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January 27, 2025
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
Artesia High’s bid for an unblemished 605 League campaign hit a roadblock when the Pioneers were upset by Oxford Academy at home by five points last Wednesday. But if the team has learned anything this season, it’s that nothing has come easy, including last Friday’s 45-42 victory at Whitney High.
It was probably the most important win so far considering the nature of the league as the Pioneers improved to 15-7, 6-1 at the time. A Whitney victory would have propelled the Wildcats to a first place tie with Artesia.
“We’ve had a tough week this week,” said Artesia head coach Jeff Myles. “Again, no excuses; we had five games this week and we had a 6:00 a.m. practice. So I think that Oxford game was a trap game, and they caught us off guard. Credit Oxford; they wanted the game more than we did, but tonight I thought our guys kind of fought hard, led by our seniors. They kind of knew what was at stake because if we win, we kind of guarantee ourselves a playoff spot.”
The Pioneers had an eight-point lead with 3:50 remaining in the game before they went cold from the field while the Wildcats received a two-pointer and a three-pointer from senior Morgan Marks and two free throws from senior Alex Cheng. Myles called a timeout with 1:51 left to play and four seconds later, senior Jovell Tate iced the game.
Whitney (11-14, 4-3) had one last chance to send the game into overtime as head coach Nasir Akmal called a timeout with 13.8 seconds left after a rebound from senior Peter Poitras. But a three-pointer from Marks was unsuccessful, ended a frustrating week that saw Whitney come out flat against Cerritos High two nights prior in a 64-32 defeat.
“We were trying to look for something for Morgan or [sophomore Jezreel Dela Cruz], or Peter,” said Akmal. “They were all on the same side. But that’s actually on me; I should have done a better job freeing them up. We drew it up; there was still some action that was supposed to happen that didn’t happen.”
“Good teams are always going to come back,” said Myles. “Basketball is a game of runs, so you’re never going to put a good team away. Whitney is a good team; they have seniors, they have a great coach. I didn’t expect them to fold, so we just kept our composure. We made a run, they made a run, and we had the last run, which was great.”
The game got off to a slow start offensively as both teams combined to go two of nine within the first four minutes. Artesia opened a 10-5 lead with less than two minutes left in the quarter, then with 14.4 seconds remaining, Dela Cruz nailed a trifecta to make it 12-10 after the first quarter.
Artesia increased its lead to seven points midway through the second quarter following a three-pointer from Tate. After a 30-second timeout by Akmal, the Wildcats responded with seven straight points and were down 25-23 at the break.
“We had a game plan, they stuck to the game plan for most of the part and we have to play a near perfect game most of the time to beat tough teams like this,” said Akmal. “There were moments where we had lapses, and those came back to bite us in the end.
“I like to grind; that’s our style, grinding out games defensive style,” he later said. “But we have to show up on the offensive end. I don’t know if it’s nerves or if it’s something else. But I think we’re having too much of a feeling out process with a lot of teams.”
The Pioneers were paced in the first half, especially in the opening stanza, by C.J. Okeke. One of the top players in the league, the senior scored a team-high 21 points including eight in the first quarter on three of four shooting and four more points in the second half. He ended the game missing just three shots from the field and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
“I think C.J. is the league M.V.P., whatever happens on Tuesday,” said Myles. “He led us all the way; he’s led us in our league games. But he played hard tonight and brought it tonight. He grabbed rebounds and defended, and it was a tough game. [Cheng] guarded him full court…but he kept his composure and got us a victory.”
“That’s a good team and C.J. was killing us from mid-range,” said Akmal. “Everyone else, I felt like we did our job on. With that being said, that onslaught was just from him; it was only a two-point game [at the half]. But the turnover thing was our downfall.”
After both teams traded leads in the first 54 seconds of the second half, senior Christian Stewart’s offensive putback with 7:06 left in the quarter gave the red and black the lead for good at 27-26. The lead would get as high as eight points when the first of two free throws from Stewart made it 43-35 with 3:50 left in the game. The Pioneers would go one of seven from the field over the final 5:24, but the ‘Cats were two of six over that same span.
Marks, whose three-pointer with 2:39 left in the game put him at 999 points for his high school career, led Whitney with 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Dela Cruz added 11 points while three others combined for the remaining 10 points. The Wildcats also grabbed 16 rebounds.
“He’s a great player; he gave us a lot tonight,” said Myles of Marks. “We went kind of a box and one on [Poitras] to kind of take him out of the game, then Morgan kind of stepped up and led them all the way. Good luck to him in whatever he chooses to do after high school.”
Whitney needs at least one win in its last three games of the season to lock down a playoff spot. After hosting John Glenn High, the Wildcats will go to Pioneer High on Friday, then visit Oxford Academy on Tuesday. Pioneer and Oxford Academy began the week tied for fourth place in the league, a game behind Whitney.
“Our goal was to win a [league] championship, and now our goal is to win the next three,” said Akmal. “I think for us, at this stage, nothing is guaranteed, and that’s what we’ve been saying. We did a great job in the first half of league, and we talked about how important it is to show up against Cerritos.”
Tate scored 11 points while Reed added six more along with half a dozen rebounds and a pair of steals as the Pioneers will visit Glenn on Friday, host Pacifica Christian High of Santa Monica on Saturday and end the regular season on Tuesday against Pioneer. Four of Artesia’s six wins have been by five or fewer points and the loss to Oxford Academy was by five points.
“Believe it or not, coming into the season, me and [Artesia assistant coach Matt] Soriano said every league this year is going to be a five to seven-point ballgame,” said Myles. “We knew we weren’t going to blow teams out; we knew everyone was going to be better this year. It was a battle, and our guys showed up to the challenge. “I’m proud of our guys tonight.”
