Title preparation is routine
Providence High boys’ basketball Coach Ernest Baskerville could tell his team a great deal about what it’s like to play for a CIF championship.
He could provide his players with explicit details about the pomp and circumstance surrounding the game, how impressive it is to perform on a grand stage and how electric the atmosphere is surrounding the big event.
But Baskerville doesn’t plan to share any of that information with the Pioneers, as they prepare to take part in the CIF Southern Section Division V-A championship game against Holy Martyrs at 11:30 a.m. today at Mater De High.
As coach at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, he helped guide the team to an L.A. City Small Schools Championship in 2009. But instead of letting his Providence players get caught up in the hoopla of the title game, Baskerville has chosen to take a more subdued approach to the contest.
“We want to treat this like any other game,” said Baskerville, who is in his first year with the Pioneers. “In our practices we are doing the same drills and going through the same routines. We don’t want to do anything different then we usually do, and we don’t want to approach this game any differently than we approached all of our other games.”
Coincidently, Holy Martyrs Coach Koko Kaprielian said he is taking the same approach with his players.
“It’s just another game for us,” he said. “Everything is the same and we don’t want to change anything. All our practices are the same, we practice at the same times and we just go hard like we usually do. We are playing this game just like we would a league game or any other game during the season. Nothing is different.
“It’s really hard to do that because the players know they’re playing in a CIF championship. I just tell them not to think of anything else except just playing the game.”
The No. 1-seeded Pioneers (25-4) and the No. 3 Armens (19-11) also have something interesting in common. Both are making their first appearances in a CIF title game in boys’ basketball.
Providence will also be trying to win just the second championship in any sport in school history. Jeff Cirillo, who would go on to prominence with USC before becoming a Major League Baseball All-Star, was a standout for the 1986 Pioneers baseball team that captured a Small Schools crown.
“We as coaches are excited, and the school is excited,” Baskerville said. “We just don’t want the players to get too excited.”
Baskerville and his coaching staff didn’t have to do much detective work to find information about Holy Martyrs. Both teams play in the Liberty League, and the Pioneers defeated the Armens twice this season to secure their first league crown in 13 years. Holy Martyrs placed second.
“We have to try and figure what they might do differently after things didn’t work out the other two times,” Baskerville said. “We can prepare for what they do, and I know all of their players like the back of my hand. But if the coach throws in something different that could throw us off, we have to be prepared.”
Kaprielian said he plans to do just that.
“We watched the tapes of the games against them and we know what we did wrong,” he said. “We are going to try and fix those mistakes that we made and just go out and play hard. If we play hard, no matter what the outcome of the game, we can live with that outcome.”
The Pioneers have been led all season by freshman Marcus LoVett Jr., who is averaging 31.7 points a game. The team also possesses a fine shooter in senior Patrick Gonzalez (19.3 points a game). Sophomores Christian Ware-Berry and Jonathan Ly and senior Kellen Smith comprise the other Providence starters.
After a first-round bye, the Pioneers defeated New Roads, 67-44, Shalhevet, 59-56, and Kilpatrick, 74-61, to advance to the final. In its trek to the final, Holy Martyrs, led by Nooshe Kenjoian, beat Sherman Indian, 62-24, Desert Christian Academy, 53-36, Rio Hondo Prep, 57-54, and Rolling Hills Prep, 48-47.
Gonzalez said his team is going to have to play hard to beat the Armens a third time.
“Beating a team the third time is always harder,” said Gonzalez, who was tops in state in scoring average and three-pointers last season. “But hopefully we can play strong and come out with a [win].”