LONG BEACH – It was an upsetting night – to say the least – in Tuesday’s night opening of the California Southern Regional boys’ basketball action.
Thirteen double-digit seeds went on the road and picked up wins that propelled them into Thursday night’s quarterfinals.
Three No. 15s knocked off No. 2 seeds, including in the Division I.
That’s where the Damien High Spartans, who lost to Riverside Poly (63-61) in a Feb. 21 Southern Section Division 1 semifinals – went into Long Beach and knocked off host St. Anthony, 74-63, behind the 29-point and 19-rebound effort of junior Malik Thomas.
The Saints (26-6), who were also the No. 5 seed in the Southern Section Open Division bracket, scored the final 12 points to take a seven-point advantage into the second quarter.
But a mostly superb eight minutes, at both ends of the floor, pushed the Spartans (25-8) in front at intermission, 35-27.
Even with starting point guard Chris Nickelberry on the bench most of the quarter with three fouls and senior Austin Cook landing awkwardly on his right ankle and getting it tended to by training staff for just about four minutes, Coach Mike LeDuc’s squad scored 22 points as reserves Jazz Orozco (to mid-range jumpers) and a buzzer-beating 3 by Ethan Borboa.
St. Anthony, which got quality performances out of Long Beach State-bound Jadon Jones (12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter) and 6-foot-8 sophomore Elijah Price (12 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots), cut its deficit to five points after three quarters.
But the Spartans got a couple of 3s from Cook (all 12 of his points came from behind the arc) and another by Orozco; some quality decisions in the open court by sophomore R.J. Smith (11 points, five rebounds and five assists) and the relentless approach of Thomas to keep the hosts from making things dicey for them.
The 6-3 Thomas (pictured) has had much better shooting efforts (three of his four bucks in 16 attempts were 3s) while setting the program’s single-season scoring record.
But he flexed his on-court muscle – literal and figurative – throughout, and the Saints couldn’t keep him off the glass or off the free-throw line, where he was perfect in 18 attempts.
Their performance after a 45-mile, southwest trek into Long Beach Tuesday night earned them another venture on the Southern California freeway system Thursday: 35 miles, east-bound, to Riverside Poly for a rematch of that Feb. 21 game.
Coach Yancy Dodson’s Bears – at 10, another of the double-digit seed winners – improved to 27-6 as UC Irvine-bound guard D.J. Davis scored 30 points in their 83-46 beatdown of No. 7 San Diego St. Augustine.
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