SJB MLK Dream Classic: Five Takeaways

BELLFLOWER — The annual St. John Bosco Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Classic featured 10 games on Monday – comprised mainly of teams from Orange and Los Angeles Counties. In this piece I give my five main takeaways from the games I saw.   La Mirada and Foothill was one of the most well-coached and best-executed games I've seen this year   Monday's matchup between La Mirada and Foothill was one of the more intriguing games of the MLK Dream Classic for a variety of reasons, mainly because both are public school programs experiencing great success this season. Foothill entered the game with a 20-1 overall record with good wins over Rancho Christian and Anaheim Canyon. La Mirada came in with a 16-6 mark boasting wins over Campbell Hall, Orange Lutheran, St. Anthony and Rancho Cucamonga. Both teams are known for being great extensions of their coaching staffs on the floor and La Mirada's 53-50 win proved that to be true. The Matadores fell behind early as Foothill got off to a quick start but mounted a comeback in the second half which turned the game into a possession-by-possession affair. Both teams executed offensive and defensive schemes down to the final buzzer and made great adjustments throughout the game.   Orange Lutheran building on big win over Mater Dei   The Lancers got out to a sluggish start against Oak Park, which might have been linked to a bit of a basketball hangover after their big upset of Mater Dei last week, but a few tweaks to the lineup and some renewed second half energy helped Orange Lutheran pull out a 56-54 win. Lancers' guard Zion Paleo forced a key turnover in a tie game with 6 seconds left and made the heady hit-ahead pass to Andrew Nagy who sealed the victory with a two-handed dunk. The key adjustment made by the Orange Lutheran coaching staff was putting its two big men - Nagy and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1630666' first='John' last='Gazzaniga'] - on the floor at the same time. The two 6-foot-7-plus forwards plugged up driving lanes and contested shots at the rim. Those stops resulted in the Lancers getting out in transition where they are best offensively.   Addition of Brandon McCoy makes Bosco much more dynamic   It's never a bad thing when you add an athletic 6-foot-4 piece to your high school team but what makes McCoy joining St. John Bosco's squad is the fact that he's a skilled scorer, high IQ player, impactful on the defensive end and just a freshman. Braves' head coach Matt Dunn said McCoy has a chance to be "special" and it was easy to see why he thinks that. The wiry wing was knocking down three-point shots, getting to the rim off the bounce for dunks and crafty layups, making great reads in half-court offense and showed a high level understanding of Bosco's defensive schemes - and did so with having only three practices under his belt.   Eligibility of [player_tooltip player_id='992482' first='Darius' last='Carr'] puts Fairfax back in the City Section mix   With the eligibility of St. Bernard transfer [player_tooltip player_id='992482' first='Darius' last='Carr'] in flux, the outlook of Fairfax's season under first-year coach Jamal Hartwell was also on shaky ground. The 6-foot-4 guard is talented enough to take a .500 team and make it a playoff contender and when he was cleared by the CIF Los Angeles City Section for participation, the stock on the Lions' chances at being a City Section title contender shot way up. Carr showed his impact Monday as he scored 27 points with seven rebounds and 6 assists in Fairfax's win over Diamond Bar.   Pacifica Christian vs. Lynwood: A game of contrasting styles that turned into the same style   The vision of the Pacifica Christian coaching staff was clear from the first baseline out of bounds after a Tritons basket: The Tritons weren't going to let Jason Crowe, Jr. beat them by himself. The highly-regarded freshman guard came into 35-plus points per game and Pacifica Christian went into full denial mode - with two defenders - to make sure he didn't get the first touch after a made basket and then face-guarded him the rest of the way down the floor with senior guard Sarge Deal. Technically, the plan worked. The Tritons won the high scoring, breakneck-paced affair, 96-88, but Crowe, Jr. still managed to hit his average as he scored 36 points while hitting 17 of his 19 free throw attempts. The stars of the game for Pacifica Christian were [player_tooltip player_id='994922' first='Tanner' last='Deal'] (24 points) and [player_tooltip player_id='1434750' first='Parker' last='Strauss'] (nine points and 13 assists).

BELLFLOWER — The annual St. John Bosco Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Classic featured 10 games on Monday – comprised mainly of teams from Orange and Los Angeles Counties. In this piece I give my five main takeaways from the games I saw.