Kearny Defense Shuts Down Barajas, Overcomes USDHS

The night before the big game, Kearny Coach Bill Peterson was pumping gas into his car at a Tierrasanta service station, talking to Eric Barajas’ mother.

Barajas is the leading scorer for University of San Diego High, averaging 21.2 points per game. If Peterson had been sporting, he might have hinted what was in store for Barajas.

He didn’t. And Barajas--and the Dons--were caught completely off-guard.

Third-ranked Kearny (18-5, 5-1) remained in first place with a 65-61 victory over eighth-ranked University (17-4, 4-2) Friday night. A victory for Kearny on Monday night against University City will clinch a share of the title.

“This is the biggest win of the year,” Peterson said. “We’ve got a real shot to win it, now.”

He was talking about the league title, but with a defensive performance like the one turned in against Barajas, he might have been talking 2-A title.

Barajas scored 14 but was never a factor in the game. He took more shots in the final eight seconds--three, getting fouled twice--than he did the entire first half. He made two of six shots--the final one uncontested at the buzzer--and wasn’t even able to get off his first shot until 1:19 remained in the first half.

“It’s kind of ridiculous when they’ve got a guy on me way out here,” he said, pointing to the area beyond the three-point line, “and we’ve got the ball on the other side of the court.

“They did deny me (the ball) pretty good. I haven’t been boxed-in-one this tough before. We weren’t quite ready for it. It threw us off our game.”

Peterson praised assistant Marlin Christensen.

“We’re the second-ranked defense in the county,” Peterson said. “He handles all the defense. All I do is walk around the floor and scrape off the chewing gum.”

Which is the way John Lam, Demetrius Brown and Damon Victor stuck to Barajas.

“We got a big effort out of a lot of kids,” Peterson said.

In addition to Lam, Brown and Victor on the defensive end, Kearny got 24 points from Mike Oviedo and 16 from Ali Nayab. Oviedo has averaged 12.5 points per game, Nayab 10. Oviedo had 10 rebounds.

Brown, who scored five, and Nayab had just one point between them in the first meeting between the schools, a six-point University victory.

“This is one step toward the playoffs,” said Oviedo, a 6-foot-6 junior. “We might have to meet them again.”

Kearny’s Darnay Scott scored only eight points, seven under his average, but he had 12 rebounds and two steals.