CdM�s E. Rask steps up
BASKETBALL:
Starting point guard gets back from UC Davis football recruiting visit to lead
the Sea Kings past their rivals.
By David Carrillo Pe�aloza
The
By the time Rask boarded a plane in
His father picked him up at
�I was a little late,� he said. �Oh well.�
Rask figured he wouldn�t be shooting too much anyway. As the starting point
guard, his responsibilities were to get his teammates involved and he did just
that.
On a night in which both teams struggled scoring, Rask made it easier for the
Sea Kings with 10 assists. He had a hand in 11 of the team�s 15 field goals,
helping CdM win, 47-32, in front of a packed house at
After finding the open man throughout a physical game, now it was time for fans
to seek out Rask afterward. They dished out high-fives to the 6-foot-1 senior,
who added seven points and six rebounds.
�I missed out last year,� said Rask, referring to sitting out the season with a
knee injury and watching the Sea Kings from the bench beat
Any victory against a cross-town rival can make one forget about the
disappointments during a season. The Sea Kings (13-5) haven�t endured many in
their quest to repeat as Pacific Coast League and CIF Southern Section Division
III-A champions.
But Rask remembered one from the football season, the one where
Rask, an inside linebacker being courted by UC Davis, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
and the University of Pennsylvania, used his vision to allow five different
players to score. One of those was Joe Eberhard, the
player who was on fire the night before and finished with a career-high 35
points in a 68-53 big league win against
The first opportunity for Eberhard came after Rask
grabbed a defensive rebound and pushed the ball upcourt.
Rask drove toward the lane before hitting Eberhard on
the left for a wide-open three-pointer, giving CdM a
35-22 lead.
The second opportunity also resulted in a three-point play. Rask fed Eberhard near the baseline and the 6-6 senior forward
converted the layup while being fouled. One free throw later and Eberhard, who finished with a team-high 13 points, put the
Sea Kings up by 16 points with 4:29 left.
At that point
Defensively, CdM limited
The Sea Kings used a zone defense, putting Eberhard,
6-6 forward Adam Brakeville and even 6-3 guard Sean
Donovan, smaller and more athletic players on
�We just had a rough night in the offensive end. It just seemed like we were
out of sync the whole night,� said Newport Harbor Coach Larry Hirst, whose team never made more than three field goals in
either of the last three quarters, where it combined to shoot 25.8% percent.
�Every time something good would happen we just wouldn�t finish it. We�d get a
steal, or we�d get a loose ball, but then we wouldn�t get a basket.�
Rask made sure the Sea Kings got their baskets, even for his twin brother,
Kevin. With about three minutes left, with no player to give the ball to, Rask
flipped it to Kevin behind the three-point line.
A night after someone asked CdM Coach Ryan Schachter about Rask�s whereabouts, Kevin joked, �What
about Kevin?� Rask found Kevin, who buried the three-pointer to make his
presence felt.
�Kevin stepped up big,� Rask said of his brother, a reserve. �He played some
good defense and he spotted up with confidence and knocked it down. That kind
of put the game away right there.�
Nonleague
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CdM � Eberhard
13, Kaluz 11, Brakeville 7,
E. Rask 7, Ragsdale 6, K. Rask 3.
3-pt. goals � Eberhard 2, Ragsdale
2, K. Rask 1, Brakeville 1.
Fouled out � None.
Technicals
� None.
NH � Caldwell 18, Kuhns 6, Volz 5, Whiteside 3.
3-pt. goals � Kuhns 2, Caldwell 2.
Fouled out � None.
Technicals
� None.