Hawks evokes mercy rule, Mustangs upsets Palos Verdes

RU #21 Chase Bowsher

 

RU #21 Chase Bowsher

RU #33 Chimeze Maduno

MC #2 Lucas Hobbs

Redondo center Chase Bowsher (left) and power forward Chimeze Maduno (center) led attack against Compton Centennial. Lucas Hobbs (left) led Mustang scoring with 18 points. Photos

There’s an obscure CIF rule that says that if a basketball team takes a lead of 40 points in the fourth quarter of a game, the clock shall keep running through all the normal stoppages of play: foul shots, out-of-bounds calls, time-outs, etc.

It’s a mercy rule that is rarely invoked in Bay League games, which are usually highly competitive. But it came into play late in the fourth quarter Friday night when the Redondo boys basketball team was on its way to absolutely destroying Compton Centennial 85-43.

“I think we showed flashes of just how good we can be when we share the ball and work on everybody contributing to the rebounding effort,” Coach Ali Parvez said after the game. “Most of our starters were backups last year, and they’ve worked very hard to improve themselves over the past year. Tonight we saw the result of all that hard work.”

Redondo was led by 6-foot-6 center Chase Bowsher with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and 6-foot-4 power forward Chimeze Maduno with 14 points and 10 boards.

Any suspense between the Bay League rivals was gone by the end of the first quarter, when the Sea Hawks led 29-10. Xan Wesley opened the scoring by drilling a three-pointer in the first 10 seconds, followed by complete domination of the boards, led by Bowsher and Maduno, that produced numerous stick-backs and second and third-chance shots.

The blowout win, combined with a 73-59 victory over highly regarded Leuzinger Tuesday night, sets up the Sea Hawks as one of the early favorites to win the Bay League with a 2-0 league record, 7-3 overall. Leuzinger had also been considered one of the pre-season favorites, along with Palos Verdes.

Costa feels at home

Mira Costa scored a major upset over Palos Verdes Friday night by a score of 45-42, leaving PV with a 1-1 league record, and 10-2 overall. Costa is also 1-1 in league, and 8-5 overall. The close win took some of the sting out of the Mustang’s even closer 56-55 loss at Peninsula Tuesday night.

Equally important, the win at Manhattan Beach Middle School established that the Mustangs have found a home away from home while they wait for the high school’s new $38 million athletic complex to be built over the next two years.

“The stands were pretty full, the dance team was there and the PA announcer was there too,” said Coach Neal Perlmutter. “As one of our players said, it felt just like a real home game.”

A strong defensive effort produced the win, he said.

“Parker Lynch drew three charges, and several other players drew charges too,” he said. “We do charge drills at every practice, and the kids are starting to embrace our physical approach.” Shooting guard Lucas Hobbs led the scoring with 18 points, followed by Hank Householter with 8 points and some in-your-face defense. “He’s a real bulldog,” Perlmutter said.

That physical approach will be on display Friday night at MBMS once again, as the Mustangs host North before traveling to San Luis Obispo for four tournament games.

Redondo, meanwhile, will play in two-holiday tournaments, the Mission Prep Tournament, and the Damien Tournament. “We have eight games in 10 days,” Coach Parvez said. “We’ll know a lot more about our team after that tough stretch.”

Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com

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