Jarrod Bradley wanted energy, solid defense and inside scoring from his basketball team Tuesday night.
The San Marcos players gave their coach all of that in a 51-28 rout of Burbank Burroughs in the final pool play game at the Santa Barbara Holiday Classic at J.R. Richards Gym.
“I thought we came out with a lot more energy than we did (Monday) night (in a loss against Clovis West),” Bradley said. “Our energy was great. Defensively, we took away the paint and we took away their two shooters. Number 21 and 11 (Alex Tipton and Dylan Ward) are good players. We held those guys to 11 points. Our goal was 20 points. We figured if those guys don’t score a lot, they weren’t going to be able to win. They’re averaging 15 and 13 on the year.”
The victory gave the Royals second place in Pool A, and they’ll play Pool B runnerup Troy in Wednesday’s tournament third-place game at 5:30 p.m.
Pool winners Clovis West and Palisades square off for the championship at 7 p.m. Palisades blew out Santa Barbara 82-15, while Clovis West pulled away from Agoura 69-59. In other action, Troy defeated Northwood 50-38.
Santa Barbara and Agoura will play in the fifth-place game at 4 p.m. and Burroughs and Northwood will meet for seventh place at 2:30.
Instead of relying on 3-point shooting, San Marcos worked the ball inside and used its size advantage. A Johnny Manzo pass to 6-6 Josh Guild that resulted in a 3-point play was just the thing Bradley was looking for from his squad.
“We really tried to execute what we talked about,” he said. “We’ve got four guys that are 6-5 and taller and the teams we are playing are 6-3 and shorter. Well, if we’re not going to go inside, we’re not going to win a lot of basketball games.”
Powerful Bennie Kirkwood used his size and strength in the paint to score baskets or get to the free-throw line. He finished with nine points and made one of the most exciting plays of the game. He flyswatted a shot and Manzo took the ball the other way and scored on a twisting left-handed layup for the final points of the game.
“He’s got great athleticism, as you well know,” Bradley said of Kirkwood. “He can elevate. He’s shooting 80 percent from the free-throw line, so he’s really confident from there. He likes to get fouled. He looks for those opportunities.
“He knows what he can do and he goes and tries to do that out there. Any time you have a basketball player that understands their strengths and they just go out and try to do that the whole entire time, you’re going to be successful. That’s exactly what he’s been for us. He’s averaging probably the second least minutes on the team, but if you look at his points, rebounds and hustle, he’s earning more and more time.”
The Royals’ 2-3 matchup zone frustrated and baffled Burroughs most of the night. They held the Indians to four points in the first quarter and eight points in the remaining three.
“It’s tough,” Bradley said of his team’s defense. “(Burroughs) stood around on the permieter a little bit and it made it easier to play that defense. We didn’t have to use that much energy, so it worked out well. We held those guys to 14 points under their average. Any time you can do that and take away their leading scorers and make them go to options C and D, we’re going to be successful.”
Chad Ridenour was the only Royals player to score in double figures with 10 points. JP Dodson had seven points and Guild and Thayer White each scored six.
Ward scored 11 points for Burroughs, nine coming in the second half.
PALISADES 82, SANTA BARBARA 15
The Dons were overwhelmed by Palisades’ pressing defense.
“We couldn’t beat it off the dribble and tried to beat it passing,” said Santa Barbara coach Chris Hantgin.
Hantgin said Palisades plays in the same league with L.A. City Section powerhouses Westchester and Fairfax and is the perennial third-place team.
Six players scored in double figures for the Dolphins, led by Garrett Nevels with 18 points. The team made 10 3-pointers.
Daniel Marshall led the Dons (1-15) with six points.
SAN MARCOS 51, BURROUGHS 28
BURROUGHS — Pfeisinger 1, Safarians 6, Ward 11, Alston 2, Tipton 2, Gonzalez 2, Ruiz 2, Adams-Hurd 3. Totals 8 12-19 28
SAN MARCOS — Manzo 3, Kirkwood 9, Guild 6, Koopmans 5, Mkpado 1, Ridenour 10, Dodson 7, Welsh 4, White 6. Totals 14 14-23 51.
Burroughs…4 8 8 8 — 28
San Marcos…12 12 11 16 — 51
3-point goals—B 0, SM 3 (Ridenour 3, Koopmans).
PALISADES 82, SANTA BARBARA 15
PALISADES — Jackson 16, Nevels 18, Griffin 10, K. Johnson 13, Matheney 11, Towner 10, Nazarian 2, Osborne 2. Totals 22 8-12 82
SANTA BARBARA — Anderson 5, Marshall 6, Martinez 3, Chandler 1. Totals: 6 3-8 15.
Palisades…22 26 28 10 — 82
Santa Barbara…3 1 6 1 — 15
