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Sea Hawks basketball team plays to potential, advances
by Paul Teetor
The
Sea Hawks are in the Final Four - again. Now they’re looking to go further
than last year.
"From here on in everybody we play is going to be tough," coach Jim Neilsen said moments after his Redondo boys basketball team had finished off Dos Pueblos 62-47 Tuesday night in a second-round Division II-AA playoff game. "There’s no chopped liver in the Final Four."
After complaining that his team looked lethargic Friday night in a 20-point win over Culver City, Neilsen said he was pleased with a 15-point victory over a talented but undersized Dos Pueblos team that played well and with good chemistry.
"Now that was more like it," Neilsen said. "We had a lot of energy on defense tonight. We came to play."
The win advances Redondo to the divisional semifinals, where they have been eliminated in four of the last five years. They will play Friday night, at a site to be determined, against the winner of the game between Pasadena Muir and Artesia.
For the first time all season, the Hawks were led in scoring by someone other than senior star Dijon Thompson or junior forward Adam Zahn.
Junior point guard Keith Ellison led the scoring charge with 14 points, hitting four of seven 3-point shots. He added five rebounds and three assists and played a sterling defensive game to cap a month of dramatic improvement.
He was followed by Thompson with 13 points, Zahn with 12 points and sophomore Wendell White with 12 points.
"Four guys in double figures. That’s the most balanced scoring we’ve had all season," Neilsen said.
Dos Pueblos, edgy after the three-hour drive from Santa Barbara, dominated the first quarter with energy and hustle, scrapping its way to a 10-5 lead with a minute left. But center Paul Meynen, who controlled the post with 5 rebounds and three blocked shots, hit a foul shot. Then, just before the buzzer Zahn missed a shot, got the rebound and missed again only to see Thompson tap it in to end the quarter down 10-8.
Redondo came out smoking in the second quarter, and Meynen tied it with a hustling tap-in off a Thompson miss. Super sub Eddie Topps, a 5-foot 8 ball of energy, hit a 10-foot baseline jumper to give Redondo its first lead at 12-10.
Omar Cowan tied it with a 15-foot jumper, but the Sea Hawks then ripped off a 10-0 run that broke the game open. First Ellison drilled a trifecta off a nice pass from Zahn to make it 15-12 Redondo. Then Topps stole the ball and fed White for an easy score, Zahn hit a short baseline jumper and Ellison hit a layup following a Thompson steal. When Thompson flicked in a George Gervin-style finger roll, it was suddenly 24-12 and Redondo was on its way to the divisional semifinals — again.
"I’m really pleased with the way we played tonight," Neilsen said. "I think we’re ready to go even further this year."
The Sea Hawks started their playoff March last Friday night with a 66-43 win over Culver City that left coach Jim Neilsen fuming.
"We didn’t play worth a damn tonight," Neilsen said after huddling with his team. "I told them they either start playing like a championship team, or they’re going to be knocked out of the playoffs before they know what hit them."
Culver City coach Jeff Perry, however, had a different reaction.
"I think Redondo should go deep into the playoffs," Perry said. "They’re huge, and they’re real athletic."
Perry said he was particularly impressed with UCLA-bound Dijon Thompson, who finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and 2 assists.
"Thompson has nice eyes, meaning he understands the game very well," Perry said. "He doesn’t try to force anything. He lets the game come to him." ER