Who needs Billy Preston?
Certainly not the Redondo boys basketball team, which ran its post-Preston record to 6-0 Tuesday night and grabbed first place in the Bay League with a 68-41 demolition of Mira Costa in the first installment of the annual backyard brawl between the two beach city rivals.
Equally important, Redondo (17-4, 5-0) re-discovered an inside presence in 6-5 Cameron Williams to replace Preston, the 6-foot-9 “star” who suddenly left the team two weeks ago and headed for greener pastures at Prime Prep in Dallas, Texas. Preston, the 17-year-old sophomore, has now left two teams in mid-season, having left St. John Bosco last year in a similar scenario.
Williams, a skinny 6-foot-5 junior who is listed as a forward who will have to replace Preston at center now that he is the tallest player for the quick and athletic Sea Hawks, had missed much of the season with a groin pull. But Tuesday night he was completely healthy for the first time in a long time and piled up 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds and a couple of steals.
“Cameron gives us an athletic rebounder and an inside presence,” Redondo coach Reggie Morris said after the game. “He finally looked like his old self. He gave us a lot of help when we needed it.”
Morgan Means, a 6-foot-1 guard, led the Sea Hawks with 15 points and nailed several big-time three pointers when the game was still in doubt before it all went south for the Mustangs in the fourth quarter.
Ryan Reeves, the 6-foot-1 senior who is usually more of a glue guy and a facilitator for his flashier teammates, chipped in with nine points, including a corner three that ignited the Sea Hawks last surge to blow the game open.
For Costa, which fell to 15-6 overall and 3-2 in the Bay League, there wasn’t much to cheer about once the game got going. Its two stars, quicksilver point guard Dylan Kim, and springy 6-foot-4 forward Quenton Jackson, were held in check by the Sea Hawks’ swarming press, which produced more turnovers than a bakery and forced Kim to take extremely difficult shots, most of them from NBA three-point range.
Jackson, meanwhile, was stifled by Redondo’s best player, 6-foot-2 guard Leland Green, who sacrificed his offense to concentrate on matching up with Jackson and taking away his favorite spin moves and coast-to-coast breakouts. Green finished with seven points and held Jackson to just six.
With its two stars shut down and a packed Fisher Gymnasium begging for a competitive game, Costa turned to its 6-foot-7 center Gavin Reagan, the tallest and bulkiest player on the court. But the few times Costa was able to break the Hawks’ full court press and find Reagan all alone under the basket, he either fumbled the layup, passed the ball back out to the perimeter or threw up an air ball while finishing with only four points.
For the first half of the first quarter the game was exciting and competitive. After both teams missed several shots, Green finally hit a long 3-pointer with 5:50 on the clock. Reagan answered with a layup,
But Means drilled another 3-pointer to push Redondo’s lead to 6-2. Kim raced back up court and launched a corner three that found all net and pulled Costa within 6-5. But from there Reeves threw a clever pass to 5-foot-2 Elijah Nesbit for an easy layup, Ryse Williams hit a free throw, and when Green splashed a 15-foot elbow jumper the lead was suddenly 11-5. The Sea Hawks finished the quarter up 15-8 and increased their lead to 27-18 at halftime, leaving room for at least some hope of a second-half comeback for Mustang fans.
When Adam Griese opened the second half with two foul shots to cut the lead to 27-20, a murmur of hope began to sweep the gym. But Cameron Williams immediately doused that flame with two stick-backs followed by two free throws and suddenly the lead was 33-20 and hope was fading fast. From there the lead just kept growing until the final 27-point margin.
On this night Redondo was too quick, too athletic and too deep for the game-but-over-matched Mustangs. They will get another chance to take back beach city bragging rights on Feb. 12, when they travel across town to play the Sea Hawks in the final regular season game for both teams.
By then Billy Preston should be a distant memory and Cameron Williams an established Bay League star.
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