Mike Guardabascio “You can take the Summer League out of Long Beach, but you can’t take Long Beach out of the Summer League.” That was the thought I had as I was driving my family home from Las Vegas last weekend, after 72 hours of nonstop basketball action at the NBA’s Summer League, hosted at […]
A certain level of toughness and grit is required to play any sports, but every year an athlete or two catch our eyes and distinguish themselves as having found another gear. That’s true of both of this year’s honorees, who played through injury and led their teams both emotionally and in terms of production. Sone […]
The All-City Freshmen of the Year award has been a great predictor of success the last two years, with previous winners Camille Lindsay, Maya O’Dea, Jason Parra, and Sammie Hamilton all continuing to dominate the Moore League this year (all four won Moore League Player of the Year or individual championship honors in 2021-22). We […]
As athletes begin to specialize in a sport or even a position within a sport at earlier and earlier ages, the era of the multisport star has largely come to a close. It’s no longer the norm for the city dominant high school athletes to earn Player of the Year consideration in multiple sports the […]
NUMBER SEVEN St. Anthony had a solid season under first-year head coach Alan Mitchell, and really continued to improve all the way through the postseason. After a third-place finish in the Del Rey League, the Saints weren’t expected to do much in the Division 1 bracket, opening up on the road at Dominguez. All the […]
NUMBER NINE Long Beach Poly came up 10 points short of the program’s 21st CIF-SS championship in a 78-69 defeat at Village Christian in the Division 2AA final, but it was still a memorable season for the state’s all-time wins leader. The Jackrabbits’ thrilling 50-45 win over Foothill on the road–behind 25 points from senior […]
Growing up in Long Beach, playing basketball at the JCC as a kid and at Long Beach Poly as he grew, Peyton Watson dreamed of the moment that happened last night. The Long Beach and Bixby Knolls native was in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn where he heard NBA commissioner Adam Silver announce his name […]
One of Compton High’s best coaches of the last half-century has left the school after a highly-successful 16-year tenure, citing the difficulties of the longterm campus construction as well as frustrations with administration. Longtime basketball coach Tony Thomas won a CIF-SS championship at Compton, as well as the school’s only Moore League titles in the […]
The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family. Cabrillo has announced its next boys’ basketball coach, as the Jaguars have hired Jordan/LBCC alum and recent St. Anthony assistant Chris Spencer to take over the Westside program. Spencer, 27, is a young coach but already well-regarded and respected in the Long Beach hoops […]
Four Long Beach Poly basketball players are still alive in the NCAA Tournament with tickets punched for the Sweet 16. On the court, Myles Johnson and Peyton Watson are on the UCLA team that will face North Carolina Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the Sweet Sixteen. Both have contributed this year and will have to […]