Redondo’s boys basketball season ends by three-point loss to Loyola
Redondo senior Zekiah LoVett was limited to 12 points in the Sea Hawk’s opening-round loss to Loyola. File photo
By Paul Teetor
There were plenty of warning signs as the regular season ended last week — a 19-point loss to Peninsula and a closer-than-it-sounds six-point win over Mira Costa – that something like this could happen. Redondo Head coach Ali Parvaz even admitted after the Costa win that the Sea Hawks were not playing their best basketball of the season heading into the playoffs – always an ominous state of affairs.
Still, Redondo’s shocking first round playoff loss to Loyola Wednesday night at their home gym stunned everybody who turned out to witness what was expected to be the start of yet another long march deep into the CIF Division 1 playoffs for a Sea Hawk team that had just won its sixth straight Bay League title.
No one was more stunned than the players and their coach.
“None of us are going to get any sleep tonight,” Parvaz said after taking longer than usual to emerge from the Hawks locker room and address the press. “I hope our young guys learned a painful lesson tonight: we can’t take anything for granted.”
Senior stars Quinn Collins and Zekiah LoVett led the way as usual, but this time it was not quite enough as Loyola silenced the Redondo faithful with a last-minute three-pointer from Matt Butler that provided the final margin of 59-56.
“I feel bad for our seniors,” Parvaz said. “They’ve had three head coaches in the last three years, and that’s not easy to adjust to.”
Indeed, the season-ending upset felt like much more than just a first-round playoff loss. It felt like the unofficial finale of the Coach Reggie Morris era, which began six years ago with a state championship and came close again two years ago when the Hawks finished one game short of reaching the state championship final. It took an uncertain turn last year when Morris assistant Vic Martin was named interim coach while Morris took a leave of absence to spend a year as an assistant at Loyola Marymount. It came to an official end last summer when Morris left LMU but instead of reclaiming his old job at Redondo opted instead to take the head job at Culver City.
And the steady flow of out-of-district transfer players that Morris brought in to keep the program at an elite level has also come to an end. Redondo has only two starters and a couple of contributing bench players coming back next year.
The most frustrating aspect of the loss was that Redondo held a comfortable 10-point lead at 38-28 midway through the third quarter. All the usual elements were working well: Collins controlled the boards and even hit a couple of three-pointers for good measure, LoVett was using his quickness and long-range shooting ability to dictate the pace of the game, and Redondo’s superior depth was allowing them to press Loyola all over the court and force numerous turnovers.
But Loyola kept fighting, and shaved the lead down to 43-41 near the end of the third quarter. Lovett came to the rescue with a power drive to the hoop, got fouled and hit the free throw to pump the lead back up to 46-41 at the end of the third.
Loyola closed to within 46-44 to open the fourth quarter, but junior sharpshooter Mike Solimando drained a three-pointer for a 49-44 lead. Loyola’s center, James Keefe, hit a foul shot, a stick back and a get-out-of-my-way drive and suddenly Loyola had a 51-49 lead and the home crowd stared at the court in disbelief. Where had their 10-point cushion gone?
LoVett, who bailed out his team so many times this year late in games, had one more great play left. He roared down court and pulled up for a cold-blooded 3 that gave Redondo its final lead at 54-53. Loyola clawed ahead 56-54, setting the stage for another game-saving shot from LoVett. But this time his long 3 rimmed out and junior Chimeze Maduno grabbed the rebound and got fouled. He missed both foul shots that would have tied the game. After forcing a turnover, LoVett missed a 10-foot baseline jumper but junior guard Jayden Winfrey grabbed the rebound, got fouled and hit two foul shots to tie it at 56-56.
With 35 seconds left Loyola came down court, ran a weave, and finally found Butler for a three from the top of the key that swished through the net and set off a sustained uproar among the Loyola faithful. Redondo called timeout with 10 seconds left and set up a play that to tie the score and force overtime.
“We called a flare screen for Zekiah to get an open three,” Parvaz said. “I reminded them we had to have a three at that point.”
But Loyola was switching everything and knew where the ball was going. They stuck close to LoVett, who didn’t get the ball till there were less than five seconds left. He went around a defender and for a moment appeared to have an open look at a three. Instead he drove for the hoop, missed a short shot, and the horn sounded as Sea Hawk fans absorbed the abrupt shock of an early ending to another successful season.
“Zekiah was our guy all year long and came through for us time and again,” Parvaz said. “This time his last couple shots didn’t fall, theirs did, and in a close game that was the difference. Hats off to Loyola.”
Collins led the way with 21 points and 12 rebounds, LoVett chipped in with 12 points and couple of steals, and Winfrey added eight points off the bench that helped establish his credentials as the early favorite to lead the Sea Hawks next season.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. Follow: @paulteetor