PREP BASKETBALL REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : Morningside Proud After Its Quiet Victory

That thud you might have heard echoing around the Southland Saturday was not a sonic boom. It wasn’t an earthquake. It wasn’t the big, bad bounce of another congressional check.

That wondrous, thunderous thud was the sound of Inglewood Morningside center Pauliasi Taulava’s sleepy head as it crashed to the table during his team’s postgame press conference. Such is the price you pay when you doze off without elbows properly propped.

Was Taulava just tired? Or perhaps a little bored?

Certainly, Morningside’s 84-67 victory over Estancia Saturday didn’t register high on the thrill-o-meter. At least not when compared to last week’s see-sawing spectacular, the Southern Section III-AA final in which Morningside got the best of Estancia, 95-85, in overtime.

That game was a double espresso. This was instant decaf. It was like heavy metal one week, Neil Diamond the next. From joy ride to pony ride.

Fortunately, not all the Morningside players were put to sleep by their performance. In fact, most looked pretty darn proud.

Proud that their playground style allowed them to leapfrog over and around the Eagle defense. Proud that last Saturday’s victory didn’t launch their egos into orbit.

Proud that they--not Estancia--would be playing for the State Division III championship next week.

As for Estancia? The Eagles took the philosophical approach, offering equations for losing occasions: It’s easier to lose by a lot than by a little, easier to accept defeat when you’ve really been beaten, and so on.

But it won’t be easy to forget. Especially the second quarter, during which the Eagles’ eyes failed them.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 13-13. Eight minutes later, Estancia went to the locker room with a 34-22 halftime deficit.

How’d it happen? Choose your theory.

Maybe it had something to do with that full-blast foul Eagle point guard Joe Edson used to stop star guard Stais Boseman from an easy dunk or layup--the first shot attempt of the quarter. Boseman, perhaps more athletic than the flock of Eagles combined, gave Edson a wary eye, swished both free throws and added a couple of three-pointers and three more free throws to finish the period with 11 of his team-high 25 points.

Maybe it was Estancia’s sudden loss of memory. Amnesia, even. The Eagles had to remember Morningside’s uncanny ability to cut off the pass, didn’t they? They had to have remembered the Monarchs’ sneaky steals, right? And that irrepressible press?

Maybe not, because as soon as Morningside started stealing, the Eagles started reeling, and suddenly found themselves outscored, 21-9.

Estancia Coach Tim O’Brien described it as “one of life’s embarrassing moments.” Eagle center Jeff Byrne said: “We just stopped thinking.”

And prompted O’Brien’s halftime thought: Get out there and play . It’s a street game out there, so don’t be waiting on the sidewalk. Or something like that.

His players responded, at least for a while, pulling to within 62-58 midway through the fourth quarter.

Close, but not enough to overcome other problems, such as Jim Faulkner’s fouling out with 5:10 to go in the third quarter with only four points. Or starting forward Ty Schisler going oh-for-everything for the third consecutive game. Or Matt Fuerbringer’s loss of karma or whatever it is that powers his normally super 17-year-old ways.

In the end, Morningside just had too much stuff, too many moves and--unlike Estancia--not much fatigue.

The Monarchs, if fact, finished the game looking downright peppy. All except for Taulava, that is.

A 6-foot-9, 255-pound senior center, he scored 14 points--10 more than last week--and had 12 rebounds. And even with Boseman’s elbowing him to stay awake, he could hardly keep his eyes open during the press conference.

Next week, back to that double espresso.

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Readers may reach Ludovise by writing The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, 92626 or by calling 966-5847.