LA MIRADA, CA – Only two programs that played in boys CIF Southern Section basketball games a year ago will be doing so again next Saturday (Feb. 25).
“Of course!” I’m sure you’re saying to yourself after reading that paragraph.
“Obviously, one of those is Centennial.”
Bingo!
Josh Giles’ Corona-based Huskies, after securing Pool A with their 73-55 win over visiting Bishop Montgomery Friday night, will take on Pool B-winning St. John Bosco at the Anaheim Honda Center to become program to win three consecutive SS Open titles.
But, if you’ve taken pause as to the identity of the second of those back-to-the-title-game squads, no need to hit the CIF SS website or even “Google”:
Let me tell you about Coach Randy Oronoz’s La Mirada group of hard-core ballers . . .
A year ago, the Matadores knocked off 3 seed Tesoro and No. 2 Edison on the road before falling to top-ranked and host San Juan Hills (59-49) in the 2A championship game.
Fast forward to Friday night, immediately following their 55-37 decision against visiting and No. 2 seed Newport Pacifica Christian, and most of the some Matadores – notably, the same ringleaders in Sean Cervantes and Julien Gomez – were celebrating a return to the 2A title showdown.
“As soon as we lost last year (to San Juan Hills), we started thinking about this,” said Cervantes (pictured), a 5-foot-9 and 150-pounder – and those numbers may be a tad generous – whose contributions, with or without the ball in his hands, exceed his physical stature as much as the Matadores need at any given moment on either side of the court.
The first half ended with the hosts in front – at 21-19 – because Cervantes scored nine points, by way of a deep 3 (the first indication that he was about to bust out of a recent jump-shooting slump) for his team’s first bucket and three second-quarter layups.
The visiting Tritons (who played their second game in a row without their injured and best player, Northwestern University-bound point guard Parker Strauss; they’re off until regional action begins Feb. 28), struggled to convert a lot of close-in attempts over the first 16 minutes.
But they did a quality job, defensively, of shadowing the legion of La Mirada jump shooters – notably the 6-3 Gomez, one of the Southland’s top sophomores, who took a 25 ppg average into the contest – and keeping them from spotting up for many clean looks at Cervantes’ passes.
Cervantes – whose physical dimensions, skill, leadership, and craftiness would remind those who’ve watched a lot of college basketball the past five years of the University of Virginia’s Kihei Clark (a Taft High graduate) – hit another 3 to start the third quarter.
And then the Matadores’ cuts got a little crisper and they started getting get to open spots sooner.
The left-handed Gomez got a steal and layup, and knocked in a 3 (thank you, Cervantes!) and the hosts pushed their advantage to nine points heading into the fourth quarter.
The Matadores had a couple of turnovers out of the chute before Cervantes hit his third 3 – for the last of his 15 points – with 6:45 remaining to go to extend his team’s lead to 12 points.
Cervantes had four of his eight assists (by my count) in the fourth quarter, setting up a couple of 3s by 6-3 post Anegi Castillo (10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks) and another by reserve Isaiah Valenzuela.
The pass – and finish – that seemed to spell yeah, that’s it, folks, was the wicked baseline backcut by Gomez against an overplaying defender, and on-target pass from Gomez for a one-dribble, one-handed Gomez dunk with four minutes remaining and a 14-point margin.
It’s called “read (the situation) and react (with the right response)”.
And there’s a miniscule list of high school duos in Southern California who are as good as Cervantes and Gomez are on those occasions.
“I’ve known him since before I got to La Mirada (as an eighth grader),” said Gomez, who scored a game-high 17 points (hitting seven of 13 from the field, including a 3, and two of three free throws with five assists, five rebounds and three steals).
“He’s amazing. He knows where everyone needs the ball, and when they’re about to get open.”
Gomez and Cervantes – definitive gym rats, by way out of how often they are in a gym, playing, and that they are wired into who are the better teams and players in the SoCal Hoops’ Universe – know all about the next No. 1 they’re facing.
Rancho Christian, after all, came oh-so-close to getting into the Open Division (losses to Fairmont Prep and Rancho Verde in the last few weeks dashed that aspiration).
And they know how formidable a challenge the Eagles – by way of a lineup that includes 6-11 Martin Gumwel (who signed with Pepperdine) and 6-6 Rodney Brown (ditto, California), as well as 6-8 Kevin Patton and 6-4 Kollen Murphy – presents Saturday at Colony.
But, Friday night, it was the journey to that matchup that Gomez and Cervantes kept alluding to, regardless of the eventual opponent.
“Every time we were in the gym (since the loss to San Juan Hills), this is what we were thinking about – getting back,” Cervantes said of the nearly year-long task that he and his buddies had just wrapped up.
Gomez was a bit more definitive in his explanation.
“Our goal,” he said, bouncing on his toes with another energy to knock in a few more jumpers before he headed to the locker room, “was to get back and win it this time.”
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