Pacific Grove boys basketball

 Redemption wasn’t all that was on the minds of Pacific Grove.

 Yet, a measure of revenge was needed if the Breakers had aspirations of taking command of the Mission Trail Athletic League.
 While we will admire the offensive effort of Brad Sendell, who had 17 of his game high 32 points in the fourth quarter in a 51-43 win over Carmel, don't ignore the defensive effort of Erol Ersek.
 As clutch as Sendell was for Pacific Grove, the 6-foot-5 Ersek was dynamic on defense, shutting down Carmel's best offensive threat the entire game.
 Carmel went over five minutes without a basket in the third quarter, in part because of Ersek's tenacious defense in the paint.
 Ersek, a foreign exchange student from Austria, didn't arrive until after Christmas. He finally has a grasp of the Breakers system.
 As a result, Pacific Grove has rattled off eight straight league wins since falling to Carmel on Jan. 14 -- and now controls its fate.