Throttling Torrey Pines Is Just a Work of Artesia

Vengeance has a lengthy memory, and in front of 2,000 Thursday night, Charles O’Bannon redeemed his brother.

O’Bannon scored 27 points to lift Artesia (27-4) to a 56-46 victory over host Torrey Pines (28-4) in the Southern California Boys’ Division II Regional basketball tournament and ending the Falcons’ 20-game winning streak.

Only a junior, he was in eighth grade when his brother, UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon, was a loser against Torrey Pines in the first round of the 1989 playoffs.

“We played on emotion,” Charles O’Bannon said. “We have one senior (Jae Park) who was on that team, and also my brother. I wanted to win it for him.

“We wanted to pay them back.”

Charles in charge had plenty of help. In addition to O’Bannon’s nine rebounds, Park had eight points and nine rebounds, and Avondre Jones had eight points and eight rebounds.

The game featured three of the best juniors in the country in O’Bannon (6 feet 6), Jones (6-11) and Torrey Pines’ Scot Pollard (6-11).

“We’ve never played a team our own size,” O’Bannon said. “We were concerned about staying out of foul trouble so we could keep it competitive.”

Artesia committed seven fouls, Torrey Pines 18. Artesia made 17 of 23 from the free-throw line, Torrey Pines three of six.

Artesia Coach Wayne Moreno credited his team’s defense and the effort of Jones and O’Bannon.

“We wanted to make Jones active and to go right at Pollard,” Moreno said. “Our two guys had to have big games, and they did.

“We had to pressure their guards, pressure their shooters and double down on the post. Everything worked for us. . . . Defensively, we didn’t do many things wrong.”

Torrey Pines went seven minutes without scoring in the second half as Artesia stretched its lead from 35-32 to 49-32. O’Bannon had eight points in the run. The Falcons never got closer than nine after that.

Torrey Pines’ two leading scorers, Pollard and Craig Brown, averaged 18.7 and 17.2 points per game this season, respectively. Each finished with seven. Pollard, who had his four fouls with 3:17 left in the third quarter, had six rebounds and four blocks.

Steve Lemery and Peter Bates had 13 apiece for Torrey Pines, which averaged 71 points a game.

“Every time I got the ball, there were two or three guys in my face,” Pollard said. “It was like turning around and looking at myself, seeing a guy (Jones) who can block shots like me. When you turn around and there’s a big guy looking at you, it’s tough to play.”

Pollard learned how the other half lives. Torrey Pines didn’t lose a game to San Diego opponents this season.