January 12, 2025
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
IRVINE-After five tournaments to begin the season, plus the Gateway League opener at Lynwood High last Wednesday, the La Mirada High boys basketball team played its final non-league game before the playoffs. For the second time in the last 12 games, the Matadores faced Rancho Cucamonga High and for the second time, they defeated the Cougars.
This time it was in the fourth annual So Cal Showdown, and behind a 30-point fourth quarter outburst, posted a 76-64 victory last Saturday at Irvine Valley College. La Mirada had defeated Rancho Cucamonga 76-69 on Dec. 11 in a second round game at the St. John Bosco Braves Winter Classic.
“I think we did a better job on their star player, Aaron Glass,” said La Mirada head coach Randy Oronoz. “He’s a heck of a player; a Division 1 kid. [Sophomore] Gene [Roebuck] all week has been really trying to focus on defense and taking the challenge. He got it going a little late in the fourth quarter, but I think we did a great job the first half containing him. It’s just good to see guys trying to execute a defensive game plan.”
Glass scored only five points in the first half but hit back to back three-pointers late in the game to help cut into what was once a 17-point deficit, bringing it down to eight points with 3:52 left in the game. But La Mirada, which never trailed in the game, got clutch baskets down the stretch to fend off the Cougars.
With 3:19 left in the game, Roebuck nailed a trifecta, then 25 seconds later, completed a three-point play to make it 65-51. After Rancho Cucamonga scored the next six points on back to back three-pointers, junior King-Riley Owens responded with his only three-pointer.
“We have four really good guards, so most of the time we should win those games,” said Oronoz. “It was more just trying to focus on doing what we do as far as defensively; being solid and getting stops. And then offensively, getting the right shots and maybe taking up some time. But we tend to see guys bank in threes against us and get in ones late. So, we just wanted to make sure everyone was focused on finishing the game strong.”
The Matadores (17-4) scored their first two baskets of the game the coast-to-coast way as Owens and Roebuck made the most of their first rebounds of the game, After the game’s only tie at 6-6, La Mirada went on an 11-6 run the last 3:19 of the first quarter and never looked back. Roebuck scored 11 first half points and senior Julien Gomez, who has committed to the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, had five rebounds, two assists and two steals before halftime.
La Mirada was leading 32-25 within the first 65 seconds of the second half before it went on a 13-3 run highlighted by a three-point play from senior Jarrett Cole, another two-pointer from Cole with 2:02 left in the stanza followed by an offensive putback by junior Andrew Castro. Both teams would then begin the fourth quarter trading baskets before Glass hit those consecutive three-pointers.
In fact, the Matadores were nearly perfect in the final quarter, hitting on 11 of 12 shots they took from the field, including the last 10 of the game, and were six of six from the free throw line.
“They were scrambling and trying to pressure, so it gave us some easier [shots],” said Oronoz. “That’s a good sign of having good guards; not taking bad shots when they’re trying to pressure you.”
Roebuck, who had 36 points in the first meeting against the Cougars, led everyone last Saturday with 25 points on 10 of 21 shooting while Gomez added 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Cole provided the Matadores with a dozen points and Owens pitched in with 11 points. La Mirada also owned the glass big time, grabbing 36 rebounds to 19 from the Cougars.
La Mirada’s four losses have come to St. Louis-based Vashon High, the top team in Missouri according to MaxPreps.com, Basha High, the number four team out of Arizona, and twice to St. John Bosco High, the third-ranked team in the state with the two out of state losses coming by a combined 13 points. The Matadores have played eight out of state teams.
“MaxPreps said that in California, we have the second hardest schedule other than Roosevelt, and we did that on purpose,” said Oronoz. “We want to respect every opponent. We don’t want to look towards the playoffs right away. We definitely want to take it one game at a time and right now, we’re getting focused on Dominguez on Wednesday. League is where people get tripped up, so we have to be conscious of that and really focus on one game at a time. The thing I told them was to focus on us getting better as a unit; not just beating teams but growing as a unit.”
Following the game with Dominguez High, the Matadores will travel to Mayfair High on Friday, then go to Gahr High on Jan. 22 before playing the final four regular seasons games at home, the only home games of the regular season.
“I think we have to get better at communicating on defense,” said Oronoz. “We take for granted how good our concepts are, I think. So, if we can get better at communicating…I thought we shared the ball really well, which was a big point of emphasis this game compared to the last time we played them.”
