STATE PREP BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Mounties’ Anderson Makes His Point

Akil Anderson doesn’t look like a point guard.

He looks more like a security guard.

The Montclair Prep junior is 5 feet 9, 195 pounds, with thick arms, thick legs and a body that you wouldn’t want barreling toward you with a basketball.

Or a football.

Anderson was the main running back for Montclair Prep’s Southern Section Division X champion football team last fall, but he showed he’s no slouch at basketball on Friday.

Anderson dished out eight assists and scored 13 points, directing the Mounties with ease to an 83-67 victory over University High of San Francisco for the CIF boys’ Division V State championship at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

His assist total set a Division V title-game record.

“It felt just like practice,” Anderson said. “I had two guys trailing behind me and two in front of me, so I always had four men to pass to.”

Passing the ball accurately and with flair, Anderson executed one behind-the-back pass and several more set up by head fakes.

“He wants to throw the great pass a little more than we like,” Mountie Coach Howard Abrams said, “but he gets it there.”

Anderson continually broke University’s press and committed only four turnovers in 27 minutes.

“He handled our press real well,” University Coach John Werle said. “It’s not a real aggressive press, but it’s designed to let you know we are there and maybe get some turnovers.

“But he found the man in the middle and that’s the way to beat our press.”

And that’s the way to win a state championship.