BIG GAME : UC Shows Home Fans Its Stuff
It was a rousing welcoming act, and the University City boys’ basketball team can hardly wait for a chance to get an encore.
In its first City Western League home game of the young season, in front of a enthusiastic capacity crowd, UC defeated USDHS, 77-70, Friday night.
The victory gave the Centurions a 3-0 league mark, at the top of the standings, and moved them a little bit closer to one of their season goals.
“One of our goals,” said Chris Whitehead, UC’s leading scorer with 19 points, “was to go undefeated in league.”
Certainly this was a huge step in that direction. All along, this rivalry was touted to be the league’s best. And this game didn’t disappoint.
Although a 10-point run by UC midway through the third quarter turned the tempo for the Centurions and gave them a 45-38 lead with 2:13 remaining, the Dons weren’t out of it until the last few minutes of the game.
Peter Ellis, USDHS’s workaholic, finished with 18 points and came through with a three-pointer that closed the Dons within five, 75-70, with 13 seconds left. But UC’s Jerome Price was then fouled, and he hit both ends of the one-and-one to complete the scoring.
“We had won seven straight,” Ellis said. “They were pumped and we were pumped, but I think it came down to home-court advantage. We’ll see them again on our court.”
For Price (16 points), it was a reunion of sorts; it was the first USDHS-UC game he has played in since his sophomore year. Last year, when it came time for this game, Price opted for cleats rather than high tops and was long jumping in the Sunkist Invitational track meet at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles.
“He came in handy (Friday),” Whitehead said.
Price had 14 rebounds, two steals and two key blocked shots.
UC did an admirable in the second half of cutting off USDHS’ effectiveness from the outside, where the Dons scored most of their first-half points.
“They shoot well from the outside,” Whitehead said, “but once we took away their three-point shot, they couldn’t get in sync.”
Said Jim Tomey, USDHS’s first-year coach: “They executed well and shot well. We didn’t handle the ball as well as we could have.”
Eric Barajas was the game’s leading scorer with 26 points.
The score was tied at the half, 31-31. UC’s biggest lead was 60-44 with 6:13 left in the final quarter on a Whitehead free throw.
USDHS went to a spread offense with a minute to go in the first quarter, holding a 16-14 lead, hoping to wait it out. No such luck. Hooper stole the ball with nine seconds left, laid it in to make it 16-16 and give an indication that the Centurions weren’t willing to wait for anything this night.