On Thursday in Huntington Beach, the Jordan Panthers and Compton Tarbabes both needed wins for very different reasons. Jordan needed to win to keep a finals birth possible, and Compton needed a win to play on Saturday. The Panthers were successful, and the Tarbabes were not.
In the game of the night, Jordan was able to keep Clovis West at bay in the fourth quarter and emerged victorious, 63-55. The Panthers came out of the blocks fast as all five starters scored in the first three minutes and Jordan took a 11-0 lead.
Clovis West forward Jason Ritchey (20 pts) stopped the bleeding and worked the baseline for 8 points in the first quarter. Meanwhile, West guards Denzel Johnson (12 pts) and Charlie Thompson (14 pts) started hitting their three’s, and at the same time, Jordan got three-happy and kept missing. The Panthers took the long shot on five of the last eight possessions of the first half, and didn’t hit one. After a Ritchey layup the two squads went to the half tied, 29-29.
After the break, coach Ron Massey and the Panthers made the adjustment that won the game. Forward Darius Williams was moved defensively to shadow Ritchey, and it worked immediately. The Clovis forward missed his first five shots of the second half with Williams (who was a head taller than anyone on the court) all over him.
Offensively the Panthers leaned on guard Jesse Jones, who routinely got an open jump shot in the key and scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half. Defensively, Williams was a one-man wrecking ball and racked up eight blocks on the night. With four minutes left in the game and playing with four fouls, Williams blocked three straight Clovis shots on one possession. On the outlet pass off the last block, Jones converted the layup with the foul, and Clovis didn’t get back within five points after that.
Asked if he thinks his team can play with anyone, Massey smirked, “If (Darius) plays like that, then yeah… he was sick and throwing up today, so we didn’t know what we were going to get.”
The Panthers got more than they needed from the senior anchor, and they will take of an undefeated host in Ocean View tonight at 7pm.
In the earlier game, Compton put forth a yeoman’s effort to come back from a 37-23 deficit at halftime, but the Tarbabes fell short and lost to a powerful Harvard-Westlake team, 72-58. Once again, Nate Butler lead Westlake with 27 points.
MORE MOORE LEAGUE GAMES
Friday
Lakewood vs Huntington Beach, 3pm
Compton vs St. Mary’s, 4:30pm
Jordan vs Ocean View, 7pm
Poly vs Leuzinger, 8:30pm