CdM dominates PCL opener
BASKETBALL:
Everyone plays for Sea Kings, who control first half against Beckman and now
prepare for
By Matt Szabo
The ball was then worked around to junior guard Joey Jones, who buried a
three-pointer.
Not a typical sequence for the Corona del Mar High boys� basketball team, but
it was one that produced smiles on the Sea Kings� bench Wednesday night. The
fact that everyone on the team got to play meant CdM
was on its way to a comfortable victory over Beckman, 65-40, to open Pacific
Coast League play.
Senior center Stefan Kaluz, the reigning CIF Southern
Section Division III-A Player of the Year, scored a team-high 13 for CdM and added seven rebounds and three blocks. But on a
night where 11 different Sea Kings players scored, Kaluz
didn�t exactly have to be the focal point of the offense, and he was OK with
that.
�It was great to see everybody get to play,� Kaluz
said. �We have 16 guys on the team, and everybody works really hard. But you
can only play five players at a time, and most teams have just a seven- or
eight-man rotation. It�s tough to see all those guys working hard and not get
the chance.�
Beckman (7-9) won the game�s opening tip, but nearly everything else in the
first quarter went the way of the defending CIF champion and league co-champion
Sea Kings (11-5). CdM, utilizing a full-court press,
forced the Patriots into nine first-quarter turnovers on its way to a 21-7
lead, after a three-pointer from senior guard Andy Rovzar.
Senior guard Erik Rask and junior forward Sean Donovan, who each had four
steals, were especially effective at swiping the ball.
�We�ve been working on our press a lot,� CdM Coach
Ryan Schachter said. �We�ve got some long guys who
are fast and athletic, and we�re trying to utilize that. It just makes us play
harder when we know we�re playing the full length of the court.�
Senior forward Joe Eberhard had nine points and eight
rebounds, all in the first half. His drive to the bucket with five seconds left
before halftime gave CdM its 43-17 advantage at the
half.
Donovan said it was important for the Sea Kings not to come out soft in their
league opener, even against a Patriots team that CdM
outscored by a combined total of 139-53 in their two league meetings last
season.
�We wanted to come out and just set the tone for the rest of the game, play
with a lot of energy,� said Donovan, who added 11 points. �We felt we could do
that with the press, so we took advantage.�
But the Sea Kings were actually outscored in the second half by the overmatched
Beckman squad. Schachter, who said the second half
was �jungle ball,� wasn�t necessarily happy about that.
�I thought our first half was 10 times better than our second half,� Schachter said. �We just got a little sloppy in the second
half, but it was kind of what we thought it was going to be. For us, the key
was going to be to make sure we came out with a sense of urgency and played to
our level.
�We�ve talked about it all year, it�s not who we�re playing. It�s how we play.
Whether it�s Beckman or Santa Margarita or Los Al, we have to go out there and
compete. We�re trying to get better; we�re not just trying to beat our
opponent.�
Freshman guard Clayton Ragsdale had eight points for the Sea Kings, who play
Friday at home against
That loss was the reason CdM was co-league champion
last season.
�We definitely remember that loss,� Donovan said. �That was a big growing point
for us; everyone still talks about that a lot. We definitely want to establish
ourselves as Pacific Coast League champions, not co-champions. We should come
out and send a message [Friday], but it�s going to be a tough game. We�ll be
ready.