The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial
The562’s coverage of Jordan Athletics is sponsored by former LBUSD superintendent Chris Steinhauser.
Long Beach Poly hosted Jordan on Friday night, in what ended up being a tale of two halves.
The Jackrabbits came into the game heavily favored, however that didn’t stop visiting Jordan from finding their own momentum despite a gym full of Poly cheers. The Panthers opened the game shooting lights out behind Josh Gibson’s two three-pointers and 11 points in the first quarter, as Jordan proceeded to sail into halftime with a two-point lead.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, it was only a matter of time before Giovanni Ofoegbu and the Jackrabbits would find their rhythm. The six-foot-three junior helped spark a 15-4 Poly run to open up the third quarter, as the Jackrabbits went on to drop 51 total points in the second half. Ofoegbu finished with a game-high 24 points including 15 in the half, as Poly eventually cruised to an 84-57 win.
“People get up to play Poly,” said Poly coach Shelton Diggs. “They were all pumped up making different types of shots on us. We just had to settle in the second half. (Jordan) was taking the same shots in the second half, they were just missing them, and we were missing shots in the first half before making them in the second.”
“We just didn’t come out with the energy we needed,” added Ofoegbu. “But in the second half we were able to bring that energy so that’s what changed the momentum for us. I started to feed off my teammates and whenever they hit me I was open.”
Jovanni Ruff and Austin Unegbu joined Ofoegbu as Poly’s three players with 20+ points, as Ruff finished with 23 alongside Unegbu’s 21 points. Jonas Oware also chipped in 13.
“They’re energy guys,” said Diggs. “They give us a lot of energy and they play hard. Their shots started falling in the second half for us and luckily they stopped falling for (Jordan) in the half.”
For the Panthers, they were without leading scorer Jay’mari Redmond, and the lack of scoring without the junior guard’s presence became more apparent as the game went on.
“We just had different weaponry tonight,” said Jordan coach Chris Francis. “We were going to war and we didn’t have our normal weapons tonight so we had to adjust to that. I thought we did adjust for a half but there are two people that always show up to a basketball game; momentum and reality. In the first half we had momentum, in the second half we had reality. They had all their guys and we didn’t have all ours. No excuses, I’m not taking nothing away from Poly. They’re one of the top teams in the Moore League for a reason.”
With Redmond’s availability in question to close out the remainder of the season, Francis said it’ll take a group effort to get things going on the offensive side of the ball.
“We just have to manufacture some points,” said Francis. “Defensively we’re solid, but it’s just that offensively we’re challenged and that’s been a struggle for us all year even with (Redmond). But without him that’s 24 points a night. You add 24 points to us tonight then we’re looking at a different game. So we just have to manufacture points. We don’t want one person trying to get all 24 of those points. If you average 9 then we need you to give us 13, if you average six then we need you to give us 11. So that’s the mindset that we’re moving with forward.”
The Panthers will round out their regular season with home games against Wilson (Tuesday) and Lakewood (Thursday), as they remain in a tight race to secure one of the top four Moore League spots to clinch a playoff appearance.
Meanwhile, Poly will look to their huge matchup on Monday hosting Lakewood. A win there would put the Jackrabbits in position to share the Moore League title with the Lancers, who remain unbeaten in league play with two games left.
