Story Created:
Mar 8, 2010 at 1:08 PM PST
Story Updated:
Mar 8, 2010 at 1:08 PM PST
With 6-foot-9 twin towers Ronnie Stevens and Jordan Mitchell, top-seeded Serra High School had a decided size advantage over Centennial in Saturday’s Southern Section Division 3-A boys basketball title game at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Coupled with their outstanding backcourt of Keith Shamburger and Vaughn Autry, the Cavaliers presented challenges everywhere for the third-seeded Apaches.
Still this wasn’t decided until the end when Serra (30-2) held on for a 62-58 victory.
Marqise Lee’s layin off a pass from Shamburger with 25.9 seconds left increased a one-point lead to three and Lee’s free throw at the 15-second mark accounted for the final score.
“I thought our kids persevered down the stretch,” Serra coach Dwan Hurt said. “The only thing I was worried about was how our kids would react because we haven’t had too many close games this year.”
Hurt felt the teams matched up well with each other.
“I knew Centennial had athletes and would match up with our starters,” he said. “I felt we had a deeper bench.
“From a spectator’s standpoint, this was a great game with four or five Division I (college) prospects. It’s too bad it had to be at 9 a.m., but we were prepared for it.”
A tower of strength for Centennial was 6-1 forward Kevin Smith, who scored 23 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, six on the offensive side, while going against Stevens and Mitchell, who combined for only nine rebounds.
“Kevin has no backdown,” Centennial coach Vadim Malikin said. “He did a great job on the boards, especially on the offensive glass. He always competes.”
It was Smith’s driving layin with 59 seconds remaining that cut the Serra lead to 59-58. He scored six points during an 8-2 run that wiped out most of a seven-point deficit, but that would be the last points for the Apaches.
Autry led Serra with 14 points, while Shamburger and Lee had 13 each. Shamburger also had seven assists and three steals.
Deonte Burton had 15 points and Harrison Hawkins added 11 for the Apaches (25-6).
With Shamburger and Autry combining for 13 points, the Cavaliers jumped out to an 18-12 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Centennial settled down and cut the margin to 30-28 at halftime. The Cavaliers led, 46-44 entering the fourth period. The score was last tied at 48-48 before Autry’s 3-pointer with 6:38 left put Serra ahead to stay.
Defense was what helped the Apaches climb back into the game after the early deficit.
“Our game plan was to take good shots, which would allow us to get back in transition,” Malikin said. “Early they were getting a lot of baskets in transition, but once we adjusted, they didn’t get so many of those.
“They average in the 70s, have good shooters and some Division I players. I thought we played well contesting their shots. We played defense well enough to win the game if we don’t turn the ball over.”
Serra and Centennial are both in the Division III regionals that open Tuesday.
Smith would like nothing better than another crack at the Cavaliers.
“I’m hoping we get them again,” he said.
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