Prep Basketball : Southern Section 5-A Playoffs : Long Beach Poly Defeats Servite, 61-46

Chris Roscoe, Vincent Camper and Cedric Purry combined for 40 points as fourth-ranked Long Beach Poly High School began its quest for a second consecutive Southern Section boys basketball title with a 61-46 victory over Servite in a 5-A playoff game Friday night at Long Beach.

A crowd of about 2,000 watched as the Moore League Champion and 1984 4-A titlist improved its season record to 18-8. Servite, the No. 3 representative from the Angelus League, finished at 10-14.

The win was gratifying for first-year Poly Coach Chris Kinder, whose team have rallied from an 8-6 preseason to a 10-1 record in their last 11 games.

Servite, which lost to Poly, 43-33, earlier in the year didn’t lose without a fight. With center Matt Honikel hitting his first four field-goal attempts, the Friars used a patient offense and never trailed by more than four points throughout much of the first half.

A three-point play by Honikel with 2:18 to go in the second quarter cut Poly’s lead to 18-17.

The Jackrabbits then scored six in a row for a 24-17 halftime lead.

Using two steals and dunks by Roscoe and another dunk by Camper, Long Beach went on a 12-5 spurt for a 38-22 lead with only 10 minutes left in the game.

During that streak, Long Beach shut down Honikel, who had a game-high 24 points for Servite.

Servite hit 18 of 28 field-goal tries. Poly hit 26 of 54 shots.

In other 5-A action:

Ocean View 92, St. Francis 57--Ocean View routed visiting St. Francis to advance to the second round behind guard Blaine DeBrouwer’s 20-point, 5-assist performance.

The Seahawks (22-3) broke the game open early as they extended a 14-8 first-quarter lead by scoring 17 straight points before Ed Lund’s free throw broke the St. Francis drought with a free throw at 4:52 of the second quarter. DeBrouwer’s basket from half court with one second left in the first quarter highlighted the Seahawk blitz.

St. Francis (11-13) never got closer than 18 points after that, as the Seahawks pulled away in the second half. Tony Panzica’s basket at 1:50 of the third quarter extended the lead to 64-32. It wasn’t much better for the Golden Knights after Seahawk Coach Jim Harris cleared his bench. Mike Flynn’s two free throws padded the lead to 75-38 with 5:54 left in the game.

Ocean View sophomore center Ricky Butler led the Seahawks to a 31-16 rebounding advantage with 12 including 10 off the offensive backboard. Scoring in double figures for the Seahawks were Panzica with 14, Butler with 12, Mike Labat with 11, David Straight and Desi Hazely with 10 apiece.

Matt Dyrek led St. Francis scoring with 16 points. Ocean View shot 57.3% (35 of 61) from the floor. The Golden Knights hit 25 of 54 (46.3%).