Long Beach Poly Breaks Through

Long Beach Poly advanced to the Southern Section Division I-AA championship game for the fourth consecutive year on the strength of an offense led by point guard Wesley Stokes.

But the Jackrabbits won their first championship since 1997 with an outstanding defensive performance.

Poly twice held Chino Hills Ayala scoreless for more than seven minutes Saturday night during a 47-35 victory before 8,000 at the Arrowhead Pond.

“If we don’t do it offensively, we seem to do it defensively,” Poly Coach Ron Palmer said.

Poly (25-2), which lost to Ayala in a tournament in December, is accustomed to playing inartistic games at the Pond, an arena that annually humbles its share of high school marksmen.

Last year, in a championship-game loss to Lakewood Artesia, Stokes made only three of 11 shots and Poly made only 16 of 60.

Against Ayala, Stokes made one of 12 and finished with six points. The Jackrabbits made 35% of their shots.

“All three years I’ve played here I’ve struggled,” said Stokes, who will attend Missouri. “I just can’t find the depth.”

Stokes wasn’t the only one who misfired Saturday.

Ayala (28-3), which had never advanced past the quarterfinals, made it to the final with a disciplined and usually seamless offense.

But the Bulldogs, who were averaging 76 points a game in the playoffs, made only 15 of 56 shots and suffered through two scoring droughts against Poly.

Ayala’s point total was its lowest of the season and Coach Tom Gregory said it was probably the lowest in school history.

“They wore us down,” he said, “and we didn’t play and execute like we normally do.”

The one offensive force in the game was Poly center Joe Travis, who scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds. Markee White added nine points and 14 rebounds for the Jackrabbits.

Travis scored eight of Poly’s 10 points in the first quarter, which ended with Ayala leading, 11-10.

Chris Pacana’s three-point basket with 42 seconds to play gave Ayala the lead.

Ayala, however, did not score again until Chasen Jones made a three-point shot with 48 seconds to play in the half and the Bulldogs trailed, 17-14, at halftime.

Ayala pulled to within 32-30 on Marc McCoy’s basket off a drive with 7:35 left in the fourth quarter, but Poly clamped down on defense again and put together a 14-0 run that did not end until Ken Quinn scored for Ayala with 32 seconds to play.

Marcel Burke and D.J. Lucas led Ayala with seven points apiece.

Poly and Ayala will open play in the Southern California regional of the state tournament Wednesday.

Pairings will be announced today.