LAS VEGAS — Is it possible that a preview of the 2014 California State Open Division championship games is going to be played Saturday night at 7:30 in Bishop Gorman High gymnasium?
It doesn’t take a leap in faith to answer “Yes, there will be” to that question.
Oakland Bishop O’Dowd and Santa Ana Mater Dei cruised to semifinal victories Friday evening at the Orleans Arena, setting up “Northern vs. Southern California” finale in the second Tarkanian Classic.
Both the Dragons (68-54 over Las Vegas Bishop Gorman) and Monarchs (while overwhelming one of Southern California’s better teams, Redondo Beach Redondo, 84-38) looked the part of teams that will compete for California’s ultimate team hoops prize in Sacramento on March 29.
Coach Lou Richie’s O’Dowd squad – which had played just one game, a 90-76 victory over Fresno Bullard during the Nov. 30 NorCal Tip-Off Classic in Newark, prior to coming to Las Vegas – trailed the hometown Gaels by eight points after the first quarter Saturday night.
But the post play – at both ends of the floor – of Ivan Rabb and the much-underrated backcourt of junior Paris Austin and senior Juwan Anderson – dominated the proceedings the rest of the way against Gorman’s huge and gifted all-junior frontcourt and its jump-shooting specialist in senior guard Noah Robotham.
The 6-foot-9 Rabb, with 24 points – by way of some finishes that were often equal parts acrobatic and powerful – and seven rebounds, continued his assault on any and all national ratings for the Class of 2015.
Gorman’s Chase Jeter (13 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots) had a couple of impressive quick-to-the-rim dunks but most of the combined nine field goals by he and classmate Stephen Zimmerman (six points and five rebounds) came via mid-range jumpers as the presence of Rabb in and around the lane made clean passes into the post a difficult shore at best.
Robotham (a team-high 15 points) tried to keep his team close in the second half with his jump shooting.
But the efforts of Austin and Anderson (a combined 31 points, on 11 of 16 from the field, and nine assists) throttled Gorman on the perimeter.
In the second semifinal, Redondo – which had pulled off a bit of an upset by way of its 67-63 quarterfinal victory over Highland (UT) Lone Peak five hours earlier at Gorman – took a 6-2 lead two minutes into proceedings.
But the Monarchs were rarely short of overwhelming the rest of the way, taking a 31-11 lead into the second quarter behind the jump shooting of La’Vette Parker (who hit four 3s in the first quarter and finished with six en route to 22-point performance), the inside dominance of 6-9 Michael Cage Jr. and the overall power and skill of Stanley Johnson (28 points despite spending the final 5 ½ minutes as a spectator during a fourth quarter that was played with a running clock.
In the featured game played in the Prep School Division Friday, Prime Prep of Dallas edged Henderson (NV) Findlay Prep, 70-67, in the Orleans Arena.
Emmanuel Mudiay, the best point guard in the senior class and, along with Stanley Johnson, one of the three or four best players – period – the Class of 2014, scored 24 points for Prime Prep with 12 of those coming in a fourth quarter in which Findlay Prep’s litany of high-profile players was unable to do anything to slow him down.
