University City Leaves Mira Mesa Behind

SAN DIEGO — About the only thing that went wrong for the eighth-ranked University City boys’ basketball team Friday night in its game with Mira Mesa occurred with 24 seconds left.

Centurion guard Anthony Hill took off flying for the basket on a breakaway, jumped and tried to dunk. The ball hit the front rim. Hill hit the floor.

Oh, there was one other thing. University City (6-0) didn’t score for the first three minutes and 51 seconds. But after the plane took off, 10th-ranked Mira Mesa spent its time wading through the jet trail in a nonleague game at Mira Mesa.

University City 65, Mira Mesa 53.

So what is it about University City?

Let Mira Mesa Coach Tim Cunningham explain. “They’ve got an inside game. They’ve got an outside game. They’ve got a quick game. They’ve got a physical game.

Yeah, but other than that . . .

The inside and physical games are one guy: Ray Hooper, a 6-foot-4 forward. He scored a game-high 27 points and hit a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give University City a 12-point lead when it looked as if Mira Mesa (4-4) was set to make a run.

The outside and the quick games are usually two guys: Jerome Price and Hill, both guards. Hill has held to seven points, but Price scored 19. And it was Price who got University City chugging after its pedestrian start, scoring a three-point play on a turn-around bank shot and a free throw. Another Price bank shot put the Centurions ahead, 17-16, with 4:58 remaining in the first half. That was the first time they led. They never trailed again.

University City also did fine defensively, holding 6-5 center Marc Ziegler to 14 points. Swing man J.J. Rowlett led Mira Mesa with 16.

University City Coach Tom Medigovich may have trouble finding many weaknesses on this team, which has beefed up its inside game since last year. He would like to see his players get started just a little sooner. But he knows this much. Teams can’t afford to key on Hill and Price.

“Any time you think about UC basketball, you think of Jerome and Anthony,” he said. “And we’re not that way. We’re not two-dimensional.”

Mira Mesa pulled within 11 points with a little more than a minute remaining on a Rowlett jumper. A few seconds later, Hill connected on two free throws to end any suspense.