The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial
Many coaches and fans refer to the playoffs as the “second season,” a time when all the ups and downs of the regular season tournaments and league games can be put to the side, a time when a team has a chance to hit reset and play their best. The Long Beach Poly boys’ basketball team was a model of that on Wednesday night in front of an energetic crowd in the Ron Palmer Pavilion, as they played great defense and patient offense en route to a 64-48 win over the visitors in the Division 2A opener.
The Jackrabbits led 21-7 after the first quarter (shooting 9/14 from the field) and 38-19 at halftime.
“I was happy, especially defensively, we did a good job taking away what they want to do,” said Poly coach Shelton Diggs. “They shoot a lot of threes and we did a good job getting out on them and getting hands up. Offensively we know they’re going to load up on (star junior Jovani Ruff) so we wanted to move the ball and look for open shots.”
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The difference between last year’s Poly team and this year’s Poly team was the rest of the roster was in attack mode when La Canada would double Ruff and force the ball out of his hands. Giovanni Ofoegbu was very aggressive with his opportunities in the first half, putting up 17 points in the first two quarters en route to a game-high 23 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
“It’s the playoffs, we got to lock in,” said Ofoegbu. “We knew they could shoot, our coaches were preaching getting up on them and running them off the line which I think we did.”
La Canada, normally a sharpshooting team, missed their first seven 3-pointers and went 6/18 from beyond the arc in the game. By the time they found their footing in the second half, Poly had already built a 20+ point lead.
The Jackrabbits came out of the locker room and with Ruff and Ofoegbu trading buckets, went on a 10-0 run to take a 48-21 lead midway through the third. La Canada actually outscored Poly from that point, but the Jackrabbits never let the lead get within 14 points as they successfully held off the visitors.
Ruff asserted himself in the second half and finished with 18 points. Diggs was impressed with his scoring, but also with his willingness to pass out of doubleteams.
“He’s not one of those guys that’s just out to get his own shot, he gets his teammates going,” said Diggs. “Sometimes we do want him shooting over two guys, but he knows when to push it and when to distribute. And the rest of the team did a great job being aggressive.”
Ofoegbu said he loves playing alongside Ruff and punishing teams for overcommitting to him defensively.
“It’s just playing off my teammates,” he said. “Everybody’s going to double Jovani he’s the best player in California. If they double him that leaves open space for me to go score.”
Diggs knew his team would be challenged on the boards with center Jonas Oware out with an injury he sustained in the regular season against Millikan. Oware’s development as a legitimate post player has been one of the things propelling Poly forward this season, and missing the lanky sophomore meant Poly needed a team rebounding approach. They got it, especially from Austin Unegbu, who only scored four points but who had 13 big rebounds for Poly; Ofoegbu had six, Ruff had five, and freshman Isaac Hagans had six off the bench.
“The last couple years we’ve been small so I’m used to rebounding with a small group,” said Diggs. “They did a great job. Austin is probably our best rebounder, he’s had games with 16 and 12 rebounds, he comes down from that guard position and crashes the glass.”
La Canada big man Josh Proctor had 15 points in the paint, and sharpshooter Jack Reynolds led them with 17 points including a game-high four 3-pointers.
Poly (21-8) will travel to Upland for a second-round game Friday night at 7pm.
