It was obvious from the warm-ups what the matchup would be in Cabrillo’s gym, for the last game of the first round of league play. Cabrillo starts two players over six-foot—Poly starts five. And a battle of strength versus speed it turned out to be, with the larger Jackrabbits eventually wearing down the tenacious Jaguars in the second half en route to a 57-45 win that keeps Poly undefeated in league (6-0) while Cabrillo drops to a tie for fifth (at 2-4).
The Jags opened literally in the best way possible, as team leader Tony Bell took a foul while draining a three—he sunk the and-one, and gave Cabrillo a boost with the four-point play. From there, neither team could do much in the first quarter. Poly’s length at guard held Cabrillo’s shooters in check, and the Jags’ effective zone neutralized Poly’s size advantage inside. It was 10-10 after eight minutes, and half of both teams’ totals came from the free throw line, as they combined for 5-16 shooting.
The second saw the Rabbits get much more aggressive in trying to break the zone, but Cabrillo took advantage of whistles drawn by Poly’s physicality (they were 11-13 from the free throw line in the first half) to stay tight, and the Rabbits had just a three-point advantage at halftime. “They dictated the pace, and did an excellent job controlling the tempo in the first half,” acknowledged Poly coach Sharrief Metoyer. “We came out a little more determined and focused in the second half.”
Poly got their first big run of the game to start the third, as they rattled off an 11-0 stretch. Usually these runs are the Rabbits’ bread and butter, since their defense is so strong that once they rip off a lead, they don’t give it up. Cabrillo worked hard down the stretch and cut the lead to four points at the end of the third quarter, but that was the closest they’d come as Poly closed it out in the paint in the fourth, outscoring Cabrillo 19-11 to win the game, with center Ryan Anderson scoring 10 and grabbing 15 boards, along with four blocks, and freshman forward Roshcon Prince pouring in 17 points and grabbing 8 boards (Prince and Anderson combined for twelve offensive boards).
“They wore us down with their size,” said Cabrillo coach Jim Nielsen after the game. “They’re really big and physical. We tried to attack their bigs, to use our quickness against their size, but give them credit—they’re a great team.” The Jags’ leading scorers were Tony Bell and Christian Verdugo, who combined for 25 points. The leading rebounder for the Jags was Jovan Pearson.
The Jags will host Lakewood on Wednesday and Compton on Friday; Poly will have a bye then visit the Lancers on Friday.