EL SEGUNDO HERALD December 5, 2019 Page 5
Basketball Teams Passing the Test
Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo High School basketball teams
are off to incredible starts to the season. As we
enter December, the boys team is 4-1 to start
their non-league schedule after their 54-44 loss
to Edison of Huntington Beach last Saturday
night. The Lady Eagles are 5-1 and finished
third in the Redondo Tournament after they
defeated Narbonne 43-36. Each team’s early
success can be traced to aggressive defense
and unselfish passing on the offensive end.
The Eagles haven’t really been tested in the
first four games thanks to an aggressive zone
defense one trip down and then switching
to a man defense. They displayed that game
plan against Cabrillo of Long Beach in a
58-24 lopsided win against the Jaguars.
Though the Eagles were cold from the
field, their defense was stifling in forcing five
turnovers and allowing just one field goal in
the first quarter. One of the key plays in the
first eight minutes was a steal by Kyle Myers,
who passed to CJ Hardy for an easy layup.
Head coach David March wasn’t concerned
about his team’s cold shooting, but rather
praised them for their passing and defense.
The Eagles found the range in the second
quarter and stretched a 12-5 lead by scoring
eight straight points and then finished off the
first half with a 6-2 run.
It was a low-scoring first half, but that’s
the way March has his team playing. “We
were working on things on offense that will
help us later in the season. The way we play
defensively is improving,” he said.
The third quarter saw the Eagles extend their
lead with long-range shooting from Leo Cagan
and Hardy. With such a big lead, the game
went into running clock mode in the fourth
period and the Eagles went on to the easy win.
Hardy led all scorers with 14 points, while
sophomore guard Preston Engle had 12 points
and Leo Cagan added 11 points including
3-5 from three-point range. Defensively, the
Eagles forced 17 turnovers with their press
and man schemes.
El Segundo played in the Thanksgiving
Classic at Edison High School and faced the
Chargers -- a program that has won at least
20 games in a season nine out of their last 11
years. They will be one of the top 10 ranked
CIF Southern Section Division 2AA teams
this year. The Eagles were not intimidated,
but came up short in their 54-44 loss to the
Chargers.
The difference in the game was Edison’s
shooting from three-point range: they shot 52
percent. El Segundo did control most of the
other statistical categories-- just not the final
2019 Herald Publications Best of the Best Awards
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Sports
Storey Noble (left) and Kristen Tsubaki (center) are a big part of the Lady Eagles’ defense that caused 19 turnovers against Narbonne. Reese Jones drives for a layup against Narbonne.
See Sports, page 14