SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL TOURNAMENT : Division II : Kennedy Faces a Tall Order Trying to Stop Torrey Pines

The Kennedy High School boys’ basketball team goes eye to throat tonight against San Diego Torrey Pines, one of nation’s tallest high school teams, in a first-round game of the Southern California Division II regional playoffs at Kennedy.

Torrey Pines (28-2) has a front line featuring 7-foot center Neal Pollard and forwards Kevin Flanagan (6-9) and Courtie Miller (6-7).

Mike Williams, Kennedy’s center, is 6-5.

Get the picture? It’s a vertical shot with a lot of Kennedy players trying to make eye contact with Torrey Pines’ tall trees.

“I guess all we can do is try and bug them to death on defense,” John Mayberry, Kennedy coach, said.

And apparently, Torrey Pines is buggable. The Falcons lost to Kearny, 68-59, in the semifinals of the San Diego Section Division II playoffs. Torrey Pines had been rated the No. 1 team in San Diego and was averaging 72 points while giving up only 49 a game. Torrey Pines has four players averaging 12 to 18 points shoots 54% as a team from the field.

What happened? Well, there are some discrepancies.

Mayberry said he heard Kearny ran against Torrey Pines and that Torrey Pines may have tall players but doesn’t necessarily have good athletes. If that’s true, then Kennedy, with a wealth of exceptional athletes, seems to stand a chance of running Torrey Pines into the hardwood.

“We’ll just keeping coming after them,” Mayberry said. “I hear they’re slow. A couple coaches have told me they don’t like to run, even though they score a lot of points each game.”

However, Torrey Pines Coach John Farrell said his team would like to do nothing more than to scoot up and down the court.

“We really like to run,” Farrell said. “The problem is no one will run with us. You can’t run if teams won’t let you.”

It looks as if Kennedy will. The Fighting Irish have good athletes such as Mike Keith, a 6-3, 200-pound off-guard with a soft perimeter jump shot, and 6-foot Wendell Lauderdale, who played point guard last season but is now playing forward because of his exceptional jumping ability.

Kennedy beat a taller Tustin team in the Southern Section 3-A finals, and defeated Rollings Hills, 83-80, in three overtimes in the semifinals, overcoming a 23-point halftime deficit.

“We’ve got kids who don’t give up,” Mayberry said. “We’ll try and do something special defensively. But you can’t really scout teams at this point. There just isn’t the time.”