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December 18, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
BELLFLOWER-For the second straight season, the La Mirada High boys basketball team won its first two games of the St. John Bosco Braves Varsity Winter Classic, lost to the host school in the semifinals and were playing for third place. And for the second straight season, the Matadores got the job done, this time edging Fairmont Prep 61-58.
But this game took on a different look as La Mirada head coach Randy Oronoz benched two of his everyday starters. Still, the Matadores had enough depth to own a lead throughout most of the first half and build that advantage to 15 points at the end of the third quarter, only to see it dwindle in the fourth quarter as they missed all nine shots taken from the field.
“We were in a weird flow kind of the whole game [with] a makeshift lineup to figure out some stuff,” said Oronoz. “Fairmont Prep, credit to them, they’re really big and athletic. So they contested some [of our shots]. We got good shots; they just didn’t fall.
“These are the dog days of December,” he later said. “A win is a win and I’m sure every coach in America will tell you that. Guys are tired. We traveled to Illinois; we had a week off [and] everyone got sick. We’ll take that win and move on and get some well-needed rest and get ready for the Damien Classic.”
Not starting were senior Julien Gomez and sophomore Gene Roebuck for what Oronoz called a ‘coach’s decision’. They did not get into the game until the second quarter. But seniors Jayden Cox and normal starter M.J. Smith picked up the slack in the first quarter, scoring six points each with the latter collecting three steals, two assists and two rebounds.
For nearly four minutes, the lead changed hands six straight times in the first quarter. But when Cox hit a pair of free throws with 24.8 seconds left in the opening quarter, it gave La Mirada (10-2) a 15-13 lead and it never trailed the rest of the game. The Matadores then quickly turned a one-point lead into an eight-point advantage midway through the second quarter after consecutive baskets from Smith. They would hit 50 percent of their shots in the stanza as they led 39-31 at the break and Smith would have 14 of his career-high 25 points in the first half. He would also end the night with seven rebounds and three steals. The only other time Smith scored over 20 points was last season at Downey High when he poured in 24 points at the midway point of Gateway League play.
“M.J. is one of those guys that, because we have Julien and Gene, kind of gets overshadowed,” said Oronoz. “He’s not overshadowed in our program and what we do. We know how valuable he is; we know how aggressive he can be, and he kind of put together a really good game.”
The Matadores continued to put pressure on the Huskies in the third quarter, going on another 6-0 run early to lead 47-34 with 5:33 left. The nail in the final coffin was when La Mirada closed out the final 3:33 of the stanza on a 9-0 run to lead by 15 points after Smith took a pass from Gomez and hit a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded.
However, Fairmont Prep scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter, though it covered 4:04 and the next score, which were two free throws from Roebuck, didn’t come until there was 3:11 left in the game. Those points made the score 58-48. Gomez would account for the final three points and, along with Roebuck and senior Jarrett Cole, ended with eight points. Those three combined for nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“We just have a really well-rounded team,” said Oronoz. “This team has been together for a while; some guys have had a lot of playing time and have played some big games. Sometimes they come off the bench. Someone like Jarrett Cole made some big shots for us [and] was our third leading scorer his freshman year before he injured his knee, and on this team, he’s like the eighth man. So when he comes in and gives us a boost, it helps us be extremely effective.”
The Matadores, whose two losses have come to Vashon High out of St. Louis and St. John Bosco, have played nothing but tournament games this season. They will open Platinum Division bracket play of The Classic at Damein against Parish Episcopal High out of Dallas, TX on Thursday. This has been one of the premier nationwide boys basketball tournament every December with 128 teams playing in 8 divisions covering 10 playing sites.
“We love [the St. John Bosco] tournament,” said Oronoz. “We told [St. John Bosco head] coach [Matt] Dunn we love playing him and I don’t mind playing in the first, second, third or fourth game, as long as we get to see Bosco and really test what we can do. Credit to this tournament; Rancho Cucamonga gave us a tough game and Fairmont Prep gave us a tough game. So, we got some quality games out of this leading into the end of December.”
