By Matthew Nguyen
On Wednesday, the boys’ varsity basketball team took on the Westminster High School Lions in the first round of the 3A division California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section playoffs. Led by a high-paced offensive attack coupled with a swarming defense, the Barons were able to continue their CIF journey, beating the Lions with a score of 79-59.
The first quarter started off with both teams attacking quickly. The first bucket went to the Barons as they quickly scored in transition after sophomore guard Roddie Anderson took advantage of a Lions miss and threw a well placed outlet pass that sparked the fast break. Westminster quickly responded by breaking into transition and earning a fast break score themselves.
The quarter continued with much of the same, as both teams tried to relentlessly push the ball down the court and relied little on their defense. It concluded with a close score of 17-15 with the advantage going to the barons.
The beginning of the second quarter continued the same as the first, with both teams relying on speed and well-timed passes in order to score points. After another extended back and forth, the Barons called a timeout in order to regroup.
Coming out of the break, they slowed down the game and began to try and execute and score off of set plays rather than fastbreaks. This resulted in more open shots around the perimeter, which sophomore Aden Casarez took advantage of knocking down two threes within the quarter. The barons were able to seperate themselves from the lions and head into the half with a commanding lead of 34-23.
“We just got heart,” said Anderson, “we have a dog mentality that allowed us to pull away in that second quarter.”
Going into the third quarter, the barons stuck to what worked. They continued to slow down the game and only pushed when they needed to. Their defense also began swarming the opposing Lions offense as they trapped their ballhandlers and flew through passing lines in order to force quick turnovers. Juniors Jeremiah Davis and Preston Amarillo attacked Westminter’s exposed interior defense, finishing multiple and-1 opportunities for the barons.
“[It was our] defense,” said Anderson, “We were getting after the ball, getting loose balls and everything.”
Fountain Valley continued to dominate at this pace for the rest of the game. The barons took a commanding 20-point lead with a little under 2 minutes left in the game before head coach Dcean Bryant decided to take out the starting lineup. The players received a standing ovation from the crowd as they walked off to the bench. The game concluded with a score of 79-59 as the fans charged the court in order to celebrate with the team.
The Barons hopes of a championship lives on as they go on to play Temple City on Friday for the second round of the CIF southern section playoffs.
“We just need to play our game and we’ll be fine,” said Anderson, “We’ll win it all.”
