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High-scoring Armani Nicolis deftly navigates around Hawthorne defender en route to 24 points. Photos, George Laase.
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Wesley Dixon of Centaurs looks as if he has frozen every player in his wake.
After a disappointing loss to Inglewood High to start last week, Culver City High School’s boys basketball team re-grouped on Friday night and defeated a determined Hawthorne team, 77-65.
The Centaurs evened their Ocean League record at 2-2, and they are 11-9 overall.
With Beverly Hills losing in double overtime to Inglewood, three teams are tied for first place, Beverly, Santa Monica and Inglewood. Culver is lurking one game back.
Family allegiances were split between Culver City and Hawthorne when three Centaurs made double-doubles:
Armani Nicolis led the Centaurs with 24 points on 7-11 shooting, and10 rebounds. Chris Edwards had a rare triple double, 13 points,10 assists,11 steals. Resurgent Wesley Dixon made10 points and 10 rebounds. Isaac Girley scored 17 points.
To explain about allegiances, Nicolis’s mother is part of the Hawthorne High administration. Armani related a story his mother told him on game day at breakfast. “My mom told me her school staff had been trash-talking about how the Cougars were going to shut me down,” he said. “They know I’m the top scorer on the team. They were saying ‘He’s not going to score. He’s not going to do this’ or ‘he’s not going to do that.’ It was humorous to hear. Every time I scored, I would glance over at my Mom. We both would smile.”
Nicolis had plenty to say about the game, too.
“After losing two in a row, this was a statement we definitely are on our feet again,” he said. “This puts us in good position to go for the Ocean League title. We needed to run the ball against Hawthorne, to keep pushing the pace. They like to run, and we figured that they couldn’t keep up with us.”
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1st Q |
2nd Q |
3rd Q |
4th Q |
Final |
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Culver City |
18 |
17 |
28 |
14 |
77 |
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Hawthorne |
14 |
12 |
18 |
21 |
65 |
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Edwards called the game “a good team win because we shared the ball. Nobody was hogging the ball.”
Coach Adam Eskridge was pleased with his players’ high energy. “For a few minutes, we got a little loose,” he said. “You can expect that with high school basketball. The ball movement was better. The team was more positive, and we played so hard.”
Eskridge said it was the type of game he wants the Centaurs to play in the second half of the season.
“We would have liked to have been one to hand Beverly its first loss,” said Eskridge after Monday’s practice. “But this helps us. It puts us back in the mix, a game out. We let SaMo get away, and we didn’t play well enough against Inglewood. Beverly Hills put us in position where we control our own destiny.”
On Wednesday, the Centaurs will host Beverly Hills at 7:30. On Friday they go to Morningside on Friday for a 7:30 game, and Culver will try to repeat its 20-point victory in the league opener.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
