One down, four victories to go.
That was the situation facing the Redondo boys basketball team Wednesday night after it opened its quest for a state championship with an 86-73 victory over Clovis North of upstate Fresno.
The Sea Hawks are competing this year in Division 1 rather than the tougher Open Division, which consists of the state’s best teams regardless of their regular season league status. Redondo was dropped down to Division 1 after losing a second round game in the Open Division Southern Section championships to Sierra Canyon, which went on to be crushed by Chino Hills in the Southern Section championship game.
Coach Reggie Morris said it didn’t really matter to him if his team was assigned to the Open Division or to Division 1.
“Whoever they ask us to play, we’re ready to play them,” he said after the victory. “If we had to play in the Open division, we’d be happy to do that.”
Still, it’s clear the Hawks have a much better shot at bringing home a second state championship of the Morris era – to match the one they won three years ago – without having to face the state’s toughest teams in the Open Division.
Indeed, Clovis North, which came in with a respectable 20-10 record, really was no match for the Hawks, whose five seniors played like a team on a mission to win another state championship. Only its 6-foot-4 do-everything star, Jahvon Johnson, who scored 28 points, played like a guy who could crack Redondo’s rotation. The rest were undersized scrappers who kept the game close enough so there was still some suspense but never any real doubt about who would win.
As usual, Redondo, which doesn’t have a designated star but rather five players who take turns in the spotlight, had a different player lead them to victory. This time it was Ryse Williams, a 6-foot-1 junior guard who opened the game with three of their first six baskets to help the Hawks race out to a 10-6 lead. Williams led Redondo in scoring with 19 points, followed by sharp-shooter Morgan Means with 17, uber-athletic guard Leland Green with 13, and 6-foot-8 center Wesley Gilbert with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
The Sea Hawk lead quickly grew to 19-8 when Means drilled a corner 3-pointer, but rather than putting Clovis away for good Redondo allowed them to hang around and keep the score within single digits until the very end.
A Clovis surge led by Johnson’s drives and a couple of three pointers pulled the Broncos to within 23-20 at the end of the first quarter. The pattern repeated itself in the second quarter as Redondo pulled out to a double digit lead, only to see Clovis finish with a late burst that was punctuated by a Chad Fugman buzzer-beating heave from 40 feet out that banked in cleanly and cut the Sea Hawk lead to 43-36 at halftime.
The lucky trifecta acted like a shot of adrenaline on Clovis, which opened the second half with a pressing attack that drew them within 45-42. But just when the Redondo crowd was starting to sweat a bit, Means hit an acrobatic drive and foul shot, followed by a Green steal, full-court drive and foul shot to restore order and pump the lead back up to 51-42.
Clovis got it back down to 66-60 with seven minutes left in the game, but Williams hit two foul shots, Gilbert wheeled inside for a nifty little banked hook shot, and Means drilled two more foul shots for a 72-60 lead.
From there it was extended garbage time, as both teams realized who was going to advance to another home game Saturday night and who was going to have endure a long bus ride home to Fresno.
Redondo hosts Birmingham of Lake Balboa Saturday at 7 p.m.
“We’ll have to play better Saturday night,” Morris said. “Tighten up our rotations, communicate a little better, and make more shots.”
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