Boys’ basketball: Samohi eliminates Alhambra from playoffs
MAKING MOVES: Santa Monica’s Troy Maloney goes up for a lay-up while Alhambra’s Alex Lieu tries to apply defense on Friday. Samohi won the first round playoff game, 75-32. (Photo by Morgan Genser)
SAMOHI — The Santa Monica High School Vikings made short work of the Alhambra Moors in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1A playoffs on Friday at home.
The No. 2 seeded Vikings routed the Moors, 75-32, taking only an hour to do so. By the time the third quarter rolled around, fans in the away section were begging for a forfeit.
Coming into the playoffs, Alhambra lost four of its last five games and forfeited the final two games of the season.
“I just wanted to come out hard,” said Samohi’s Jordan Mathews, who did a little of everything recording 17 points, four rebounds, one steal and one assist in round one of the playoffs.
Like all the greats, Mathews adjusts his play to the needs of his team. Of his 17 points, Mathews scored 13 of them in the first half. After putting on a scoring clinic he shifted his focus to defense.
“I honed-in on defense today, I tried to be as intense on defense as on offense,” said Mathews.
The Moors were left reeling from this intensity, as they only managed to score 18 points in the first half and even less in the second.
Alhambra was unable to find any rhythm offensively and ran their game through Miles Ford. The junior had five three-pointers and 21 of Alhambra’s 32 points.
The Vikings played a very efficient game on offense, and despite having open looks did not settle for jump-shots.
“We didn’t want to settle, we have a size advantage in almost every position,” said James Hecht, Samohi’s head coach.
Hecht made full use of the bench and the Vikings’ victory was decisive enough that Mathews didn’t play the entire fourth quarter
“It’s an opportunity to get everybody to play,” said Hecht.
Spencer Cramer and Troy Maloney were the other players for Samohi to reach double figures with each contributing 10 on the night. Maloney, coming off the bench, scored all of his points in the third quarter.
“For us it’s more about preparing mentally, than physically. We match up well with every team in the conference,” said Mathews.
The Vikings who have their eyes set on the division championship play at unseeded Burbank on Tuesday.
“It’s win or go home,” said Hecht.
