Boys Basketball: Start of league has a great feel to it
The last time I was in the Temple City High School gymnasium was roughly eight years ago. It was my first assignment as a cub reporter working as a correspondent for the Star-News. I was 17-years-old at the time. I was scared, nervous and excited all at the same time. I remember waking up the next morning at 6 a.m. to get a copy of the Star-News. At the time I lived in Alhambra and I had to walk from my house on Fifth Street and Ramona Rd. to the nearest newsstand which was near Garfield and Valley Blvd. It was a long walk but worth it. I saw my first byline on page 2 and I felt like I was on top of the world. The game was Temple City vs. Workman, I believe. When I was moving out of my mom's house the first time around, I found the tape recorder where I did my first interview. I almost cried thinking of how nervous I was conducting my first interview. My how time goes by.
Walking into the Temple City High gym last Friday brought back a lot of memories. In fact, I sat just where I did the very first time, center court behind the score's table.
I watched my first league game, this being Temple City vs. Blair in the Rio Hondo League opener. Nothing beats the start of league. You can tell by the excitement that fills the gym minutes before tipoff. I gotta hand it to both cheerleading squads who actually cheered. The crowd was boisterous and the game was exciting to cover.
The Rams won, 53-48, behind James Chen's game-high 23 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one steal. The Rams are much better than advertised. They have a core of players, including Leo Chu, who have a soft touch from mid to long-range. Temple City can play the half court well and use their lack of stature to its advantage with speed and precise passing. More impressive, the Rams held Deon Geary to just seven points, well below his 19.7 ppg average.
Blair looked raw at times but showed glimpses of running a fast tempo offense. Katorio Walker will be fun to watch. Dude is only a sophomore a senior and already is 6-foot-7. He's lanky but if he can build some muscle to the frame he can become one of the better players in the area. He missed all his shots in the first half but finished with 12 points. The Vikings have the capability to drive inside and create scoring opportunities but for whatever reason couldn't buy a basket in the first half.
Temple City coach Rich Hollinger said opening league with a victory was nice but the first half of the league season will be the real challenge and keeping the same intensity game after game will be key.
After watching four of the six teams in league, here's my prediction for order of finish in the Rio Hondo League:
1. La Cañada
2. Temple City
3. Blair
4. Monrovia
5. South Pasadena
6. San Marino
I know, I know. Here come all the e-mails/comments.
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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. |
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wow looking at who went to the playoffs, your predictions sucked.
Monrovia beats La Canada in a close one! While Blair's Katorio Walker rips San Marino for 25 in three quarters. Chen does his thang for TC in a nice win against South Pasadena and the RHL league gets tougher and tougher.
Blair at La Canada will be a good one.
The Lady Vikings are living up to their billing with an impressive win over San Marino. Once they get a couple of their main players back they will be pretty tough to beat as their goal is to go back to back!
Miguel,
Where are the scores??????? And your sorry Moor butt needs to show Keppel some love.............
Don't forget I went almost unbeaten in four of five divisions during the CIF football playoffs. I won't cover Blair-San Marino but our Jeremy Balan will cover La Canada at Blair on Friday night. I'll be there just to watch and check out the action minus the notepad.
Miguel I think your predictions look pretty realistic! But don't be surprised by a few upsets in the RHL.
love jc45 poster, complete with picture! bring your sharpie too, i hear he is giving out autographs.
Game was awesome, James Chen is definitely going to light it up for the rest of the season. The fans are what keep the Temple City Rams motivated. Without the fans, the team is nothing, without the team, it is likewise. James Chen is the leading scorer of the RHL as of now, and you can bet that it will stay the same. As of now, I will continue to bless his hands before every game, as well as his knee. You can bet that once his knee is fully healed, it wouldn't be any surprise to see him drop 45 points a game. God bless the Rams, and all of the other teams who dare to compete against!
LOOKING FORWARD TO WEDNESDAY AT HOME VS. SOUTH PAS!
Miguel be on the lookout for your own limited edition i
congrats to TC tho didnt mean to take away their 15 minutes
what about arcadia only losing by 2 to PHS? arcadia first of all shouldnt be in the pacific league (for basketball) or division 1AA for that matter but they are because of student population which is bs but they competed with supposedly one of the best teams in the state with an average front court size of 5'11 at best..im sure we'll see some nice stories of PHS rolling over Hoover before arcadia gets any recognition for what they do in an insanely competitive pacific league..if arcadia was in RHL and la canada was in pacific it would make a whole lot more sense and defeintely more exciting for the area to see arcadia/monrovia or arcadia/TC games
Good job on reporting the ram victory Miguel. It was pretty cool seeing you there. Don't know if you saw the posters in the student section on the away side, but theres more coming- and i'll send you an autographed I
It was a great game to start off league play for us. I was disappointed that we lost, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. Miguel, were you there for the 50-29 victory of the Lady Vikings over Temple City? Looks like our girls are off to a great start too.
no keppel???
whats up with that miguel?
I'm just say'in:
When you're right you're right. That was my bad. See, the difference is I can admit to my mistakes. I will make the corrections. Good lookin' out.
Based on Maxpreps Walker is a senior. Bagnerise is the 6'6 sophomore. What, were you still scared to go into the gym and misread the program because your vision was blurred from you tears? Come on Miguel do your homework.
Classic.
Miguel,
What's all this basketball stuff...don't you know that there is plenty of football off-season stuff to discuss???