Centaurs Boys Basketball Falls to Colony

If only the Culver City High boys basketball team had played in the first half the way it did in the second. Maybe then the Centaurs would be moving on instead of bowing out of the CIF Southern Section Division 2A playoffs.

Coach Jonathan Chapman's squad dug a huge hole for itself and trailed Ontario Colony by 28 points, 53-25, at halftime before rallying in the second half to cut their deficit to nine points at Goodyear Gym. However, the Centaurs could creep no closer and lost Tuesday's second-round game 96-82, bringing an end to their season.

"We weren't ready [in the first half]," Chapman said. "Sometimes guys tend to overestimate the power of playing at home and nobody went at the pace during warmup that they needed to. When we eventually went to a smaller lineup we gained some speed and that's what powered the comeback." 

Aamahd Walker will remember his last game for a long time. The senior finished with 26 points, six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals. Keilan Horton added 18 points, Malik Deckard had nine points, seven blocks and three assists, Justin Montgomery added eight points and junior forward Julius Wilson came off the bench to score 13 points, including two of four from long range.

"I thought it was great that we were able to play this game in front of our home crowd and I just wish we got the win," Walker said. "I kind of blame that on myself in the first quarter, but that's a great way to go out for our last game."

Ultimately, the Centaurs had no answer for senior guard Miles Poullard, who poured in 10 points in the first quarter, 10 more in the second, 11 in the third and 12 in the fourth for a game-high 43. Titans teammates Kenneth Barnes and Marcus Magett added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

"It was a great comeback, but we still made many errors in the second half," Chapman said. "Getting back on defense, we allowed too many breakaways."

A slight altercation arose in the second half, as Culver City was scrapping back into the game. The Centaurs were assessed a double technical foul, giving the Titans two free throws (which they made) and possession of the ball.

"It was an honor playing with this team, we fought to the end of the game, we picked up the tempo," Horton said of his final game. "We outscored that team by 14 in the second half and if we played that way in the first half we probably would've ended up winning the game."

Culver City (14-14) had built a huge lead on its way to defeating host Anaheim Savanna 53-49 in the first round, but this time it was the Centaurs who had to mount a furious second-half comeback. The seventh-seeded Titans (21-8) won the Mt. Baldy League and had little trouble eliminating Western, 72-43, in the opening round. They meet second-seeded Compton in the quarterfinals Friday night.

"I thought we played one good half of basketball and they played one good half, but our half was a little bit better," Colony Coach Jerry De Fabiis said. "Miles [Poullard] is a senior and seniors are the ones who lead you in the playoffs. He just refused to lose. They had us back on our heels but we were able to gather ourselves and hit big shots to come through with the win."

Culver City also lost in the second round last year, lost in the first round in both 2009-10 and 2008-09 and missed the playoffs in 2007-08.

"At the start it was a little shaky, but I try to let the guys know it's not over 'til it's over," said Deckard, a senior who reached the CIF finals with the Centaurs' football team in the fall. "I'm not really too upset. It would be nice to go all the way in basketball since we went all the way in football and came up short."

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

Final

Colony

15

30

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