Mission Bay made it look easy during last week‘s victory over La Jolla, as they cruised to a 72-27 victory over their cross-town rival Vikings.
It was the Buccaneers’ fourth win over La Jolla in their last five meetings and helped push their record to 18-7, locking in the team’s fourth consecutive season with 18 or more regular season wins.
“Early, we came in and missed several free throws and lay-ups that I think can be attributed to the high emotions of the game, but we settled down, stopped rushing things, and started hitting our shots,” said Mission Bay head coach Marshawn Cherry.
Even with the missed early free throws and finishes at the rim in the first, Mission Bay still managed to put together a quality first quarter thanks to a surge over the final four minutes led by Caleb Newton.
The junior scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the quarter to help the Bucs build an 18-6 lead. Thanks to Mission Bay’s press defense and work on the offensive glass, that lead continued to grow in the second.
Mission Bay would register 13 steals with Maseyo Elliott leading the effort with a team-high four steals in the victory. Meanwhile, Clay Grebing and Pablo Balderas would go to work on the offensive glass, as the big guys each came with three offensive rebounds in the second quarter.
Grebing and Balderas came away with 10 rebounds in the win. The second-quarter swarm helped hold La Jolla to only 5 points, stretching the lead to 37-11 at the half.
“When we look at all our stats, when we win good games, we dominate the boards,” Cherry said. “I told them going forward, we have to control the boards and make a conscious effort to be aggressive on the glass.”
Mission Bay put the game away in the third quarter as they tallied 22 points, almost half of which would come courtesy of Balderas as the senior dropped 10 points in the third to record a third straight game with the double-double helping Mission Bay push their lead to 59-22.
Over the final eight minutes, all Bucs starters were pulled off the floor to get some extra rest as Mission Bay put things in cruise control to close out the game.
The Bucs will return to action this week for their final two regular-season games, both pivotal Western League showdowns against St. Augustine on Feb. 11 and University City on Feb. 13.
With wins in both matchups, Mission Bay can potentially secure a top-four seed in the CIF Open Playoffs.
“We feel we need to finish out strong. That Saints game is going to be a tough one but we are going to be at home and be comfortable,” Cherry said. “We know they’re going to come play, they’re well coached, and we have to get that win if we want to secure a No. 4 seed in the Open Division Playoffs.”
Photo by Steve Sidell