AV Sports - High School Basketball

In the early going of the Division IIA Boys basketball championship at the Honda Center, things looked promising for the Pete Knight Hawks. They appeared to have an edge on the boards and, thanks to some cold shooting by the Rancho Verde Mustangs, broke out to a 9-4 lead. But two hours later, that early lead was a distant memory, as the Hawks title drive was smothered by a relentless man-to-man defense, and a Mustang offense that found its range from the 2nd quarter on.

The Mustangs’ strategy was to put one of their best athlete-players, 6’5” Michael Snaer, in the face of the Hawk’s big man, 6’8” Paul George. The rest of the Hawks had trouble creating their own shots, and after a 9-9 first quarter, the Mustangs went on a 22-9 2nd quarter tear to open a 31-18 halftime lead.

Leading by 13 at the start of the 3rd quarter, the Mustangs played out of character, slowing down the tempo and milking the clock on offense. The Hawks still made a couple of runs at them. They closed to 38-31 early in the 3rd quarter, but several turnovers and two late threes by Rancho Verde’s Ulande Washington opened the lead back up to 48-35 going into the final stanza.

For the first half of the 4th, the lead stayed in double digits as the teams traded baskets. The Hawks got the lead down to 7, 55-48, off of a couple of steals, but the Mustangs, Snael hit two clutch threes down the stretch to close things out for his team.

George finished with 29 points for the Hawks.

The Rosamond boys were eliminated from the CIF regionals by Campbell Hall, 85-22. The Vikings left no doubt early, bursting to a 21-1 lead. UCLA-bound Jrue Holiday finished with 26 points. Josh Holden (left) led Rosamond with 6 points.

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q3	Total
Knight	8	9	16	18	51
Rancho Verde	9	22	17	13	61

The Southern Section released their selections this week for High School basketballs player of the year and all-Southern Section first and second team players.

Rosamond’s Raymond Bernas and Donte Day won a split decision and were nominated as co-players of the year for their efforts in the Roadrunners run to the Southern Section Division V-A Championship. Rosamond head coach Tim Atkerson was named the Southern Sections coach of the year.

Also receiving honors was Rosamond’s Christian Holden who earned a spot on the all-Southern Section first team along with Deserts Phil Pleasant. Rosamond’s Jerime Gorse and Desert’s Dorian Smith were named to the second team.

Pete Knight High Schools Malikea Jackson made the Division II-A girls first team while teammates Anttanisha Moton and Dominique Turner were second team selections.

Receiving acknowledgement for the Knight High boys were Paul George and Kyisean Reed who got the nod for the Division II-A first team. Kyree Jackson and Lamonte Dewindt qualified for the second team.