So what went wrong for the two county teams, who for the second straight year, were eliminated in the CCS Division IV semifinals?
For starters, Palma and Seaside were beaten by good fundamentally sound teams.
When Palma coach Paul Alioto said 'we were beaten in every phase of the game', he was right.
But what cost Palma a trip to the finals was its inability to contest the jump shot, particularly from beyond the 3-point arc, where Sacred Heart Prep buried 10 of them.
Alioto said the goal was to hold them to five 3-point goals. Sacred Heart had that in the third quarter alone en route to advancing to the finals.
Seaside's case is similar. While it talked about adjustments at halftime, it didn't make them against a Harker squad that knocked down eight 3 point goals.
The Eagles matched Seaside's intensity, out rebounded them to get second and thirds shots, and won a lot of loose balls.
But when a team comes in with 128 3-point goals, you've got to defend it.
John Devine has been writing about high school sports in Monterey County since, well, practically since he was an athlete at King City in the days just after leather helmets. In PrepNation, John has even more in-depth analysis of the latest results and news he's brought to you in The Herald and in his weekly videos.
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2 comments:
They do need to move the playoffs from menlo. It is an advantage for two teams that typically go deep (SHP and Menlo) if they defeated Harker. Palma never seems to play good their- even when they have D1 talent. Shooting there is a mystery. SHP no doubt is a very good team, but the venue doesn't help either. This game was predictable unfortunately. Though Seaside would do better, but they definately play better at home than away. Good season for both though. They both need to work harder (both coaching and the players) next season if they wish to get over the hump. They should both play these teams earlier in the season. Not sure why they don't schedule one another.
I agree with most of the comments. However, I think you take away from the kids and the coaches when you say they need to work harder. It's easy to look back and say all they had to do was defend the 3 pointer. If you listened and watched you would see the Palma coaches yelling "shooter" every time one of SHP's 5 shooters came off a screen or gained possession of the ball. I think Palma had their scouting report down. Based on some of the defense I saw in the first half I think they are coached well. Defending 4 shooters on the floor at the same time is hard, especially when they are coming off down screens to cross screens and screen the screener actions. Ask kings academy. They played Prep 3 times and prep hit 10 3's in the 3rd game on a neutral site. Even when Harker beat prep, prep was getting good shots. Harker won because they broke pressure and made shots in transition which is what they did to Seaside. Every game seaside has lost this year has been to teams that broke their pressure and kept them out of the paint. Seaside only plays one way. Fast. You can't play at one tempo all the time and expect to make it to and win a section title. Palma dominated the same Menlo team ( 5 stars back) that won a section title last year. Palma did that without D1 talent. In fact, outside the tall sophomore they have, none of those kids will even play JC ball. Seaside has 4-5 kids that will play JC so they have plenty of Talent, or at least enough to match Harker. The fact that Harker won even though seaside was longer and more athletic at every position surprised me more than Palma Losing to the Number 1 seed in the section at ( as you pointed out) a gym they have an advantage in. SHP has a number of players who played for a state title in football. They are tough, disciplined and well coached. And even after 5 3's in the 3rd qrt Palma was only down 9 to start the 4th. I think the kids worked hard and I think the coaches were prepared. They just lost to a better team. Salinas is an Aggie community that pushes and prioritizes Football and Baseball ahead of sports like basketball. We should be proud to see teams like Palma,Salinas and even Hollister winning games in the playoffs. Their coaches and players work hard and smart at what they do and should be recognized.
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