LAKEWOOD, Ca. – It was, to pounce on a cliché, old school high school basketball at its best:
*The Long Beach Poly High and host Lakewood boys’ teams hooked up Thursday evening, with a Moore League title on the line;
*The Lancers’ gymnasium was filled (as much as a high school gym can be “filled” in the COVID Era) with students, family members, alumni and faculty members who were vested, emotionally, in the outcome of the game;
*Head coaches Sheldon Diggs (LBP) and Duane Cooper (Lakewood) are graduates of, and former standouts for, their schools;
*At class reunions 20 years hence, the seniors involved in the game will be asked by their fellow alumni about the game and this season.
It wasn’t one of the situations that passes for high school hoops these days in so many circles that often involve pop-up “prep schools” or “academies”, with rosters of players with multiple transfers on their resumes, in games in which the social media “highlights” are much more the focus than the outcome.
Ultimately, the contest proved just as competitive as when the teams met the first time on Jan. 18 (an OT, 65-57 victory for the host Jackrabbits), with Poly wrapping up a 12-0 Moore League season with its 49-44 win.
Coach Diggs’ squad (18-5 overall) got a superb, start-to-finish effort by 6-foot-5 senior Christian Watson (21 points, nine rebounds and five assists) and a 10-point, fourth-quarter from 6-4 freshman Jovani Ruff to capture the program’s 14th consecutive Moore title.
Coach Cooper’s Lancers – whose only losses since late November have come at the paws of the Jackrabbits – fell to 18-5 overall and 8-2 in league, with Moore contests vs. Jordan (at home, Friday) and Compton (Saturday, on the road) to close out their regular season.
The CIF Southern Section playoff brackets are scheduled to be released at noon Tuesday in Los Alamitos.
And the Jackrabbits (2AA) and Lancers (2A) appeared equipped and ready for deep runs in their respective divisions.
They are grossly undervalued – nine and eight, respectively – in the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association divisional ratings
The visitors led by as many as nine points early in the fourth quarter before the Lancers got back into things after a timeout.
A shot-clock violation by the Jackrabbits led to a drive and score from the left baseline by Elijah Nelson that got the hosts to within 46-44 with 43 seconds to go.
After a Lakewood timeout and Poly inbound pass, senior guard Darron Henry of the Jackrabbits was fouled with 20.3 seconds remaining, and hit the second hit of a two-shot attempt.
Following yet another timeout (this one by the Lancers), junior guard Chris Willis was well short on a 3 attempt from the left wing and Ruff was fouled after grabbing the rebound with eight ticks on the clock.
Ruff – who hit his first four shots from the field in the fourth quarter – dropped in both ends of his 1-and-1 to secure the victory, and Moore hardware.
Watson (pictured), while enduring a sprained ankle, played in just one of his team’s first 10 games (a Dec. 27, first-round Gold Bracket win over Capistrano Valley Christian in the Classic at Damien.
With the multiple-skilled Watson on the floor, the Jackrabbits are 13-1 – the only loss coming to St. Francis (No. 13 in the SCIBCA Division I ratings) on Jan. 22.
He agrees that he’s part of a team built for a successful run in the Southern Section playoffs set to get underway on Feb. 11.
“I think we can win it all,” he said Thursday night. “We’ve already played so many good teams and have beaten the No.3 team in the ratings (CVC).”
His health – and his quality of play, and leadership, of late – is a reason his coaching staff and those who’ve watched the Jackrabbits of late agree with him on the topic.
So is the presence of Ruff – who hit the floor running, so to speak, the minute he put on a Poly uniform.
“I knew this summer that we needed one more ‘piece’ (to win another Moore title and become a viable Southern Section playoff threat),” Watson said.
It didn’t take Ruff long to convince Watson the Jackrabbits had that guy.
“He’s so poised for a guy so young,” Watson said of Ruff.
“He works so hard to try to get better. We watch a lot of film and he always asks good questions.”
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