4-A BOYS : With O’Bannon Leading Way, Artesia Races Past Fullerton

Fullerton Coach Chris Burton enjoyed watching his boys’ basketball team play Artesia in the Southern Section 4-A quarterfinals Tuesday night.

At least for the first five minutes.

Fullerton hung tough in the first five minutes, but Artesia broke free for an 80-51 victory at Gahr High School.

Artesia (23-2) advanced to the semifinals and will play Burbank Burroughs on Friday night. Fullerton ended the season at 13-13.

The end came with three minutes left in the first quarter.

Fullerton, battling a height disadvantage, trailed by only 9-5 and held Ed O’Bannon, Artesia’s 6-foot-8 forward, scoreless in the first five minutes.

But then O’Bannon started to show why he’s one of the most highly recruited players in the nation.

He knocked down a missed shot by De Andre Austin with a two-handed jam, one of three dunks he had in the game, and sank a soft three-pointer from 30-feet to key a 15-4 run. Artesia led, 24-9, after the first quarter.

Artesia capitalized on seven of eight Fullerton turnovers in the streak.

Rene Arias, who led Fullerton with 17 points, said the Indians’ played sloppy in the streak. Burton said it was something else.

“If we could have reacted to the intimidation a little better we could’ve played better,” Burton said. “The kids got the scouting report on Artesia out of USA Today, just like I did. We read a little too much before the game.”

They read about O’Bannon’s thunderous dunks. They read about how Artesia beat La Puente, 112-28, in the second round and how the Pioneers had only one starter under 6-4. Fullerton’s tallest player, center Procopia Misa, is 6-2.

O’Bannon, who finished with a game-high 20 points and 16 rebounds, threw down another dunk--a two-handed, double-pump--to give Artesia a 32-13 lead with 5:14 left in the second quarter. Fullerton came no closer than 13 the rest of the game.

“O’Bannon’s one of the finest high school players I’ve ever seen,” Burton said. “He plays with the confidence and poise to lead him to success at a different level.”

Perhaps the college level? Now we know why UCLA Coach Jim Harrick was in the stands watching.

“O’Bannon’s tough,” Arias said. “The whole team’s tough. We hung in there and played with them for a few minutes.”

Chris Thompson and Charles O’Bannon, Ed’s brother, added 18 points apiece for Artesia.

Artesia Coach Wayne Merino said his team “didn’t play exceptionally well.”

“We’re going to need a better effort in the semifinals,” he said. “I wasn’t happy with our defense at all. It stunk.”

But Burton, whose team won 12 of its last 15 games after a 1-10 start, wasn’t upset with how the Indians played.

“We showed a lot of character,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”