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by Paul Teetor
Preston “Master P” Ezewiro grabbed a pin-point pass that found him at the low post, wheeled around two Palos Verdes defenders, and threw down a monstrous dunk. The home crowd roared its approval as if to say, finally, this is what we came for.
Thirty seconds later he snagged another clever pass from point guard Christian Kranz, went up strong and unleashed another monster dunk. Suddenly the Mustang lead had ballooned to 53-35, and what had been a tense, two-point game early in the second half was now turning into a party atmosphere and an eventual 64-50 Mira Costa victory in the Bay League opener for both teams Friday night.
The strange part about this game was that it started out so predictably as Costa dominated most of the first quarter. From the opening jump the Mustangs concentrated on getting the ball inside to Ezewiro. Then he could either work his way to the hoop or spray the ball back out to the wing shooters just waiting to let fly with either two- or three-point shots.
It started out working to perfection. In rapid succession the Mustang’s 6-foot-7 extremely athletic center hit a power layup, found smooth forward Eneasi “E-Z” Piuleini for an open three, then did the same with uber-athletic forward Jacob De Armas for another three.
When glue guy James Reach stole the ball and raced downcourt for a layup that beat three PV defenders to the hoop, it was quickly 9-2 and the crowd at Fisher Athletic Complex – which included last year’s stars Will Householter and Dylan Black, home from college to cheer on their former teammates — settled in for a fun night.
But PV, led by Telmo Corral, Alex Hassanein and Will Jorczak, had a different narrative in mind. After all, they came into the game with an 8-5 record and had recently won the Wiseburn Tournament.
Rather than folding up their tent in the face of Costa’s overwhelming talent and depth – they have a 10-man rotation consisting of nine juniors and one senior in Reach – PV fought back.
Hard.
From 9-2 they closed to within 11-10. Ezewiro was fouled on a long desperation shot just before the first quarter buzzer, and he hit two of the three foul shots to give Costa a 15-10 lead heading into the second quarter.
But PV fought to within 22-21 late in the second quarter and actually threatened to take a lead before Kranz – the clever point guard who has the tough task of replacing Householter, who owned the position for the last four years – wove his way through traffic to score on a layup for a 24-21 halftime lead.
But Coach Neal Perlmutter wasn’t happy with a three-point lead.
“I told them we needed to make better decisions and turn up the defensive pressure,” he said.
The two teams fought back and forth all the way to 28-26, Costa, before the Mustangs carved out some breathing room with a 12-2 run. Again, it was keyed by Master P – who finished with 21 points – and contributions from E-Z, who had 12 points and Reach, who had 11 and added his usual senior leadership when a scuffle broke out and he quickly stepped in to restore the peace.
Costa’s second half dominance on the boards was mainly due to Luke “Hammer Time” Hammerschmidt, a 6-foot-7 junior who is new to the Mustang program.
“He’s the best offensive rebounder I’ve had in my nine years as a head coach,” Perlmutter said. “He’s a beast on the boards and getting better as he gets used to our system.”
Perlmutter also singled out De Armas, who was sick all week yet held Hassanein, PV’s best player, to just 5 points while he was guarding him.
“I’m really happy,” Perlmutter said. “After all, we’re 11 and 2 and we just won two big games at Riverside Poly and Loyola, who both have very good teams. And a win is a win in the Bay League, where all the teams are tough to beat.”
From here, the Mustangs go on to compete at the Desert Holiday Classic. In fact, they are playing so many tournaments that there are only four home games left.
“The better you get, the harder it is to schedule home games,” Perlmutter said. “But we’ll have more home games next year as some of these home and home arrangements make it our turn for a home game.”
So until then, Mustang fans will have to wait for Peninsula on January 8, Culver City on January 19, Santa Monica on January 30, and a home game that may well decide the Bay League winner against Redondo on February 1.
In the early game, the Mira Costa girls destroyed the PV girls by a final score of 71-37. The highlight of the game was the chance to watch Costa’s sensational freshman point guard Kylee Yeh. The hard-core baller is a natural born point guard: a magician with the ball, the quickest player on the court, and an in-your-grille defender.
“This win was a great way to start the Bay League portion of our schedule,” Coach Jeff Herdman said.
The lop-sided win pushed the girl’s record to 11-2 and 1-0 in the league – the same as the boys record.
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