BOYS BASKETBALL: Renaissance Academy rolls on
Question: Are the Wildcats championship-bound?
By Keith Lair, Staff Writer
RIVERSIDE - The most critical time for the Renaissance Academy boys basketball team is halftime.
The Wildcats, no matter the score, seem to come out in the third quarter and take over. They did it again Tuesday night in the CIF-Southern Section Division III-A quarterfinals.
Renaissance scored the first 21 points of the quarter and pulled away for a 70-48 victory over host Notre Dame.
Top-ranked Renaissance will play West Valley, a 55-50 winner over Corona del Mar, in Friday's semifinals at a site to be determined.
"We made our adjustments," Renaissance coach Sid Cooke said of the third quarter. "We let them off the hook in the second quarter and we came back and made our points."
Josh Thomas, an All-CIF selection last season who has missed the past six weeks because of an injury, came off the bench in the quarter to ignite the Wildcats, who improved to 24-2 with their 15th consecutive victory.
Renaissance led 35-23 at halftime. Thomas knocked in a 3-pointer from the corner on the first shot of the half and hit two foul shots the next time down the floor.
"Josh came in, and that's our guy," Cooke said. "It looks like he's ready to go,. He's moving pretty good when he has to. He's still not 100 percent, but that's the guy we need. We really got to have him back."
Center Anthony Stover and guard Justin Cook then took over for Thomas. The pair scored the next 16 points and the Wildcats had breathing room and a spot in the division semifinals for the second consecutive year.
The Titans missed their first 14 shots of the third quarter before Hamilton Chang hit a 21-foot 3-pointer with 1:54 left in the quarter. It was the only points Notre Dame would score in the quarter.
The Titans shot only 5.4 percent (1-of-22) in the quarter and shot 8.3 percent (1-of-12) on 3-point attempts. Overall, the Titans took 34 3-point shots, making only four. Two came in the fourth quarter when the game was long decided. They shot 27.7 percent (18-of-65) for the game.
"We couldn't make a shot," Notre Dame coach Robert Robinson said.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats had their best shooting in the quarter, making 60 percent (9-of-15) of their shots. The Wildcats did not shoot a 3-pointer in the quarter. They shot 48.3 percent (29-of-60) for the game.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
He's a big boy. I wish they had kept 3 aroudn him all night. But they didn't. When they played the stronger inside d, he had to change his shots or pass it back out.
Some of the boys probably were scared. And they are talented enough to have beat WV, but didn't play to their potential. And they hawked Justin Cook like crazy.
You can't win big games wiht 21 turnovers. Can't do it.
The big guy had 3 people around him all the time and he still had 21 points and 5 assist but only 4 reb. Yes the problem was the 21 turnovers however some of RA players looked like they were afraid to play.
Actually, he did a decent job against the big guy. Made him change a lot of shots. But what hurt RA was the 21 turnovers and the guard who shot 3's with such accuracy and no defense against him.
It wasn't the big guy who killed them. Anthony mad him change a lot of shots. The guard who shot the lights out on WV is the one who hurt RA most. And the 21 turnovers.
It wasn't the big guy who killed. him. Anthony mad him change a lot of shots. The guard who shot the lights out on WV is the one who hurt RA most. And the 21 turnovers.
After the fact the anwser to that question is NO.
do you guys think Anthony will be able to stop the big man from West Valley?
The guys at Renaissance have developed into a solid squad that should go all the way this year. CIF? Not only. I'm waiting for state. These guys have really learned how to work together and play as a team. If RA can run? RA is ready for whatever is thrown at them. Pond? Sacramento here they come.
Yes, game time is 730p.
Ok, Blair HS. What time ? 7:30pm ?
It's confirmed that the game will be played at Balir High School on Friday night.
Should be a great game. We would love to see a HUGE SGV crowd come cheer us on!
Go Wildcats!
hopefully supporters for the san gabriel valley will come out to support the Wildcats, sounds like they will need it.
One of the D1 propects for West Valley is the big guy who is listed at 6'8 285lb on maxpreps. Seems like he should be watching the QB's blinds side. He averages 21 points and 16 reb so the key will be rebounding and running. If Renaissance is able to rebound and run they can take the big guy out of the game.
Renaissance is the home team. I've been told the school is trying to play at either St. Francis or Blair.
West Valley has two division 1 prospects and have only lost 3 games all year (2 to the same team Perris who is in the other semi-final game). This will be a tough contest for Renaissance.
Where is the next game ?
Sid's done a great job with these kids. I think that they'll go all the way this year.