HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Mira Mesa Settles Down, Beats Morse

If Morse was the team starting two freshman, why was it that Mira Mesa lacked composure in the first half of the City Eastern opener for both teams?

Maybe because the Marauders didn’t listen to their coach.

Lucky for Tim Cunningham that a 10-minute halftime allows coaches to reinforce their points.

Cunningham used the intermission to do just that, and this time the Marauders listened. They then let their actions speak louder than Cunningham’s “pep talk,” finishing with a 65-62 victory.

As the second half began, suddenly the Marauders weren’t throwing up the errant long shot. Suddenly, they were working the ball inside to center Marc Ziegler. Ziegler scored 15 in the third quarter alone and added four more in the final quarter to ice the victory.

It looked so easy--once Mira Mesa (10-6, 1-0) actually started passing the ball underneath to their center.

In the second quarter, Mira Mesa refused to do that and more often than not raced up court only to watch a 20-footer bound off the front of the rim.

Morse was only too willing to take advantage and scored 12 consecutive points, a run that spanned the last half-minute in the first quarter and stretched through four minutes of the second. At that point, the Tigers clutched a 24-18 lead.

“We knew that we didn’t want to take outside jumpers,” Cunningham said afterward. “That would just be playing right into their hands. But we did that for four minutes and didn’t hit a shot.”

By throwing the ball up so quickly, the Marauders took away what had been their most potent offensive weapon in the first quarter, when they made seven of 11 free throws because of seven Morse fouls.

In the second, Morse had little opportunity to foul because Mira Mesa shot so quickly. The Marauders took only two free throws--and missed them both.

So what’s a coach to do when his players turn ice cold?

Cunningham told them to spread out the offense, hoping the defense would come out to the perimeter, then work it inside to Ziegler.

It worked. The Mira Mesa center finished with 28.

But just as Ziegler got hot on Mira Mesa’s side of the court, Morse’s Jamaar Lavender did the same on the other end. Lavender scored eight points within three minutes during the third quarter, his last basket tying the score at 46.

In the final quarter Lavender hit two consecutive three-pointers to draw the Tigers’ within four points with just over two minutes left.