Five players scored in double figures as Long Beach won its second game of the tournament with a 106-74 blitz of La Jolla Prep in the third-place game of the 2011 Bill Brummel Classic at Saddleback College.
Long Beach (2-10) jumped out to a startling 42-11 lead in the first half. La Jolla Prep cut the deficit to 18 at 54-36 at halftime, and to just 12 at 59-47 in the first four-plus minutes of the second half, but then Long Beach pulled away again and cruised to the win.
All this was a bit of a surprise, for at least a couple of reasons. First, LBCC entered this tournament with a baffling 0-9 record before upsetting host Saddleback, 74-72, on Thursday and losing by just three points, 69-66, to #5-ranked Mt. San Jacinto on Friday. And secondly, La Jolla Prep had shown itself to be quite formidable, knocking off LA Trade Tech on Thursday and taking #7 El Camino to triple-overtime in the semifinals on Friday.
But this one was no contest. The game had an NBA pace - LBCC ended up with 100 field goal attempts; by contrast, in the 12 o'clock game Saddleback and Irvine Valley combined for 92 field goal attempts, and that game went to overtime - and a summer travel-ball feel. The action was end-to-end as both teams pushed the pace.
And the Vikings showed that at least on this day, they were a lot better at that kind of game than the Waves, a team of 5th-year seniors run by Gary Trousdale, who ran the highly successful Westwind Prep program in Phoenix the last few years. Despite the hot pace, Long Beach had just 11 turnovers and grabbed 25 steals, while La Jolla Prep piled up 36 turnovers and generated just 4 steals.
LBCC held a modest 13-6 lead until a 3-pointer by SF Will Ervin sparked an 18-1 run that pushed the lead to 31-7 after a basket by Ctr Holsey Johnson midway through the first half. The LBCC lead reached 31 after a 3-pointer by SG Brandon Moore made it 42-11 a few minutes later.
La Jolla Prep cut the margin to 18 at 54-36 at the half, and started chipping away at the lead early in the second half. A 3-ponter by PF Darnell Harris brought the Waves within 12 points at 59-47 with just under 16 minutes left in the game.
But then Long Beach pulled away again, pushing the lead back to 21 points after a steal & short jumper by SG Kristien Owens. Baskets by Ervin and PG Imani Hall made it 76-51 with 12:11 to go, and a 3-pointer by Moore pushed the margin back to 30 at 87-57 with 8:41 left and ended any thoughts of a La Jolla comeback.
For Long Beach, Johnson had a superb game with 18 pts on 7-for-11 from the floor and a team-high 9 rebs. Owens had 17 pts, 7 rebs, 3 asts and 3 steals. Ervin had 15 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asts and 3 steals, and Moore also had 15 pts and was named to the all-tournament team. SF Jonathan Snagg came off the bench for 10 pts, 3 rebs and 3 asts.
For La Jolla Prep, SG Aaron Valdes led all scorers with 22 pts and added 8 rebs, 3 asts and 4 blocked shots. SG Jake Cipolletti added 10 pts and 7-foot-2 Ctr Mike VanKirk had 9 pts, 9 rebs and 5 blocked shots. PG Jarion Henry, who signed with New Mexico out of HS, had 8 pts and 5 asts.
box score
Bill Brummel Classic
Saturday, December 17, 2011 @ Saddleback College, Mission Viejo
Third Place Game - 2 pm
La Jolla Waves 74:
1-Paul Golden, PG - 0/3 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 0 pts
19-Tommy Hobbs, SF - 1/5 fg, 3 reb, 2 pf, 3 pts
20-Jake Cipolletti, SG - 4/6 fg, 3 reb, 2 pf, 10 pts
23-Andre McPhail, PF - 2/10 fg, 1/1 ft, 9 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 5 pts
21-Mike VanKirk, C - 4/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 9 reb, 3 ast, 5 blk, 1 pf, 9 pts
8-Darnell Harris, F - 3/12 fg, 2/2 ft, 4 reb, 2 pf, 11 pts
25-Javion Henry, G - 4/9 fg, 4 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 pf, 8 pts
2-Aaron Valdes, G - 10/16 fg, 0/1 ft, 8 reb, 3 ast, 4 blk, 3 pf, 22 pts
3-Darren Smith, F - 0/3 fg, 0/2 ft, 9 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 pf, 0 pts
6-Josh Dautel, G - 1/2 fg, 2 reb, 2 stl, 2 pts
30-Ronlads Elskins, F - 2/4 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 4 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 31/78 fg (.397), 4/9 ft (.444), 60 reb, 20 ast, 12 blk, 4 stl, 13 pf, 74 pts
3-pt fg (8): Harris 3, Cipolletti 2, Valdes 2, Hobbs
Turnovers (36): Valdes 6, Dautel 6, VanKirk 4, Smith 4, Golden 3, McPhail 3, Henry 3, Hobbs 2, Cipolletti 2, Harris 2, Elskins
Long Beach Vikings 106:
2-Will Ervin, SF - 6/11 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 2 pf, 15 pts
3-Brandon Moore, SG - 6/15 fg, 1/3 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 15 pts
5-Raynard Tyler, PG - 2/9 fg, 2 reb, 6 ast, 4 stl, 2 pf, 4 pts
21-Jared Garber, PF - 2/4 fg, 1 ast, 4 stl, 4 pf, 4 pts
44-Tyler Tuliau, C - 3/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 7 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 2 pf, 7 pts
4-Kristien Owens, G - 7/14 fg, 7 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 17 pts
11-Ashton Edwards, G - 4/11 fg, 4 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
50-Holsey Johnson, C - 7/11 fg, 4/6 ft, 9 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 18 pts
1-Imani Hall, G - 2/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl, 1 pf, 5 pts
33-Austin Jancan, F - 0/3 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
15-Jonathan Snagg, F - 4/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 10 pts
52-Nathaniel Padilla, C - 1/1 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 44/100 (.440), 11/17 ft (.647), 50 reb, 27 ast, 1 blk, 25 stl, 16 pf, 106 pts
3-pt fg (7): Owens 3, Moore 2, Ervin, Edwards
Turnovers (11): Tuliau 2, Owens 2, Snagg 2, Ervin, Moore, Tyler, Garber, Edwards
Halftime Score: Long Beach 54, La Jolla Prep 36
Long Beach is now 2-10 on the season
Long Beach jumped out to a 42-11 first-half lead. La Jolla cut the deficit to 12 at 59-47 just over 4 minutes into the 2nd half, but then Long Beach pulled away for good.
Moore was named to the all-tournament team.
