The Culver City High School boys’ basketball team needs to step in the winner’s circle this week if they expect to make the CIF playoffs.
Losing narrowly to Beverly Hills, 60-56, and to Morningside, 68-64, last week dropped the Centaurs’ Ocean League record to 2-4. They are 11-11 overall. Beverly Hills and Santa Monica are tied first at 5-1. Inglewood is in second place with a record of 4-2 and Culver City and Morningside are tied for third place at 2-4.
Culver City travels to Santa Monica on Wednesday at 7:30, and the Centaurs will host Inglewood on Friday at 7:30. Next week the Centaurs will host Hawthorne on Tuesday.
After dropping last week’s two games by a total of eight points, Coach Adam Eskridge told his players on Friday that “some nights are just not your night.
“We missed a ton of shots and free throws that we normally make,” he said after Friday’s loss to Morningside. “We played hard but we did not bring our brains to the game.”
Eskridge still is waiting for his team to progress. “We are getting closer to being a really good team,” he said. “But we need to understand what it takes to win. We need to follow the game plan.
“Give Morningside credit, though. They had a lot of energy.”
If the Centaurs are to compete for the league championship, all four leading scorers will have to be more productive.
On Friday against Morningside, Armani Nicolis had 16, Chris Edwards and Isaac Girley each had 13, but Wesley Dixon was held to six points.
Nicolis, Culver City’s star player, had an off night against Morningside. Edwards, Girley and Dixon must score in double figures if the Centaurs expect to win close games.
Another problem is rebounding during the last minutes of a close game.
“The game winning basket was off an offensive rebound,” said Eskridge. “We don’t finish plays and contest shots. We don’t rebound well after the shot.”
Eskridge said the Centaurs must strive to play complete games. “Against Beverly Hills we played great for 30 minutes,” he said. “We gave away the game in the last two minutes.
“Against Morningside, with two minutes to go, we made the same mistakes we made on Wednesday.”
Mr. Finley may be contacted at sfinley50@aol.com
