailed, 61-58, in front of an elbow-to-elbow and hip-to-hip packed building.
The Foothills Christian Knights (17-5) took the lead for good (at 54-53) on junior Dorian Blue’s sixth 3-pointer of the contest with 3:17 to go in overtime.
After junior point guard Boogie Ellis hit two free throws with 1:54 remaining to get the Buccaneers (19-4) to within 56-55 with 1:54 to go, senior forward Taeshon Cherry (who committed to Arizona State earlier in the week) buried his fourth 3 just 27 seconds later after junior point guard Jaren Nafarrete penetrated into a gap in the Mission Bay zone and put a pass into his shooting pocket.
Ellis and Yassine Gharram took turns missing jumpers for their respective teams before Ellis ran down a miss by teammate Jamaryee Norton and tossed in his 20th, 21st and 22nd points with a jumper and Coach Marshawn Cherry called timeout almost immediately, with 13.7 seconds remaining and his team behind by just a point.
After Foothills Christian Coach Brad Leaf responded with own timeout, the ball was inbounded Gharram and he was fouled and dropped in two free throws to pull the advantage to three points with 12.3 seconds to go.
A decent attempt by Ellis from behind the arc rimmed out with four seconds to go and teammate Andrea Scott picked up the rebound and fired up a deep attempt that was well off and also seemed to have been released after the buzzer.
Each team seems capable of not only winning the San Diego Open championship but of also doing some damage in the State Southern Regional tournament.
Cherry, the San Diego Section’s Player of the Year while he was attending St. Augustine and originally bound for USC, chipped in with five rebounds to go with his game-high 24 points while all of Blue’s points came via his 3-pointers and junior forward Derrick Carter-Hollinger – despite missing numerous point-blank shot attempts in the first half – added seven points and seven rebounds.
Nafarrete scored only six points but added four assists and – while listed generously at 5-foot-7 – did mostly a terrific job of keeping the ball away from the 6-3 Ellis and, once Ellis had the ball in his hands, checking his penetration efforts.
Ellis, who missed five of the six field goals he attempted in the fourth quarter and overtime, added five assists and five rebounds while Norton added 18 points and another junior, 6-7 Ronald Latting, had a game-high 13 rebounds to go with eight points.
A meeting somewhere in the eight-game Open Playoffs would actually prove to be a “rubber match” between the programs this season.
Mission Bay prevailed, 72-56, when the squads met on Dec. 28 in the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic.
In the fourth game played on Saturday, La Jolla Country Day’s Ryan Langborg (PICTURED) demonstrated why he’s one of the very best “shooting guard” prospects in Southern California’s Class of 2019 – even if not a whole lot of people realize it for the time being.
The 6-3 Langborg – who also packs a 3.8 grade point average on his resume – scored 29 points (hitting 11 of 18 from the field, including four 3s) while pacing his squad to a 69-35 beatdown of Cathedral Catholic.
Besides showing off his splendid jump-shooting range and accuracy, Langborg – a member of the Gamepoint club ball program – also scooted by opponents off the dribble and drove the ball into the gut of the defenses while converting contested attempts at the rim.
He also collected four rebounds and four assists before Coach Ryan Meier pulled him from the game for good with 2:48 remaining.
Six-nine classmate Jayson Taylor added eight points and 11 rebounds – all recorded over the first three quarters.
Heavily touted 6-7 freshman Obinna Anyanwu mostly struggled throughout for Cathedral Catholic, scoring just seven points (one of seven from the field and five of six on free throws) with five rebounds, a blocked shot and assist.
In the first three games of the event, Army-Navy toppled Kearny (64-54), behind senior guard J.C. Canahuate’s 34 points; La Jolla Bishop’s eased past Lincoln, 61-41, as junior forward Christian Rose scored 14 points and snatched 10 rebounds; and La Jolla beat Francis Parker, 65-55, behind senior post Charlie Gal’s 23 points and 13 rebounds.
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