The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
In a winner-take-all game for fourth place in the Moore League, the outcome was determined by who made the big plays in winning time.
Trailing by one with three minutes left on the clock, the Wilson Bruins scored 11 of the game’s final 13 points, led by their backcourt tandem of Matthew Searles and Nehamiah Parris.
In a game that never found its flow, the Bruins hit their groove at the best possible time on their way to a 59-51 victory over the Cabrillo Jaguars on Wednesday night at McBride High School, punching their ticket to the CIF-SS playoffs.
“I’m just proud of them, like all the stuff we’ve been through all year, and we had a chance last night to punch our ticket and weren’t able to do it, and here we are again,” said Wilson head coach James Boykin. “Just the grittiness of our team and the resilience and all that, because we’ve been in this situation before in a close game and not come out on top … So it’s really good and cool for these kids, for them to take care of business and get this W.”
Searles led the way for Wilson with 18 points, but Parris was right there with 17 of his own. They each added four steals on defense.
“This win is everything to us, because they’ve ended our season two years in a row basically in play-in games. So we were trying to break the curse tonight, and we finally did it,” said Searles, who had 14 of his 18 points in the second half. “I couldn’t be more excited, because it’s my senior year. I didn’t want my career to end, in a sense, so it’s good that we get to keep playing and try to win a championship.”
While it was no doubt a big win for Wilson, it was a frustrating game for both sides. The game never found a rhythm thanks to a litany of whistles throughout the night. A total of 48 fouls were called in the 32 minute game, resulting in three players fouling out.
The whistles really hampered the Bruins, who saw junior big man Andre Alvarez-Smith see just 9 minutes and 33 seconds of playing time before being whistled for his fifth foul. He finished with just three points and four rebounds–well below his usual production–after scoring 24 points the night before.
In his absence, Boykin praised the work of guys like Brooklyn Vega and Isaac Amara, who got expanded minutes down low. They did well on the glass and in containing Cabrillo big man Kinsey Obue, who still had a productive night with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but never took over the game.
“It was huge just for those other guys to be ready and to fight. Kinsey over there is a beast,” said Boykin of his role players, while acknowledging how the whistles impacted both squads. “It wasn’t just us, Cabrillo got the short end of the stick on a lot of calls, man. I was kind of telling refs, like, ‘Let the kids play. It’s not really about you guys, and you guys are calling this super tight.’ Both teams are very physical. Both teams are trying to compete to get to the playoffs. Let the kids play.”
Wilson got off to a good start in the opening quarter, taking an early 8-2 lead. Cabrillo would battle back, however, taking a 17-14 lead early in the second to force a Wilson timeout.
Coming out of that timeout, the Bruins went on a 12-0 run, starting with back-to-back threes from Santos Olumese and Noah Jaramillo. That helped push Wilson to a 34-25 halftime lead.
The Bruins led for a majority of the second half, until a putback bucket by Zyair Hughes put the Jags on top 49-48 with 3:54 left to play.
A minute later, Parris delivered a clutch three-ball to put the Bruins back on top, and they would never relinquish that advantage. The sophomore had started 0/8 from beyond the arc, but made the shot when it counted the most. Searles followed up with a bucket of his own, and they both nailed their free throws down the stretch to keep the game out of reach.
Cabrillo sophomore Ului-He-Lotu Eteaki scored a game-high 20 points with seven rebounds, going 5/10 from the field and 9/10 at the free-throw line. MJ Reed added 10 points and seven boards for the Jags.
Wednesday’s result gives Wilson the fourth and final automatic playoff spot out of the Moore League. They’ll join Millikan, Poly, and Jordan in the CIF-SS playoffs, with brackets being revealed on Saturday.
