Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Roosevelt’s shooting carries it past Orangewood Academy

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GARDEN GROVE, Ca. – Steve Singleton has had a lot of quality teams during his six seasons as the head coach of the Eastvale Roosevelt High boys’ basketball program.

Notable among those are the Matt Mitchell– and Jemarl Baker-led team that won a State DI title four years ago, and the one that was the runner-up in the State Southern Regional DII championship game.

Neither of those, though, had the number of quality jump shooters that were on display for the Mustangs during their 84-53 victory over host Orangewood Academy Wednesday evening.

They knocked in 14 shots from behind the arc – eight of those coming from senior guard Godfrey “G” Little – and about as many from the 15-feet to just short of the arc territory.

In improving to 3-0 Mustangs got scoring from of the 13 players who got into the game, including 14 from junior Trevor Manning (who was six of six from the field) and eight – all in the final quarter when no starters played – from gifted freshman Darnez Slater.

“Mitchell and Baker were really good scorers when they played for us,” the 47-year-old Singleton said afterward.

“But I don’t think we’ve ever had this many guys who, collectively, shoot this well.”

Orangewood Academy – in its first season under the coaching of all-time Mater Dei great and Pepperdine standout Tommy Lewis – also had a sizzling jump shooter of its own on display Wednesday.

Six-foot Cameron Mercadel, who was averaging 25 points per game during his team’s 1-2 start, scored a game-high 31 points against the Mustangs while scoring all 13 of his team’s first-quarter points.

Mercadel, a standout on the Southern California All-Stars club program, hit 10 of his first 13 shots from the field (including seven 3s) before missing his final four attempts.

“He’s good,” Singleton said, who had a defender face-guarding Mercadel away from the ball after his sizzling start. “We couldn’t guard him.”

The common thread running between the 2017 state-title Roosevelt team and the club that went 27-9 last season was point guard Brandon Porter.

Porter was a key reserve during the state championship run and the team’s second-leading scorer (behind Little) and assists-leader a year ago.

Little, his teammates and his coach were jolted with the excruciating news on Nov. 1 of last year that Porter and a prep school teammate had died in a car accident in the Atlanta area.

“I was just getting ready to go to the gym to work out,” Little recounted after the game Wednesday.

“We were close; I grew up with him,” he said softly. “He was supposed to come home to visit the next week, when it was my birthday.”

Some six months may have eased the jolt of his loss somewhat but time will never dull the memory of what it was like to coach and mentor Porter.

“When you’ve been around a kid like him that long, it becomes more than just a ‘coach-player’ relationship,” Singleton said.

“It’s still a shock. But the kind of kid he was, and player and young man he grew to be, will live on with everyone who played with him or knew him. He left us with a lot of memories and a legacy.”

All of the Roosevelt players and coaches wore shirts with Porter’s profile on the front with his catch phrase “I gotch you” underneath and his jersey number 1 on the back, and #RIP bands on their wrists.

“I think about him and miss him every day,” Little said.

“Every time we get on a court this season, we’re going to be playing for him and playing as hard as he did.”

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