Halftime Talk by Paez Spurs Cleveland to Victory, 83-57

When the Cleveland High basketball team really gets it going it is, as a unit, breathtaking to behold.

Take, for example, the five minutes of fury unleashed by the Cavalier quintet to open the second half against El Camino Real on Wednesday night in a Northwest Valley Conference game at El Camino Real.

Staked to a 10-point halftime lead, Cleveland played nearly flawless--and often spectacular--basketball from the start of the half until the three-minute mark of the third quarter in a 20-2 run that propelled the Cavaliers to great heights in an 83-57 victory.

The run was marked by flying blocks of Conquistadore shots, soaring layups off a relentless full-court press, and tasty no-look dishes from an inspired pair of Cleveland guards, Andre Chevalier and Eddie Hill.

Such a spurt, of course, was greatly aided by a verbal kick in the pants administered to the team by Coach Marc Paez in response to a lackluster first half that saw Cleveland (12-4, 2-0 in league play) take a 34-24 lead.

Three hundred seconds into the second half, the score was 54-26.

And all El Camino Real (4-7, 1-1) could do, basically, was watch with mouths agape.

Conquistadores Allen Chenen (19 points) and Adam Kodish (15 points) tried to counter the onslaught but to no avail.

“You have to get all the breaks when you play them,” El Camino Real Coach Mike McNulty said. “They’re so talented and big.”

Add motivated to the equation and the result is awesome.

“I tried to make a point,” Paez said of his halftime speech, a slight grin showing. “We weren’t ready to play defense in the first half.”

They made up for such transgressions in the second half.

Hill and Chevalier used lightning-quick hands to make steals and feed the likes of sophomore Brandon Martin, who shared team-high scoring honors with Pat McCook (13 points). Martin scored nine of his total in the telling run.

The most furious action took place beginning with 6:30 left in the third quarter. It began with a beautiful assist from Chevalier to Martin, who made a layup and was fouled. His free throw made the score 41-26.

Almost immediately thereafter, Hill stole the ball and cruised in for a layup. Martin took over from there, scoring on a layup and a dunk and taking an offensive rebound up for a score and a 49-26 Cleveland lead.

Senior forward Bobby McRae added 11 points for Cleveland, including six in the third quarter, and Hill rounded out the Cavaliers’ double-digit scorers with 10 points.

But don’t think Hill was pleased with what he saw tonight.

“We had to be intense on defense and we weren’t,” he said.

Still, the senior guard had to be impressed with the third-quarter bonanza. That had to be as good as Cleveland can play, right?

“No way,” Hill said, scowling. “Not even close.”

And Paez?

“I hope not,” he said. “I hope we can play a lot better.”

Geez, tough crowd to please.