Redondo Union’s boys basketball squad, powered by seldom used senior Michael Munn, dominates Mira Costa
Redondo Union’s Cameron Williams goes up for a jumper versus Mira Costa Thursday night. Photo
How big is the gap between the Redondo and Mira Costa boy’s basketball teams? Consider the case of Michael Munn.
Munn is a 5-foot-10 tough-as-nails guard for Redondo, the 11th or 12th best player on a team that routinely uses 10 players to power its killer full-court press. All season long he has made the occasional cameo appearance but rarely saw more than a couple of minutes of playing time.
But on the Mira Costa team Munn would be a starter and possibly a star. He proved it Thursday night while scoring 16 points to lead the Sea Hawks to a 73-44 not-as-close-as-it-sounds destruction – physically, mentally and emotionally – of the reeling Mustangs, who have now lost four straight games and six out of their last seven.
“A basketball season is a lot like a basketball game,” said a philosophical Mustang coach Jeff Amaral when asked what was behind his team’s late-season swoon that saw its record fall to 16-12 and 4-6 in the Bay League. “We had some good early wins and got some momentum going. Then we had some bad losses and suddenly the momentum was working against us.”
Amaral said he is hoping the Mustangs will be selected for the playoffs that start next week and be able to show that their early season excellence was not a fluke.
Redondo’s Cameron High is stymied by Costa’s Gavin Reagan
“If we do get in the playoffs, it will be like a second chance for us to get it right,” he said. “We’re going to apply for an at-large bid in Division 11-A.”
Redondo coach Reggie Morris, whose Sea Hawks finished the regular season 21-5 and 9-1 in the Bay League – the only loss a 3-point upset by second-place Inglewood – said he expects his team to be designated for the Open Division, where the elite teams from the biggest schools do battle. That makes his hopes for a second state championship much more difficult than when they won one two years ago playing in Division II.
Even with both teams trending in opposite directions entering Thursday night’s renewal of the annual backyard brawl, the Sea Hawk Pavilion was packed with screaming fans on both sides who were hoping that the records didn’t matter, that the traditional rivalry would produce a close, competitive game.
Instead Munn, who was given his first start of the season because as a senior it was his last regularly scheduled home game, came out firing and quickly put those faint hopes to rest.
On his first shot he drilled a deep three pointer from the right side of the circle to give the Sea Hawks a quick lead they never relinquished. Right on cue Mira Costa point guard Dylan Kim – their best player and ball handler – was pressured into throwing an errant pass that went out of bounds and gave Redondo another shot – this time a 3-pointer by Munn from the left side of the circle that doubled the lead to 6-0.
Costa finally scored when junior forward Quenton Jackson hit a 10-foot baseline jumper and a free throw to make it 6-3, but Redondo’s best player, 6-foot-2 guard Leland Green answered with a get-out-of-my-way power drive to pump the lead back up to 8-3.
RUHS Coach Reggie Morris patrols the sidelines. Photo
Kim hit his prettiest shot of the night – a cross-over lefty layup that showed off his quickness and cleverness with the ball – but Munn came right back with a 10-foot baseline jumper and suddenly the rout was on with four minutes still left in the first quarter. Redondo scored the last 11 points of the quarter, climaxed by an Elijah Nesbit buzzer-beating trifecta that made it 19-5 entering the second quarter.
Redondo opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run – highlighted by a Ryan Reeves hook shot stick back – that broke the game wide open.
Aware that Redondo’s notorious press was playing havoc with his team’s conditioning, cohesion and confidence, Amaral started subbing in seldom-used players to give his starters some rest, but that was like throwing gasoline on a fire. Redondo just increased its pressure and its swagger, and when the small-sized-but-big-hearted Nesbit hit another trifecta to make it 42-16, it was time for the mercy rule to be invoked.
Unfortunately there is no mercy rule in high school hoops, and so both teams were forced to slog on, Redondo showing more and more confidence while Mira Costa could only watch in sullen silence as the Sea Hawks hit yet another buzzer-beating three-pointer, this time a deep shot by 6-foot-1 guard Morgan Means to make it 45-18 at the half.
Inspired by the Mira Costa faculty grinding out a close win over the Redondo faculty during halftime, Costa mounted a mini-rally in the opening minutes of the third quarter. First Kim splashed a corner 3, Chris Lebbin followed with a top-of-the-key 3, and when hard-working power forward Adam Griese grabbed a rebound and went right back up for a layup the Sea Hawk’s 27-point lead had been cut to 19 at 45-26.
But that was the end for any thoughts of a Costa comeback as Redondo quickly pulled away. By the middle of the fourth quarter there were 10 scrubs on the court and both teams were looking ahead to the playoffs, not back at the rout that just went down.
“They scorched us,” said Amaral, “and we had no answer.”
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