The 2010 East-West Invitational showcased five games at Dougherty Valley Gymnasium in San Ramon. The finale pitted two 7-0 teams with players on both sides who are destined to play at the college level. Castro Valley had just come off of a big win against Oakland High on Thursday and was playing just miles away from their home and had a fairly large contingent base at this game.
The first quarter looked like it would be a Trojan blowout as they led 18-9. However, the Yellowjackets were able to break the Trojan press and take an early 21-20 second quarter lead. The quarter was highlighted by three 3-point shots by Berkeley senior Jalil Eppenger. However, the Trojans still led 33-32 to go into the half.
The third quarter saw a plethora of scoring as there were several 3-point shots and various dunks by Trojan Juan Anderson and Yellowjacket Langston Morris-Walker. When the quarter ended, Castro Valley was up 59-51 and looked to have taken any hope of a Berkeley victory.
The fourth quarter saw the Trojans extend the lead to 63-53, but Berkeley was able to cut the lead to 63-59, highlighted by a Morris-Walker dunk. With 2:53 left, the Yellowjackets had fought back to a 65-63 deficit. At 1:27 and down 65-64, Berkeley forward Reggie Jackson had a serious ankle injury that delayed the game for five minutes. Whatever momentum Berkeley had would seem to have been gone with the injury.
After Castro Valley made one free throw to take a 66-64 lead, Amey drove the lane and made a clutch floater to tie the game at 66-66 with 1:02 left. The final minute was scoreless as Berkeley missed two free throws and the game went into overtime.
The Trojans scored first on an emphatic Chris Read dunk to lead 68-66. Eppenger made a difficult turnaround to tie the game at 68-68. Eppenger also made a key steal that resulted in the game winning layup to end the overtime scoring at Eppenger 4 and Castro Valley 2. The final score had Berkeley winning 70-68.
Castro Valley Trojans Analysis: The momentum was on Castro Valley's side. They had just beaten a highly-touted Oakland High team on Thursday and were playing basically in their backyard in Dougherty Valley. In addition, Castro Valley had a size advantage against Berkeley. Castro Valley probably led the game for the overwhelming majority of the time. At 7-1 early in the season, the Trojans are still a formidable team and should not be overlooked. Marquette commit Anderson did not have his cleanest game but did have 21 points. Point guard Roderick Bobbitt had 18 points. Bobbitt is deceptively big and strong for a point guard. Add in hyper-athletic Read, the Trojans will be a difficult group to stop on offense. Castro Valley still has a few non-league challenges in McClymonds, Jesuit, and Salesian.
Berkeley Yellowjackets Analysis: At 8-0, the Yellowjackets have endured quite a few injuries in this early season already. Forward Akil Johnson was lost due to a knee injury in the summer. Transfer 6-foot-6 forward Henry Kerr had wrist surgery recently. In this game, football player Reggie Jackson had a severe ankle injury that required paramedics to cart him to the hospital. In addition, senior guard BT Shabazz was suspended from the team recently. The Yellowjackets were paced by Eppenger who had 27 points, hit five 3-point shots, and scored all four of the Berkeley overtime points. The senior guard plans to take an official visit to Arizona State and has also been contacted by Cal Poly, Chico State, UC Davis, and the University of San Diego. This was a breakout game for Eppenger on offense and he also said that the remaining players not hurt and not suspended need to step up and stay focus. Junior Morris-Walker chipped in with 19 points. More importantly, he was tasked with slowing down the bigger Anderson on defense. Morris-Walker also confirmed that he has been in talks with Marquette, Oregon, and West Virginia. Senior guard Josh Amey and junior guard Trey Thompson had 6 and 9 points respectively. Amey also had 8 assists. Both Amey and Thompson had to break down the pressing defense of the Trojans. Amey also had to match up with the bigger and taller Bobbitt and was able to handle the challenge. Thompson had the task of matching up and boxing out with the bigger and taller Read. Coach Damion McNeil felt the win validates the belief of hard work and how his team has worked tirelessly to improve. In addition, he was definitely happy with the team effort in beating one of the better teams in the region. With all the injuries to his interior, McNeil alluded to a committee approach for the interior play. With Bishop O'Dowd up next, Berkeley will have another interior test against Brandon Ashley and Richard Longrus.
Through the laws of transitivity, Berkeley High is also better than cross town rival Oakland High (Castro Valley beat Oakland; Berkeley beat Castro Valley; hence, Berkeley is better than Oakland). In the preseason NorCalPreps.com Top 20 rankings, San Ramon Valley, Salesian, De La Salle, and Berkeley are the only undefeated teams left.
Here are the summaries for the other games with some analysis:
Dougherty Valley Wildcats 61 vs. Washington (Fremont) Huskies 56: The home Wildcats took a 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats relied on quick, efficient guard play to extend that lead to 39-22 at the end of the half. Washington had the definite size advantage. In the third quarter, the Huskies went to the interior more and were able to cut the lead to 50-39. In the fourth quarter, the Huskies came as close as 58-56 before losing 61-56.
