By Paul Teetor
There’s a new coach, four out of five new starters, and a new second unit this year. But for the Redondo boys basketball team the song remains the same: 32 minutes of hell for the opponent, produced by constant full-court defensive pressure, fast breaks the other way at every opportunity, and gang rebounding to offset lack of size.
Redondo didn’t just crush Inglewood Friday night in its home opener for the traditionally tough Bay League. By destroying the pre-season Bay League co-favorite it also sent a No Trespassing message to the rest of the teams who were hoping that this year they might have a chance to prevent a depleted Redondo from winning its fifth straight league title.
The final score of 85-58 didn’t fully capture the Sea Hawk’s total domination in a game that turned into garbage time by the middle of the third quarter. To understand just how lopsided this game was you have to look at another startling statistic: by the time Redondo guard Ryse Williams had drilled his fifth three pointer of the third quarter to give him a total of 30 points, Inglewood itself had only put 30 points up on the scoreboard.
“That was the hottest I’ve even seen Ryse,” said Redondo’s interim head coach Vic Martin. “And I’ve seen him get hot plenty of nights over the last three years.”
Oh what a difference one year has made for Williams.
Last season Williams was one of six outstanding players for Redondo. The players were so evenly balanced that on a given night any one of them could step forward from the chorus line to be the star. Whether it was uber-athlete Leland Green, super shooter Morgan Means or peerless point guard Elijah Nesbit leading the way, Redondo fought all the way to the CIF Southern Section Finals before losing a white-knuckle thriller to Crespi. But five of those six players graduated last June, leaving only Williams behind to continue Redondo’s tradition of hoops excellence.
The 6-foot-3 Williams was the Sea Hawks second best shooter last year as part of an ensemble cast with no designated star. But this year he is the team’s best shooter, passer and defender, the undisputed star, the number one offensive option and the guy who has already led them to a surprising 14-4 record, 2-0 in league.
And he was never more comfortable in that role than Friday night, when he set a personal scoring record of 32 points. “My previous high was 29 points at the Palm Springs tournament,” he said after the game.
The irony was that he struggled at the start of the game, looking for his shot but missing three short jumpers before finally nailing a couple of foul shots to give Redondo a 4-3 lead. “I figured if I just kept shooting they would start to fall,” he said.
Meanwhile his teammates were keeping the Sea Hawks narrowly in front while fitting nicely into supporting roles: 6-foot-7 human-string bean Quinn Collins patrolled the paint area, lightning-quick guards Tyler Murrell and Jailen Moore served as the tip of the defensive spear, and power forward Isaiah Tyler helped Collins on the boards and also displayed some nifty offensive post moves.
“All those kids were in our program last year, working on their games, competing against the starters in practice, and waiting their turn,” Martin said. “Now it’s their time.”
A Tyler power drive pumped the lead to 7-3, and when Williams finally drilled his first trifecta it was 10-6 and the Hawks never looked back. Moore pulled up for a three-pointer that made it 15-6 and the lead grew to 12 points when Williams hit yet another trey to make it 29-17 at the start of the second quarter. By halftime the lead had grown to 25 points at 46-21, and after Williams nailed his five three-pointers in the third quarter it was 72-38 and the highly anticipated showdown had turned into a complete rout.
Coach Martin called off the dogs and sent in five subs to start the fourth quarter. With the Sea Hawks starters watching from the bench Inglewood managed to cut the lead from 34 points down to 27 before the final buzzer mercifully sounded. In addition to Williams’ personal high of 32 points, Collins had 10 rebounds and 7 blocks while Moore finished with 11 points and super-subs Jace Bass and Zekiah Levett chipped in with 16 and 11 points respectively.
Williams said after the game that he has committed to play at Loyola Marymount next year, where he will join former Redondo coach Reggie Morris, who works there as an assistant coach.
Martin, who worked as an assistant to Morris during the last four seasons, displayed an animated coaching style on the sidelines in sharp contrast to Morris’ controlled, laid-back style. He said that while the program has continued with Morris’s all-out style of play, he has his own sideline style.
“I get excited because I like to see the kids improve and get better and do things the right way,” he said. “I’m just a lot more animated than Reggie was.”
And he said he’d like to have the interim title removed before next season starts. If this season keeps going the way it has so far with another deep run in the playoffs, and if Williams keeps shooting the way he did Friday night, Martin can almost surely look forward to becoming the permanent head coach next season.
While Redondo rolled to another impressive win, Mira Costa suffered one of the most heartbreaking losses in the Mustang’s history. After leading Palos Verdes for most of the game Friday night, Costa was forced into overtime when Greg Bartlett-Matthews drilled a 3-pointer with just two seconds to go. Then after clawing their way to a 56-54 lead with two seconds to go, Sebastian Atashi took an inbounds pass, dribbled a couple of times, and launched a hail-Mary heave three feet behind the half-court line. Amazingly it went in and PV walked away with a stunning 57-56 overtime win. The loss dropped the Mustangs to 10-8 overall and 0-2 in the Bay League.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com; follow: @paulteetor
