605 LEAGUE BOYS BASKETBALL: Third quarter scoring run propels Cerritos to win over Whitney

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

Just when the Whitney High boys basketball team thought it was turning the corner against its city rival, the kings of the 605 League showed why they are still the team to beat. Cerritos High, which has won the league four times in the seven years of its existence, moved one step closer to another title.

The Dons broke a 30-30 halftime tie with a 14-2 run over the first half of the third quarter and cruised to a 67-51 victory last Friday night. Cerritos, which improved to 15-10 overall and remained undefeated in seven league games, can clinch at least a share of the league title with a win over second place Pioneer High on Jan. 28.

This time around was closer than the Jan. 9 meeting at Cerritos in which the Dons went on an 11-2 run to close out the first half and easily won 60-32. Cerritos improved to 18-1 lifetime against the Wildcats, but 15-1 in 605 League action. And with the new Suburban Valley Conference going into effect next season with four leagues, it’s unsure when these two programs will play another league game.

“They came to play,” said Cerritos head coach Jonathan Watanabe. “Like I told you before, [Whitney first-year head coach] Jazzy [Kruczynski] is doing a great job, and they’ll bring most of their guys back next year. I asked him right away if we’re not in the same league next year, let’s schedule a single [game]. It may not be the same as playing a [league game]. But at least we can still continue to play.

“It’s a good game for the community; for both schools and the community to see the turnout,” he added. “Obviously, it was their homecoming night, so they have a lot of fans. But it’s fun. You grow up with these kids, and so you go and compete. Other than our game, we cheer for them; we’re rooting for them all the time.”

“I think it was just being a little bit more comfortable, especially being at home, and most of the crowd cheering for us,” said Kruczynski of the difference between the two meetings. “When we were playing at Cerritos, most of that was their crowd cheering for them. So, I think it rattled them a bit.”

Whitney never trailed in the opening quarter and was up by six points after senior William Kang’s basket with 3:13 remaining. But a basket from junior Devon Hardy with 70 seconds left in the stanza, then a steal and basket from Hardy shortly after that tied the game at 16-16 heading into the second quarter.

The Dons took their first lead of the game on a Hardy three-pointer with 4:48 left in the half and the lead would change hands four more times in the half, the last coming when junior Noah Lai drained a three-pointer with 2:30 left. But senior Shayadheeran Saravanakumar’s first basket of the game enabled the hosts to tie the contest at 30-30 with 1:09 left in the half.

“I thought our defense was what helped us long in the first half,” said Kruczynski. “Doubling on the penetrations and then making sure we rebounded, because I thought today we rebounded pretty well was what really helped us. But in the second half, we didn’t rebound as well, which led to them getting second chance points and put us in a hole.”

“We just weren’t defending,” said Watanabe of the first half. “We were not defending the way we need to defend. We need to work on that. We had a great practice yesterday and we came in pretty confident of how things were going to turn out. But we just didn’t come out defending the way we need to, so we have to clean things up a little bit.”

Kang would open the second half with a basket 11 seconds in but a steal and basket from freshman Jace Ribac began a 14-0 run over the next 3:49 that featured two more consecutive baskets from Ribac, an offensive putback from junior Noah Edwards, and a steal and basket from junior Jeremiah Ju.

“It’s all about our defense,” said Watanabe. “I told the guys from day one, if you want to win a championship, you have to defend. Defense wins championships. It’s not just a saying; you’re going to have off nights offensively. But if you can defend, you’re going to give yourself a chance, even on the off nights, and that’s kind of what happened tonight.”

In fact, the Wildcats would find the basket eight times in 23 attempts from the field in the second half and did not score consecutive baskets since the first quarter. They did manage to cut its deficit to five points with 3:42 remaining in the game on a three-pointer from Kang. But the Dons responded with a 7-0 run.

“I think if we hadn’t made those two big mistakes when we brought it to within five; the rainbow pass that [junior] Joseph Roman tried to make, and then the technical on Willaim…then I knew it was going to be very, very difficult for us to come back,” said Kruczynski. “But I thought it was possible up to that point.”

Kang led the Wildcats (9-17, 3-5) with 19 points and nine rebounds while junior Jezreel Dela Cruz added 12 points, four rebounds and two steals. Those two have been the team’s scoring duo all season and have combined for 23 double-digit scoring games.

Hardy and Ribac paced Cerritos (15-10, 7-0) with 18 and 12 points respectively while Lai added nine points and eight rebounds. Edwards and sophomore Vincent Valenzuela each chipped in with eight points.

“I thought our guards stepped up really well,” said Watanabe. “Kaleb Duag, in particular, stepped up and gave us energy. He’s a very capable player; he’s just trying to get his feet wet a little bit. He doesn’t play as many games as the other guys, but he’s a super talented guard. It was good that he was able to step up tonight.”

While the Dons, who travel to Artesia High on Friday and host Oxford Academy on Tuesday, need one win in their final three league games to clinch at least a share of the title, things have become precarious for the Wildcats, who lost a road game at Artesia, 63-53, this past Tuesday and will travel to John Glenn High on Friday before closing the regular season at home against Pioneer on Tuesday. The ‘Cats need to win at least one of those games to potentially force a third place tiebreaker game, which will be played on Wednesday.