The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
Millikan hosted Long Beach Poly in a Saturday afternoon of Moore League unbeatens, with first place in the league on the line. The Jackrabbits used stifling defense, balanced scoring, and a monster game from big man Jonas Oware to take over the top of the standings by themselves. They started fast and never looked back in a 74-54 victory.
“Our first goal is always winning the Moore League, it’s good to be in first now,” said Poly coach Shelton Diggs, whose squad is now 4-0 in league play. “We have a lot more games to finish it out and it’s going to get a lot tougher.”
Diggs’ squad was the ‘tough’ one on Saturday, holding Millikan to 11 points in the first quarter and nine in the second, controlling the game with their stingy halfcourt defense, which made it hard for the Rams to get into their plays.
“They played really great defense and their big boy had seven blocks,” said Millikan coach Stephon Price. “Whenever you get a player like that those games are going to be tough to win. We’ve got to make adjustments and be better next game.”
Oware had 18 points, 16 rebounds, and seven blocks in the game, anchoring the middle of Poly’s defense and posting yet another dominant Moore League effort.
“I feel like that’s what my teammates expect from me so that’s what I’ve got to do,” said Oware. “I gotta protect the paint. We always want to be solid on defense, we don’t want to let anyone score on us.”
As Poly’s defense clamped down, they were able to get easy run-outs off of steals. Cal signee Jovani Ruff played within himself as always, putting up a game-high 20 points with a high shooting percentage and four assists. Ruff continues to climb up the all-time Poly and Long Beach high school career scoring record ladder.
“I’m thinking about it,” Ruff admitted. “It’ll be a blessing if I get it but I’m going to keep hitting the open man and not worry about scoring (stats).”
Diggs said that Ruff’s unselfishness remains one of the Jackrabbits’ biggest strengths.
“He’s always going to do what he’s going to do, but obviously teams are going to always focus on him, and he’s going to make sure other guys are stepping up too,” said Diggs.
Poly’s formula remained what it has thus far through their 3-0 league start–play strong defense with great rim protection by Oware, then pound the ball inside to Oware until the defense collapses and then let Ruff and Poly’s other shooters get loose. Giovanni Ofoegbu had 17 points with three made 3-pointers in the game with mostly uncontested looks as the Millikan defense compensated for Oware’s height advantage.
Diggs said he’s glad his team has bought into great defensive effort, and felt that a tough Jackrabbits’ nonleague schedule (which included Sierra Canyon, Harvard-Westlake, Windward and others) helped spur that improvement.
“Getting your ass kicked by some good teams will make you buy in,” he said. “We continue to work and stick with it. We took some lumps so we should know (how important it is).”
For Millikan, the title shot was well-earned and Price likes his team’s chances at bouncing back and playing better when the teams rematch at Poly next week. The Rams lost the first half by 16 points but hung with Poly in the second half, only losing by four.
“It’s changing the culture, trying to get these guys to believe,” said Price. “They’ve been the doormats of the Moore League for so long it’s just trying to change that atmosphere. It’s a game of adjustments and we’ll make those adjustments for next week.”
Millikan got 18 points from Jeremiah Hunt, who was an efficient shooter from three with four makes beyond the arc, as well as 11 points from Tariq Bridges and 10 from Joseph Wicker.
“We’ve got to have a short memory, we got Cabrillo on Monday and we gotta come out ready to fight and play again,” said Price.
Poly (13-6, 3-0) will host Jordan Monday, Cabrillo Wednesday, and Millikan on Friday this week while Millikan (10-8, 3-1) will visit Cabrillo Monday, host Compton Wednesday, and travel to the Jackrabbits Friday.
