Jackson, Valencia boys' basketball too much for Granada Hills in championship
Alonso Tacanga / Los Angeles Daily News
Published: Thursday, December 31, 2009
With a big lead with 1:30 to go in the third quarter of Wednesday night's Chaminade boys' basketball tournament championship game, Valencia guard Lonnie Jackson saw coach Rocket Collins giving the officiating crew a hand cleaning up a wet spot on the floor.
Jackson looked on intently as if he wanted to get in the mop-up drill himself. That wasn't surprising, seeing how he did everything but sell popcorn in leading the Vikings to a wire-to-wire 74-48 win.
"He's a team player," Collins said of Jackson, the tournament's leading scorer and MVP. "He always does everything."
Jackson, who passed on the chance at a cameo as a custodian, took a seat next to Collins soon after the end of the quarter, with the Vikings (10-2) leading 60-33. Jackson finished with 25 points -- 15 in the first half -- six rebounds, and several unregistered assists and intangibles.
He was merely trying to make his teammates better.
"I like to set my teammates up to get them rolling, to get their confidence up," the 6-foot-3 junior said.
Jackson started the game with a 3-pointer, the first three points of a 12-0 run for Valencia. The Vikings finished the first quarter leading 21-6.
Granada Hills (11-4), which -- according to coach Don Loperena -- had an offensive strategy to spread the floor and use up the shot clock, didn't get into any kind of rhytm in the second quarter either and went into halftime trailing 40-12. The Highlanders missed 24 of their 30 first-half shot attempts.
With such a huge deficit, the second half was nothing but an afterthought.
"They were so excited to start the game that they just forgot the strategy," Loperena said.
Not only that, but it appeared as if the Highlanders couldn't get any type of a break either. Several of their shots bounced around the rim only to drop harmlessly off, offensive rebounds came to their feet and off out of bounds, and when they got a stop, the offensive board always came to the Vikings.
Valencia, which had a notable height advantage, outrebounded Granada Hills 37-11.
Valencia junior Jake Kelfer chipped in 12 points. Granada Hills was led by senior Jason Vego with 16 points.
Published: Thursday, December 31, 2009
With a big lead with 1:30 to go in the third quarter of Wednesday night's Chaminade boys' basketball tournament championship game, Valencia guard Lonnie Jackson saw coach Rocket Collins giving the officiating crew a hand cleaning up a wet spot on the floor.
Jackson looked on intently as if he wanted to get in the mop-up drill himself. That wasn't surprising, seeing how he did everything but sell popcorn in leading the Vikings to a wire-to-wire 74-48 win.
"He's a team player," Collins said of Jackson, the tournament's leading scorer and MVP. "He always does everything."
Jackson, who passed on the chance at a cameo as a custodian, took a seat next to Collins soon after the end of the quarter, with the Vikings (10-2) leading 60-33. Jackson finished with 25 points -- 15 in the first half -- six rebounds, and several unregistered assists and intangibles.
He was merely trying to make his teammates better.
"I like to set my teammates up to get them rolling, to get their confidence up," the 6-foot-3 junior said.
Jackson started the game with a 3-pointer, the first three points of a 12-0 run for Valencia. The Vikings finished the first quarter leading 21-6.
Granada Hills (11-4), which -- according to coach Don Loperena -- had an offensive strategy to spread the floor and use up the shot clock, didn't get into any kind of rhytm in the second quarter either and went into halftime trailing 40-12. The Highlanders missed 24 of their 30 first-half shot attempts.
With such a huge deficit, the second half was nothing but an afterthought.
"They were so excited to start the game that they just forgot the strategy," Loperena said.
Not only that, but it appeared as if the Highlanders couldn't get any type of a break either. Several of their shots bounced around the rim only to drop harmlessly off, offensive rebounds came to their feet and off out of bounds, and when they got a stop, the offensive board always came to the Vikings.
Valencia, which had a notable height advantage, outrebounded Granada Hills 37-11.
Valencia junior Jake Kelfer chipped in 12 points. Granada Hills was led by senior Jason Vego with 16 points.