Los Cerritos Community Newspaper Group

Delivered to 45,000 homes (over 105,000 readers) every Friday for over 14 years.
Click on link below to visit our website:
www.loscerritosnews.net

Friday, February 11, 2011

SUBURBAN LEAGUE BOYS BASKETBALL

Lewis caps off Norwalk’s big fourth quarter rally with game winning basket
By Loren Kopff

It was the biggest shot that Norwalk senior Cammie Lewis had taken anywhere, anytime but it was one that sent the Lancers to the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section playoffs for the third straight season. With three seconds remaining against visiting Cerritos last Friday night, Lewis scored on a jumper to give Norwalk a thrilling 62-60 victory.
• The Lancers were trailing by 17 points with 10:20 remaining in the game and held the Dons to one field goal over the final 4:05 of the game, which at the time, Cerritos was still leading 59-49. But Norwalk missed two shots in eight attempts down the stretch.
• “We just had to keep playing and not give up,” Lewis said. “We’ve been through that before. The last time we played them, we had to come back and let it go at the end.”
• Lewis was held to seven points in the first half and took only four shots. But he erupted for 15 points in the second half on seven of 10 shooting from the field to finish with a season-high 22 points. When asked what the difference between the two halves was, Cerritos head coach Jonathan Watanabe summed it up in two words-Cammie Lewis.
• “We couldn’t stop Cammie Lewis,” Watanabe said. “And [senior] Manuel [Castaneda] hit some shots but really, it was Cammie draining everything for them. Our game plan was perfect in the first half. We got the ball out of Cammie’s hand. In the second half, we didn’t do a very good job of it.”
• Cerritos (14-12 overall, 7-4 in the Suburban league) was off and running in the first quarter, bolting out to a 22-10 lead on the strength of four three-pointers and was shooting 50 percent from the field. Norwalk scored the first six points of the second quarter but the Dons kept the Lancers from cutting into that lead anymore and would go into the locker room with a 35-24 advantage. Cerritos seniors Phillip Kim and Aaron Wright each scored 10 points in the half with Kim going three of five from downtown. But he picked up his third foul with 4:39 left in the half, something that would plague the Dons in the second half.
• Meanwhile, Castaneda and Lewis each had seven points in the first half and the team shot 33 percent from the field.
• Cerritos turned to another component to make sure it held on to its lead in the third quarter, crashing the offensive glass hard. Four baskets in the stanza were put back by their own players- two each from senior Chimdi Nnoli and junior Terrence Fulton. The former would lead the Dons with 11 boards along with 14 points while senior Bryan Williams had 10 rebounds.
• “[Nnoli] had a huge game,” said Norwalk head coach Jim Webster. “We put different guys on him. [Norwalk junior] Terrance [Traylor] probably had a little better chance with him just having the height advantage. He dominated us on the boards the last time we played them and they still did today.”
• Cerritos was leading 50-33 after consecutive assists from Williams led to baskets from Fulton and Wright. Then the Lancers made their big comeback. They ended the third quarter on an 8-1 run. Then with 5:00 left in the game, Nnoli had another offensive put back to give Cerritos a 57-47 lead. The visitors still had a five-point lead with 67 seconds remaining but Castaneda hit a three-pointer from the top of the key, then tied the contest with 34 seconds left.
• “We were switching defenses a lot…and they were making a lot of shots,” Webster said. “We were missing some opportunities. I told them at halftime, ‘let’s get [the deficit] under 10’. That kept us focused a little bit.”
• Following a missed Cerritos shot, Webster called a timeout with 17 ticks left to set up the final play.
• “It was going to be a handoff to Manuel but they were denying him,” Lewis said. “I just had to do something at that point.”
• “It was a spread and it was either going to be Cammie going to the gap on the [right] side of Manuel because they may not leave Manuel open or hand it off to him,” Webster said.
• Lewis fell one point short of tying his career-high. He also had seven rebounds and three assists. Castaneda scored 15 points while Traylor added 14. Both also grabbed nine rebounds. Wright led the Dons with 16 points while Fulton and Kim each pitched in with a dozen points.
• “You don’t want to lose any game,” Watanabe said. “We don’t come here to lose. We’re coming here to win every game. It doesn’t matter which game it is.”
• Cerritos, which can do no worse than tie for second place in the Suburban League, lost to league champion Mayfair 62-56 this past Tuesday night as Wright led the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Fulton added another 13 points. Nnoli again had 11 rebounds. Norwalk clinched at least third place following a 61-59 victory at La Mirada as Lewis and Castaneda scored 19 and 16 points respectively. Norwalk is done for the regular season while Cerritos hosts La Mirada tonight, hoping to claim second place all to itself. Last season, the Dons finished in a tie for second place but under Watanabe’s watch, have never owned second place outright. The Dons are also the seventh ranked team in Division III-A. As for the Lancers, they will enter the postseason with a 15-12 overall mark and 7-5 in the league.
• “We knew we controlled our own destiny to even get third place,” Webster said. “We just had to win. If we win on Tuesday, I think we’ll nail down third.”

No comments:

Post a Comment