Dougherty Valley Wildcats Analysis: The Wildcats have some good guard play. In this game, they were paced by junior Jerome Ruffin and senior Connor Griffin with 19 and 21 points respectively. The Wildcats are now 7-4 on the season. If they can control tempo and press their opponents, then the Wildcats will be able to offset the size disadvantage that they have.
Washington (Fremont) Huskies Analysis: The Huskies were relentless and did not give up at the half when they were down by 17. The loss drops them to 4-6. The team has a post presence in junior Haniteli Lousi who was able to use his size advantage to score 12 points. Lousi was a first team MVAL tackle on the football team and is getting looks from BYU and San Jose State. Senior guard Christian Austria led the Huskies with 16 points.
Foothill Falcons 59 vs. Liberty Lions 43: The Falcons had a 14-11 first quarter. Liberty quickened the tempo in the second quarter to take a 24-18 lead behind promising sophomore guard Brandon White. However, Foothill scored the final 8 point to take a 26-24 lead into the half. The Falcons extended the lead to 40-32 at the end of third quarter. Foothill cruised in the fourth quarter to win 59-43.
Foothill Falcons Analysis: The Falcons are now 6-3. The focal point on this team will probably be senior guard Chris O'Neill. He led the team with 26 points. O'Neill was fearless in going to the basket and had creative methods of putting up his shot. He went to the free throw line 16 times. If teams can key on O'Neill, the rest of the Falcons will have to provide the scoring.
Liberty Lions Analysis: The Lions are a young team as they only have three seniors. So, dropping to 4-5 early in the season is not that surprising. Senior guard Matt Sisneros and White had 12 points each. Sisneros is an undersized point guard who is quick and has good ball control skills. His leadership and decision making will be critical for the Lions. White is 6-foot-1 and showed good athleticism. White could develop nicely over time for the Lions.
Deer Valley Wolverines 79 vs. Rodriguez Mustangs 68: Both Deer Valley and Rodriguez have a stable of skilled players and athletes. The difference in this game was decision making and execution. The first half was fairly sloppy play as Deer Valley had an 18-16 first quarter lead and was able to extend that to a 32-25 halftime lead. The third quarter saw some more scoring as Mustang sophomore Rae Jackson hit a couple of 3-point shots to help the Mustangs cut the lead to as low as one point. Wolverine sophomore Kendall Smith ended the quarter with a half court shot to give Deer Valley a 53-48 lead. That shot carried the momentum for Deer Valley as they were able to pull away with a 79-68 win.
Deer Valley Wolverines Analysis: Deer Valley can probably have seven different players who have the ability to be their leading scorer any given game. In this game, junior shooting guard Olajuwon Garner had 24 points. Senior Andre McPhail had 21 points while Smith had 17. Senior point guard Quincy Smith is still waiting for his transfer status to be cleared. He may see action when Deer Valley takes on San Ramon Valley in the St. Francis Tournament in Mountain View. Once he returns, the Wolverines will have a true point guard to run this high octane offense. McPhail is still the highest NCP rated senior still uncommitted. He has many offers on the table but stated that he plans to decide in the spring. The Wolverines are now 6-2.
Rodriguez Mustangs Analysis: As their mascot would indicate, these Mustangs can run up and down. However, they also played a bit wild and isolated on offense. The Mustangs have two interior players, BJ Smith and Devon Pouncey, who need to be given the chance to use their size against opposing players. With that said, the Mustangs have a skilled sophomore in Jackson who showed no hesitation shooting from any spot on the floor. Jackson led the Mustangs with 19 points as they drop to 3-4.
Freedom Falcons 53 vs. Monte Vista Mustangs 62: The Falcons were able to jump out to a 12-4 lead but seemed to stall offensively after that as they only led 12-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Mustangs took control in the second quarter as they took a 31-27 lead into the half. Monte Vista extended the lead to 46-36 after the third quarter. They were able to maintain the lead and win 62-53.
Freedom Falcons Analysis: The Falcons are now 3-4 as they were led by senior Andrew Garner with 14 points. The Falcons just looked out of sync on the offensive end and could not sustain any real offense till the fourth quarter. The Falcons will need to find more consistent play as the season continues.
Monte Vista Mustangs Analysis: The Mustangs are now 4-3 and were led by senior forward Mike Harris who had 17 points. The Mustangs were sluggish in the first quarter but turned up the intensity for the rest of the game on both offense and defense. Harris has been getting looks from Cal Lutheran, UC Davis, and Whittier. The Mustangs had five players score at least 8 points to have a balanced scoring attack. In addition, the Mustangs have a group of guards who do a good job of taking care of the ball and breaking down pressure.
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