There’s no place like home for the Redondo boys basketball team.
The Sea Hawks will get one more home playoff game Tuesday night against a tough Narbonne team before they will have to venture outside the friendly confines of the Sea Hawk Pavilion if they are fortunate enough to continue their quest for a state Division 1 championship.
Redondo disposed of Lake Balboa Birmingham 84-72 Saturday night in a thriller that was far closer than the final score would indicate. Up until the last three minutes it was anybody’s ball game, and Coach Reggie Morris knew it.
“Birmingham is a very good offensive team, and their two stars were really putting up some numbers,” he said after the game. “It took us a while to figure out how to stop them.”
Indeed, slick guard Deschon Winston and Swiss Army knife forward Devante Doutrive each finished with 23 points, but it wasn’t enough against a Sea Hawks team that employed its usual suffocating full-court press and a nine-man rotation to wear the Patriots down in the final six minutes.
But as late as early in the fourth quarter Redondo led by only 63-61 and it looked like the game could go either way. And even as the lead slowly grew and the end approached, it wasn’t until Redondo’s best player, 6-foot-3 guard Leland Green, drilled a corner three pointer with 2:50 left to make it 77-66 that the screaming home crowd could finally start to relax and savor the advantages of home cooking.
As always Redondo relied on a balanced attack, as Green finished with 26 points and junior guard Ryse Williams had 22 points. Six-foot-5 center Cameron “Stretch” Williams – “He’s been our most valuable player all season,” Morris said – had 12 points and 10 rebounds while posting a no-trespassing sign in the lane, and sharp-shooter Morgan Means chipped in with 11 points.
Even though the game was scary close until the very end, Redondo jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead as Green nailed two corner three-pointers that gave every indication this would be another relatively easy home-court romp like the one the Sea Hawks had over Clovis North on Wednesday night in the first round.
But this Birmingham team has more and better athletes than Clovis North, and the Patriots came in with a 22-10 record and a reputation of being a high-scoring team that can hang with anybody on its sheer fire-power alone.
Sure enough, the Patriots roared back from that early deficit and grabbed a 7-6 lead when the lightning quick Winston stole the ball and raced in for a dunk. Ryse Williams hit two consecutive corner 3’s to produce a 15-12 lead, but Birmingham kept firing away and built an 18-15 lead with two minutes to go.
Both teams were playing fast and furious as they battled to the first quarter buzzer with Redondo clinging to a 26-25 lead after Means hit a last-second trifecta from the top of the key
That late 3 energized the Sea Hawks, who raced out to a 36-25 lead mid-way through the second quarter, their last double digit lead until late in the fourth quarter. Once again Birmingham began hitting shots from all over and closed to within 46-43 at halftime.
It was still tight after three quarters, with Redondo clinging to a 63-59 lead. And even though Birmingham cut it to 63-61 after two Winston free throws early in the fourth, the cumulative effect of all the Redondo pressing and trapping finally started to pay dividends with some sloppy turnovers by the Patriots.
Even though he only scored two points, 5-foot-2 point guard Elijah Nesbit played a key role late as he controlled the rock, continually found teammates for easy buckets, and even drew a couple of charges with his usual fearless defense.
The adoring Redondo home crowd will get one more look at their favorites Tuesday night. After that regional semifinal game, win or lose, they won’t be playing in Redondo anymore.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
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