Peninsula Earns Hard Fought Victory Over Mira Costa in Bay League Action

On Friday afternoon the Peninsula Boys JV Team was set to take on the mighty Mira Costa Mustangs at 4:30 PM but the day did not get off on a good vibe. The bus that was supposed to pick up the boys JV team was involved in a traffic collision just around the corner from Peninsula HS and there were injured students on the buses involved in the crash. The Peninsula Boys JV Team was able to hitch a ride down to Mira Costa with the Peninsula Boys Soccer Team who was also taking on the Mighty Mustangs. The bus arrived at Mira Costa and as the boys JV team walked into the gym the JV girls were down at the half by a score of 33-13. As the 3rd quarter got underway the Peninsula Girls JV began chipping away at the lead and they were able to get it to 8 just before a Mira Costa player hit a half-court desperation shot to put the lead up to 11.

In the locker room the Peninsula Boys JV were reminded of what had happened against the Mira Costa Mustangs during the Holiday Tournament the Mustangs hosted and how that feeling never went away. They were reminded that the Mustangs were a bigger and more physical team the last time that the teams played and that in order to earn a victory today the Panthers were going to have to stand up and compete with the Mustangs. As the two teams took to the court there was a very distinct difference with the way the Panthers were preparing for this game. The Panthers came out and and initially traded baskets with the Mustangs and as each team was feeling one another out the Panthers were able to put a mini-run together to end the 1st quarter with a 5 point lead at 18-13. The Panthers were led in the quarter by freshman jack Engstrom who scored 8 points, mostly on tough drives to the baskets and off offensive rebounds. Fellow freshman Won’ya Singleton assisted with 5 points in the quarter.

The 2nd quarter began and the Panthers increased their defensive intensity and they were holding the Mustangs to only one shot at the basket. The Panthers were having some difficulty solving the Mustangs press but as the quarter rolled on the Panthers began beating the press and were getting some easy wide open shots. The Panthers however, began to run into foul trouble with all three big men collecting their 2nd fouls ( Engstrom, Blanco and Kim) which forced the Panthers to go to their subs who performed admirably. The 2nd quarter ended with the Panthers outscoring the Mustangs 17-11 to take a 35-24 lead into halftime.

The 3rd quarter began with the Panthers coming out flat and struggling against the Mustangs 2-3 zone, the Panthers seemed out of sorts and they began turning the ball over, not boxing out and allowing the Mustangs to get 2nd and 3rd opportunities at the basket. The Panthers also had other concerns in that the 3 big men also all collected their 3rd personal fouls. The Panthers were outscored in the quarter 17-7 and only led heading into the 4th and final quarter 42-41.

The Panthers were admonished at the quarter break that they needed to get back into the mode of playing good, hard, smart basketball and to return to doing the things that had gotten them the lead. The Mustangs had other ideas and as the home Mustang crowd grew louder the game stayed close throughout the entire quarter. The Mustangs began to get warm from the outside on their shooting and they were matching the Panthers basket for basket. At the 4:32 mark of the 4th quarter bad news hit the Panthers when freshman big man, Dominic Blanco, collected his 5th and final foul and as he made his way to the bench there was a collective gasp from the Peninsula crowd. Junior Nick Frasso was tagged with the responsibility of taking Blanco’s spot and he was advised that he had to do more than he had before. Frasso entered the game and began boxing out and blocking or altering shots by the Mustangs. With just under 3:40 left to go in the quarter the Panthers other big man, Justin Kim, was whistled for his 5th and final foul. This meant that 2 of the 3 starting big men for Peninsula were eliminated from the game, sophomore Aidan Kuykendall was tagged with replacing Kim on the court and the decision to use Frasso and Kuykendall could not have worked any better for the Panthers. Kuykendall immediately made a positive impact on the defensive end of the floor and he allowed the Panthers to have a 5th ball-handler on the court against the Mustang pressure. The game clock was under the 1 minute mark when the Mustangs hit a 3 pointer to take a 2 point lead. The Panthers came down and Won’ya Singleton answered the Mustang 3 with one of his own to give the lead back to Peninsula. The Mustangs came down and after running time off of the clock they hit a 3 pointer to take a 1 point lead at 58-57. The Panthers inbounded the ball and with 26 seconds showing on the game clock Singleton stepped up and nailed a 3 pointer form the corner giving the Panthers a 60-58 lead with less than 25 seconds remaining. The Mustangs called a timeout and after working the ball they lost it out of bounds on the baseline and the Panthers gained possession. The Panthers inbounded the ball and the Mustangs immediately fouled sophomore Kaz Ogawa who went to the line to shot 2 shots due to Mira Costa being in the double bonus. Ogawa missed the first shot and calmly stepped back away from the line, he stepped up and made the 2nd one giving the Panthers a 3 point lead at 61-58. There were 5.6 seconds remaining on the game clock and Mira Costa called a timeout to devise a last shot play. The Mustangs having to go the full length of the court inbounded the ball and dribbled it up over half-court and as the Mustang guard turned to shot the ball Ogawa went up and got a piece of the ball as the buzzer sounded. The Panthers had escaped with a hard fought victory over a very good and well coached Mira Costa Mustang Basketball team.

The Panthers are now 10-4 overall and stand at 2-0 in the Bay League with a tough road game on Tuesday at Redondo HS. The JV game time has been switched due to both schools being in mid-term exams so the JV Boys and Girls will play at 3:00 PM Tuesday (1-19-16) in the Redondo two gyms, the girls varsity game will be at 4:30 Pm and the boys varsity is set for 6:00 PM.

The Panthers were led today by freshman Jack Engstrom 19 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block, freshman Won’ya Singleton 19 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist, Junior Nick Frasso 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, and sophomore Kaz Ogawa who added 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists, and 3 blocks.