ORANGE LEAGUE : Maltie Delivers Kiss of Death
Demetrius Maltie did all he could to lead Magnolia’s basketball team to the Orange League title Wednesday night. He scored, rebounded and played great defense in the Sentinels’ halfcourt trap.
He even brandished his own form of intimidation . . . by kissing Western’s Josh Cook on the cheek .
“Yeah, I kissed him,” said Maltie, who drew a technical for the smooch in the fourth quarter of Magnolia’s 51-45 victory. “I did it for intimidation, to frustrate him.”
The incident occurred with Magnolia leading, 40-31, with five minutes two seconds left in the fourth quarter. Magnolia’s Thay Sisomvang had just committed an offensive foul and Maltie and Cook wound up face-to-face at the end of the play.
Maltie looked at Cook. Cook looked at Maltie.
Then Maltie gave Cook a quick peck on the cheek that went unnoticed by the officials at first.
“I looked all around for them (officials),” said Maltie, who scored 15 points and pulled down five rebounds. “I don’t know how they caught me.”
Probably because Cook, stunned and somewhat embarrassed, complained. “Where’s the ‘T’ ”?, he asked the referees.
After a brief huddle, the officials decided kissing merited a technical foul. Maltie took a brief seat on the bench.
“I guess he just got mad and told the ref,” Maltie said of Cook.
The stunt could have been costly for the Sentinels.
Brett Turley hit two free throws after Sisomvang’s foul and Neil Hensley made one of two free throws on the technical as Western cut Magnolia’s lead to 40-34. The Pioneers closed to four twice--at 40-36 on a layup by Jason Etter with 4:40 remaining, and at 45-41 on Frankie Floyd’s three-point shot with 3:16 left.
But then center Brandon Hearvey, held to two points in the Sentinels’ 39-37 double overtime loss to the Pioneers on Jan. 22, bailed Magnolia out of trouble. Hearvey scored six consecutive points and Magnolia had a comfortable 51-41 lead with 1:20 left. Hearvey finished with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Magnolia (16-6, 8-1) clinched its first league title since 1987. Western is 15-8 and 5-4 in league.
Magnolia took control of the game in the second quarter, using a 1-3-1 trapping defense.
“We went to the trap and it created a lot of problems for Western,” Magnolia Coach Al Walin said. “We knew it would be effective, but we didn’t know it would force that many turnovers.”
In other league games:
Savanna 49, Brea-Olinda 38--Todd Wilson had 15 points, Jermaine Moore had 14 and Canhhuy Nguyen had 13 for host Savanna (10-15, 5-4). Nick Logoteta had 10 points for Brea-Olinda (7-18, 1-8).
Valencia 54, Anaheim 44--Mario Aguirre had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Kevin Deck had 18 points for Valencia (14-7, 7-2), which held Anaheim to nine points in the first half.