Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Healthy Warriors “come out and play” very well Monday

By 189 Comments

CERRITOS, Ca. – Tuesday night the Heritage Christian High boys’ basketball team got a chance to showcase what it’s capable of when it’s at full strength.

Coach Paul Tait’s Warriors improved to 13-3 overall, and 3-1 in the Olympic League, with their 77-66 victory over the host Valley Christian Defenders.

The Warriors went to their bench early and often – five reserves played – but all of their scoring came from their starters, with 6-foot-5 uber freshman Isaiah Elohim (pictured) scoring 13 of his game-high 22 points after intermission.

Senior forwards Justin Rochelin (who signed with Arizona State in November) and Kyle Frelow combined for 27 points – Rochelin had 17 of them, 13 in the second half – and 19 rebounds for Heritage Christian.

Valley Christian (which fell to 8-4 and 1-3, respectively) is tied for second this week in the CIF Southern Section’s 3AA division, where the Defenders are capable of doing serious damage in the playoffs that are set to begin on May 26.

TJ Waters, Nathan Medina and Michael Wright combined for 46 points – and each of those players is an underclassman.

The 6-3 Medina scored 15 and is one of the better jump shooters in the Southern California junior class. He hit three deep 3s Monday night – “He’s pretty good!”, Tait said after – but, shadowed by at least one defender, on or off the ball, he missed 11 of his 16 shots overall from the field.

Waters, 5-11 and a sophomore, scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter

And the 6-3 Wright (he’s not finished growing; his dad is about 6-8) is a rapidly improving freshman who hit three 3s in the first half before finishing with 15 points and six rebounds.

The “X factor” for Coach Josh Zumkehr during remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs, is a skinny 6-7 junior, Micah Sybesma, whose future as a college athlete is more as a middle blocker on the volleyball court than as a hooper.

He doesn’t have a lot in the way of offensive skill right now – his only two buckets came on second-quarter layups and he didn’t attempt a shot in the second half – but he’s a quick and big jumper who snatched six first-half rebounds, often over the top of the Warriors’ multitude of 6-5ish players with serious bounce of their own.

At No. 11 this week, Tait’s team is the only squad with as many as three losses still in the BurlisonOnBasketball “21 for 2021” Southern California ratings.

That’s because “when intact” – as they were Monday night – the Warriors are 8-0, including an 11-point decision against No. 9 Harvard-Westlake on April 3.

But injuries and illness have taken hits across the scope of Tait’s lineup.

Even with just two or three starters “healthy” and on the floor, the Warriors are a combined 5-0.

But, with just one or two usual starters on hand, they’re 0-zip by way of consecutive losses to Oak Park, Village Christian and Bakersfield Christian in a six-day stretch last month.

By way of context, the loss to Bakersfield Christian (63-48, on the road) came about three weeks after the Warriors had beaten the same team, 82-60, at home.

The Warriors, who were also No. 11 in this week’s CIF SS’s Division 1 ratings, are still prime candidates to land in the SS’s eight-team Open Playoff pool.

A home game in Northridge against No. 2 Ribet Academy on May 15, followed by a clash with No. 1 Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth seven days later, will dictate which playoff division they land, and how they’re seeded.

And a healthy Heritage Christian lineup would certainly help make both of those games compelling clashes, indeed.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *