Redondo Union’s boys basketball squad begin CIF open division bid with loss to tough Cathedral team
Redondo Union’s Elijah Nesbit drives around Cathedral’s Lucas Siewart. Photo
Redondo guard Ryse Williams drove the baseline and flipped in an acrobatic shot to cut Cathedral’s once double-digit lead down to 3 at 49-46 Thursday night, forcing a time out with four minutes and 52 seconds left and the Sea Hawk Pavilion roaring with the cheers of a crowd not used to seeing their team in the unfamiliar role of a scrappy underdog mounting a last-minute comeback.
But that’s when an exciting player with a familiar first name – Kobe – and an unfamiliar last name made the biggest of the big-time plays to lead Cathedral to a scintillating 61-56 victory over Redondo for a first round win in the Southern Section’s Open Division of the CIF boys basketball playoffs.
Kobe Paras, a 6-foot-5 junior forward who has already committed to attend UCLA after he graduates next year, swerved around two lunging Redondo defenders and snaked his way to the hoop for a soaring layup to pump the lead back up to 51-46.
Redondo’s best player, 6-foot-2 guard Leland Green, answered the challenge with two foul shots to keep hope alive at 51-48. But Kobe hit an ultra-athletic lefty scoop drive, and followed that with a power-drive to the rack and suddenly it was 55-48 with less than two minutes left and the realization sunk in among both players and fans: the Sea Hawks’ season, once so bright with expectation and promise – they were ranked number one in the Southland by the LA Times last holiday season after winning a national tournament in Las Vegas – were about to lose the game.
Siewert recovers for the block. Catheral’s size gave RUHS problems all night. Photo
Oh sure, they battled on – Green drilled a three-pointer with 49 seconds left that forced another Cathedral time out – but in the end Redondo faced a team that was just as deep, just as talented and just as quick and athletic as they were.
And Cathedral had one major advantage over Redondo. “They were bigger than us at every position,” said Sea Hawk coach Reggie Morris after the game. “They’re a really terrific team.”
Indeed, although Paras – who moved to LA from the Philippines a year ago, and yes, he is named after Kobe Bryant – finished with 13 points, he was not the leading scorer for Cathedral. That honor went to 6-foot-10 junior Lucas Siewert, a smooth-shooting big man who notched 18 points and six rebounds. He prefers to play the perimeter and hit several trifectas at critical times when the Sea Hawks were making one of several attempted comebacks. Green led Redondo with 19 points, and Cameron High with 11 was the only other Sea Hawk to finish with double digits.
The disappointing loss brought into focus Redondo’s glaring weakness – a lack of height and post play – and raised the obvious question: what if 6-foot-9 Billy Preston, the sophomore sensation who shocked Sea Hawk fans by departing last month for greener pastures in Texas, had played in this game: Would he have been able to propel them to victory?
“No comment,” was Morris’s first reply, in keeping with his long-standing policy of refusing to discuss anything about Preston’s mysterious exit. But as he opened the door to the Redondo locker room, he turned back and said: “I think the answer to that question is no.”
Leland Green drives to the hoop for Redondo. Photo
Besides the height disparity and lack of an inside game, the other huge factor in the loss was the neutering of the notorious Redondo full-court, 32-minutes-of-hell press. Instead of feasting on the usual all-you-can-eat buffet of turnovers, bad passes and traveling calls by stressed-out ball handlers, the Sea Hawks were faced with a tightly disciplined Cathedral team that had a press-breaking plan and stuck to it: make short, quick, decisive passes before they could be trapped in a corner, get the ball up the court as fast as possible and attack the basket once you break the press.
“We practiced our press-break all week,” said Cathedral Coach William Middlebrooks. “The key is to attack the press and look to score out of it, not to break it and then work to re-set the offense.”
Redondo, which won its a third consecutive Bay League championship this year, has endured a tumultuous season yet boasts a 21-6 record and 9-1 in the Bay League. Morris said he had no regrets about being selected to play in the Open Division, by far the toughest division because it draws the best teams from each of the lower divisions.
“We consider ourselves an elite program, and we want to play the best teams out there,” he said. “No second thoughts about playing in the Open Division.”
The Open Division is double elimination, and so Redondo will have another chance to advance to the state championships next Wednesday in the consolation bracket. They play at JW North on Wednesday, and if the Sea Hawks win the bracket can earn an automatic bid into the state tournament.
Cathedral, with its two juniors who are already Division 1 prospects – Siewert has committed to Arizona State and Paras to UCLA — now moves on to face top-seeded Bishop Montgomery next Wednesday, Feb. 25.
“Beating Redondo was a real tough battle,” said Coach Middlebrooks. “Bishop Montgomery is going to be even tougher.”
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