Ware-Berry, Regisford honored with All-CIF selections in boys’ basketball
Christian Ware-Berry was expected to be the second, or even third, option this past season for the Providence High boys’ basketball team.
That’s because the Pioneers featured All-State and All-Area Player of the Year Marcus LoVett Jr. However, when LoVett was sidelined with an illness, Ware-Berry stepped in to shoulder the load for Providence.
Then, when LoVett left the team for good before the conclusion of the 2012-13 campaign, Ware-Berry became the team’s go-to player.
Instead of wilting under the pressure, Ware-Berry stepped up and took over the Pioneers, putting up big numbers and leading the team to the playoffs.
Ware-Berry was recognized for his exploits when the All-CIF Southern Section awards were released Monday. The junior earned a spot to the Division V-AA second team.
Bellarmine-Jefferson junior Malcolm Regisford, who was a second-team pick in Division V-AA, was also honored.
With the departure of LoVett, Providence Coach Ernest Baskerville said Ware-Berry was thrust into a very difficult spotlight.
“Christian probably had one of the toughest tasks of any other player in Southern California,” Baskerville said. “First of all, he had to play with arguably one of the best players on the planet in Marcus and Christian had to be so efficient because he wasn’t going to get that many touches with Marcus handling the ball.
“And Marcus just played 13 games for us, which was only about half the season. And when he left, Christian had to put that all on his back and he had to essentially go from being Robin to being Batman. He had to become our No. 1 guy and I thought he did a great job at that.”
Ware-Berry, who earned All-Liberty League first-team honors, played a pivotal role in helping the Pioneers qualify for the postseason. The junior averaged 22.2 points a game to go along with 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals.
Earning an All-CIF award is something that Ware-Berry said he wasn’t expecting.
“It’s just an honor to be recognized,” he said. “It’s nice to get something like this with all the hard work I put in last summer and during the season. Coming out of my sophomore season I only averaged about six points a game, so to get something like this is really special.”
When LoVett was sidelined and eventually departed, Ware-Berry said he didn’t feel a lot of pressure to step up and lead the Pioneers.
“I just looked at it like I was just coming into a different role,” he said. “Really, I was ready for it. I had to step up in the summer when Marcus didn’t play for us and I had some pretty good games. So, when it was time for me to step up I had confidence that I would be able to do that.”
The Pioneers (9-18) placed third in the Liberty League Tournament and qualified for the CIF Southern Section playoffs as an at-large team. The team suffered a 72-66 loss in the first round to Lancaster Desert Christian. Ware-Berry poured in 37 points in the loss.
Regisford, who earned All-Santa Fe League first-team honors, averaged 13 points and 10 rebounds a game.
“You’re looking at a kid who was an average [junior varsity] basketball player the year before,” Bell-Jeff Coach Julian Andrade said of Regisford. “But he grew about three or four inches during the year and he really blossomed into a very good player. He made a big difference for us and he was getting better at the end of the season.”
Bell-Jeff (17-12) was runner-up in the Santa Cruz League and advanced to the quarterfinals of the playoffs, falling to Village Christian, 70-63.