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Redondo breaks Mustangs, next stop Anaheim Pond
by Paul Teetor
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Redondo forward Adam Zahn exhorts teammates at start of Friday night’s semifinals playoff game against Muir High. Photo by Ray Vidal |
The Muir Mustangs didn’t have a ghost of a chance Friday night. Not even a presidential pardon could have saved them — from Redondo or from themselves.
Right from the opening tip Muir started launching 3-pointers. And missing. And tossing up more treys - and missing. By the end of their Division II-A semifinal playoff game Muir had shot 2 for 25 from 3-point land and Redondo had a too-easy-to-be-true 58-37 victory.
"It was unbelievable the way they kept shooting threes and missing," Redondo assistant coach Don Turner said. "From what we saw scouting them on film, that’s not really their game."
Muir coach Don Grant had a simple explanation for his team’s decision to stick with the trifecta tactic.
"The go-inside-and-get-it-blocked strategy wasn’t working for us either," he said. "Because of their height, we started out shooting threes but couldn’t hit anything. So I told the kids to penetrate and dish, but they blocked half our shots and got every rebound. So finally I just told the kids to keep shooting threes."
Redondo’s height advantage, and the way it forced Muir to settle for a perimeter attack, was the difference in this much-hyped clash of winning streaks. Muir, at 26-2, was riding a 19-game streak, and Redondo, at 23-5, had its own modest streak of 10 straight.
The Friday night block party was led by 6-foot-11 center Paul Meynen; and Redondo’s two All-Americans, 6-foot-8 forward Adam Zahn; and 6-foot-7 swingman Dijon Thompson, who set a career high of 7 blocked shots to go with his 16 points, 10 rebounds and 2 steals. Meynen added 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, while Zahn had 12 points, 13 rebounds and several ferocious throw-downs that energized his team and its raucous fans.
At first, however, it was Muir that controlled the game. The Redondo fans who braved the crosstown traffic Friday afternoon to get to Pasadena City College were stunned when point guard Horace Wormley hit a trifecta to give Muir a 5-4 lead that quickly grew to 9-4, prompting a quick timeout from Seahawk coach Jim Neilsen.
After they were reminded of their pound-it-inside strategy, the Hawks ripped off a 14-0 run that broke the game open. Sophomore forward Wendell White, emerging from a long slump, started the comeback with a short jumper, point guard Keith Ellison drilled two long jumpers and suddenly Redondo had its first lead at 10-9.
Heartened by Wormly’s early trifecta, Muir continued to dial long distance — with disasterous results. The Mustangs began a streak of 18 straight 3-point misfires while White hit a power-drive to end the quarter with Redondo up 12-9.
The streak continued in the second quarter when Zahn had a tip-dunk and super sub Eddie Topps stripped Wormly cleanly and raced full court for a layup that gave the Hawks a 16-9 lead with just two minutes gone. It was 23-15 at the half, and Muir’s 19-game win streak was headed for the trash heap.
"They’re the best team we’ve played all year," Muir coach Grant said. "I think they’ll present big-time problems for Mayfair. It should be quite a game, with Thompson and Childress."
Redondo’s win sets the stage for a Southern Sectional final Saturday against Mayfair High School, which will be played at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. It also sets up a high-noon shoot-out between Thompson and Mayfair’s 6-foot-7 Josh Childress, two of the nation’s top prep players -- look-alike shooting guards with strikingly similar games.
"UCLA signed Dijon before the season even started, and Stanford did the same with Childress. That tells you how good they are," Redondo assistant Turner said. "Childress may be just as good a scorer as Dijon is, because he’s been The Man there for four years and he’s taken most of the big shots. But Dijon had to wait his turn to be The Man while he played point guard for two years, so I think Dijon plays better defense and has a better handle."
Under California Interscholastic Federation rules, Redondo will advance to the state championships whether it wins or loses the sectional final, as will Mayfair. But the game is still critical to the Seahawks state championship hopes.
"If we win, we’ll get a home game for our next game. But if we lose, we’ll have to travel, and it could be a long trip. Winning this game Saturday is key for us," Turner said.
Now that they have cleared the divisional semifinal hurdle that stopped them four of the last five years, now that Keith Ellison has emerged as the fourth weapon to support Thompson, Zahn and White, now that Meynen has posted a no-trespassing sign in the paint, the Seahawks are allowing themselves to dream of a state title.
"Man for man, I will take our first five players against any five in the state — or the nation," Turner said. "We’re peaking at just the right time." ER