From STAFF REPORTS There will be very few times this season that Pasadena will lose consecutive games. And while the current two-game losing streak dates back to December 2, the same issues that cost the Bulldogs in the Maranatha Tournament final were some of the same things that prevented a first-round victory in the Tarkanian […]
From STAFF REPORTS
There will be very few times this season that Pasadena will lose consecutive games.
And while the current two-game losing streak dates back to December 2, the same issues that cost the Bulldogs in the Maranatha Tournament final were some of the same things that prevented a first-round victory in the Tarkanian Classic.
Clark, ranked No. 2 in the state of Nevada, took a 15-point lead and then held off a feisty Bulldogs team, 50-47, at the Orleans Arena on Wednesday afternoon.
PHS got 20 points and 3 rebounds from a guy who will be spending the next four year in Las Vegas at UNLV.
That player, Pasadena star Bryce Hamilton, made on 6 of his 7 field-goal attempts and converted on 6 of 8 from the free-throw line.
PHS, though, shot just 41-percent as a team, making 15-of-36.
For the second consecutive game, going back to the 61-60 overtime loss in the finals of the Maranatha Tournament to Oak Park, only three players really did any of the scoring.
Tavian Percy finished with 13 points and Darius Brown II had 10, which meant that Hamilton, Percy and DBII combined to score 43 of the Bulldogs’ 47 points.
Darius Mason, a star junior for PHS, finished with just 4 points and only took 5 shots.
This tournament and prep basketball in Nevada is starkly different in two major ways than what we’re used to in California.
They play two halves instead of four quarters and there is no shot clock.
Clark literally held on to the ball for the last 50-plus seconds of the first half so they could take a final shot, and once they held a lead late, they knew PHS had no other option but to foul them, since playing pressure defense for 30 seconds on each possession wasn’t going to gain you a thing.
Pasadena will face Westbury Christian on Thursday at 1:50 at Bishop Gorman High School in a second-round contest.
The Wildcats (5-7), from Houston, fell to Westchester, of Los Angeles, 52-37 on Wednesday.
Quotable:
Pasadena coach Tony Brooks: “If a team has a lead, they can actually milk the clock and you have to force a turnover or trap them, as opposed to just playing good defense. It’s a little bit of an adjustment, but it’s not the reason we lost.
We knew right away that we had to do some run and jump and trap or a press and make them do something. Our rebounding is down. We’re not blocking out. We’re making it a jumping contest. I was happy with our determination to get back in the game.”
Box Score:
Pasadena: 15-32-(47)
Clark: 26-24-(50)
Records:
Clark (8-0); Pasadena (3-2)
