Page 4 December 5, 2013 Joe’s Sports Cardinals Fall Short in Consolation Final By Joe Snyder After a pair of runner-up finishes in the Mira Costa Pacific Shores Tournament over the past two seasons, winning its first Pioneer League championship and making the CIFSouthern Section Division IIAA quarterfinals last season, Lawndale head boys’ basketball coach Chris Brownlee decided to give the Cardinals a bigger challenge by entering the more challenging Redondo Pacific Shores Classic last week. Lawndale ended up splitting its four games that included a heartbreaking 49-47 consolation final loss to Calabasas last Saturday. The Cardinals began the tournament on Nov. 25 with another nail-biting defeat to small schools power Campbell Hall from North Hollywood 63-60. On the next day, however, Lawndale rebounded with a 66-50 victory over Inglewood Morningside. In the consolation final last Friday, the Cardinals topped defending California State Division IV champion West Hollywood Pacific Hills 55-53. Against Calabasas, Lawndale got off to a good start by leading 20-11 at the beginning of the second quarter, but the always tough Coyotes chewed away at the Cardinals lead, trailing by four at 29-25 at halftime. In the second half, Calabasas led by as many as seven points, but Lawndale made a last push only to fall two points short. The Cardinals were led by eventual alltournament junior center-forward Chimeze Metu with a game-high 17 points that included a pair of spectacular slam dunks. Broderick Jones added 13 points. “We wanted to get three wins, but we couldn’t get over the hump,” Brownlee said about Lawndale’s loss to the Coyotes. “We have a lot of work to do and we need to do better to get ready for league. We got to get in better condition.” Leading Calabasas was Jeremy Lieberman with 13 points. Brodricks Jones, who was also all-tournament for the Cardinals, contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds to key Lawndale over Pacific Hills on Friday. In the Cardinals’ win over Morningside, they had four players score in double figures, led by Metu with 18 points, 12 rebounds Lawndale High’s R’lando Beckles goes for a basket during last week’s Redondo Pacific Shores Tournament action against Campbell Hall. Photo by Joe Snyder. and three blocks. Jones tallied 16 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. R’lando Beckles and Tedrick Johnson put in 11 and 10 points respectively. Quincy Beckles led Lawndale with 16 points in its loss to Campbell Hall. Jones and Beckles totaled 14 and 10 points respectively. The Vikings were led by Aaron Holiday, younger brother of current National Basketball Association and former UCLA and University of Nevada-Las Vegas standout Jrue Holiday, with a game-high 22 points. Lawndale (2-2) is currently playing in another highly regarded Trevor Ariza Classic at Westchester where they began Tuesday against Washington Prep. The classic runs through Saturday. The Cardinals then visit Hawthorne in a non-league game next Thursday at 7:30 p.m. MORNINGSIDE GOES 1-3 Morningside High’s boys’ basketball team went 1-3 in the highly regarded Redondo Pacific Shores Tournament last week. After losing their first two games to host and eventual champion Redondo 76-39 in the first round on Nov. 25 and to Lawndale 66-50 a day later, the Monarchs bounced back with a 56-53 victory over Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula in the 13th place semifinal last Friday. Morningside, though, fell short of Palos Verdes 52-47 in the 13th place final on Saturday. The Monarchs were seeking to split the four games in one of the top prep boys’ basketball classics in California, but failed in the loss to the Sea Kings, who are seeking to leave the Bay League doormat with a 22-game league losing streak. James Brown led Morningside with 14 points to tie the game-high with P.V.’s Conner McKeeve. A day earlier, Brown had a gamehigh 23 points in the Monarchs’ win over the Panthers. Dakarian King contributed 14 points. King and Brown scored 16 and 11 points respectively in Morningside’s loss to Lawndale. King led the Monarchs with 12 points in their loss to the defending California State Division II champion Sea Hawks, who won their first PAC Shores Tournament since 1999 with a thrilling 64-63 victory over Lakewood Mayfair last Saturday. In that game, Morningside started off well by scoring the game’s first six points and trailed only 23-21 midway in the second quarter before Redondo (4-0) closed out the first half with a 14-3 run before outscoring the Monarchs 39-15 in the second half to turn the game into a rout. Morningside hopes to progress as it plays in another highly competitive tournament--the Westchester Trevor Ariza Classic that began on Monday and runs through Saturday. INGLEWOOD GIRLS PLACE THIRD Inglewood High’s girls’ basketball team took third place in its own tournament with a 42-30 win over last year’s Ocean League champion and CIF-Southern Section Division IIA runner-up Carson last Saturday. Winning the classic was West Torrance, which downed its Bay League rival Mira Costa 52-40. These two teams tied for the league title last season. •
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