Etiwanda boys basketball team seeing Red(mon)
Upland High School guard Danny Redmon would probably be the most exciting basketball player I’ve seen this year – if the only two times I’d seen him hadn’t both been opposite Etiwanda.
In a battle of area heavyweights, I watched CIF-SS Division I-A No. 1 Etiwanda move to 21-0 with a 53-39 win over No. 4 Upland Tuesday night - Redmon scored just nine of those 39.
The 6-foot-2 senior was fairly passive early in the game, only to get overly aggressive as Upland tried to erase a late deficit. He forced up a few bad shots in the process, not to mention the blood pressure of his coach, John McNally. Etiwanda coach Dave Kleckner, a defense-first, defense-second guy, ran a double team at Redmon every time he put the ball on the floor. But Redmon never seemed to get overly frustrated. He’s got a great demeanor, the type you’d want to see in your leader. He even handled his coach’s frustration with just the right amount of tact, listening long enough to get the point but walking away in time to avoid an extra dose of tongue-lashing.
I’ve seen Redmon score a total of 22 points in two games – MaxPreps.com says he averages 17.5 points per game but only has 10 games reported - but the way he moves with the ball alone is fun to watch. He doesn’t have a weakness, can shoot and handle the ball deftly. He may be at his best in traffic, specializing in pumping the ball around attempted shot blockers before flipping it towards the rim, seemingly always with a feathery touch. He never appears out of control despite the speed with which he barrels into the lane. I can’t offer too much analysis on his defense - I’ve only seen him play zone. But he has the tools to be a good defender: he’s plenty smart, exceptionally quick and has good hands.
Upland (18-4) was undefeated in league until Tuesday. They’ll get one last shot at Etiwanda the last game of the season (the Eagles beat Upland 47-41 on Dec. 14 in an Inland Empire Classic semifinal, their only other meeting this year).
I had a hard time putting my finger on why Etiwanda beat Upland so thoroughly Tuesday night. That probably means it had a lot to do with defense (much harder to gauge, at least statistically) a theory Upland's 39 points would certainly support. Etiwanda seemed to shoot the ball extremely well but when I added it up the Eagles had made 20-of-43 shots from the field (49 percent), good but not exactly awesome – Upland shot 39 percent (17-of-44). Upland out-rebounded Etiwanda 24-23 but had nine turnovers to Etiwanda’s five.
Etiwanda goes about 15 deep and is loaded with athletic players at every position. Their only potential weakness is size but 6-8, 265-pound junior Perris Blackwell goes a long way towards putting that theory to bed. Five players average at least eight points but none more than Jordan Finn’s 11.1. Finn was on crutches Tuesday after injuring his ankle Monday but the team hardly seemed to notice.
Etiwanda is built for the long haul - depth and defense can go a long way. It’s tough to base this on the three games I’ve seen but if depth presents a negative, it's that it hampers the emergence of a go-to guy, something Etiwanda may need as it enters the hotly-contested playoffs. The aggressiveness of senior point guard Erick Ellis, who didn’t even start the last two games I saw, may be evidence he can be that guy. He led the team with 16 points Tuesday. I don’t know his individual shooting percentage but I don’t think he missed a shot in the second half.
Kleckner doesn't seem overly concerned with it, but it’ll be interesting to see how long Etiwanda can stay undefeated with only six games left in the regular season.
Said Ellis on Monday after Etiwanda beat the No. 2 team in Division II-A, Moreno Valley Rancho Verde: “We feel like the Patriots.”