Pacifica Christian boys’ basketball falls to Fairmont Prep
Stringing together victories has proven elusive for the Pacifica Christian Orange County High School boys’ basketball team this season, but Tritons coach Jeff Berokoff insists his team is close to being able to make that run.
The Tritons will have to find the formula, and fast, after back-to-back losses at home have left them behind the eight ball in the San Joaquin League race.
Chol Deng scored a game-high 23 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists to lead visiting Fairmont Prep over Pacifica Christian 60-51 on Thursday night.
“We just got to keep believing,” Berokoff said. “I mean, this is the fun part of the year, right? You want to be at a school that plays good teams and plays in a good league, and that’s what we do. We play really good teams, and we play in a good league, and I think it makes kids tougher. The kids are enjoying it. They’re close. They’re believing.”
Pacifica Christian (8-10, 0-2 in league), which dropped its league opener to Capistrano Valley Christian 75-69 on Tuesday, found itself in another tight game. The Tritons led 12-9 after the first quarter and 28-27 at halftime.
Parker Strauss had team-high totals of 13 points and seven rebounds for Pacifica Christian. Tanner Deal scored 12 points, and Alex Stewart added 11 points.
The Tritons remain motivated to get to the CIF Southern Section Division 2A playoffs and take care of business once they get there, Strauss said.
“That’s what we think about,” Strauss said. “We don’t think of anything else. Coming here, we’re starting to get our guys back slowly and surely. COVID at the Classic at Damien kind of slowed us down. We played with seven or eight guys. Coach was gone for nine days.
“We’re coming together, but we’re definitely in the right direction. We’re in games to end the game, and we’ve just got to close them. We’re there. We just really got to, like Coach [Berokoff] says, ‘Keep getting tighter and tighter, and I really think we can get there.”
Fairmont Prep (9-2, 2-0) took a 40-39 lead on a pair of free throws by Deng with 1:26 left in the third quarter, and the Huskies took a 42-39 lead into the final frame. A steady march to the free-throw line kept Fairmont Prep in front, as the Huskies converted 14 of 19 shots from the stripe over the last 10 minutes of the contest.
Kristian Jemerson scored 15 points for Fairmont Prep. He led all players with three three-pointers in the contest. Myles Che added 14 points for the Huskies, and Maper Maker supplied six points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
“They’re our seniors, they’re our captains, they’re our leaders, so they’ve been through these kinds of battles,” Huskies coach Joedy Gardner said of Che, Deng and Jemerson. “We want the ball in their hands, so that if they do get fouled, they can go to the line and make free throws.”
Gardner said his team had been sidelined for nearly three weeks prior to the start of league due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases within the program. Fairmont Prep had eight positive tests, including three coaches, following its appearance at the Classic at Damien, which resulted in a 20-day period of no games played and no practice.
“We were much better tonight from a conditioning standpoint than we were Tuesday,” Gardner said.
Pacifica Christian remains at home to face Las Vegas Desert Pines in the BSN Sports Showcase on Saturday at 8 p.m.
“[Capistrano Valley Christian and Fairmont Prep are] for sure our toughest competition, but I think we have it,” said EJ Spillman, who had five points off the bench for the Tritons. “Down the line of the game, we’ve just got to execute more. We get another shot at them, so we’ll see them at the end of the road, and we’ll execute that time.”
San Joaquin League
Fairmont Prep 60, Pacifica Christian Orange County 51
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Fairmont Prep 9 – 18 – 15 – 18 — 60
Pacifica Christian 12 – 16 – 11 – 12 — 51
FP — Deng 23, Jemerson 15, Che 14, Maker 6, Acheampong 2.
3-pt. goals — Jemerson 3, Che 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
PC — Strauss 13, Deal 12, A. Stewart 11, Godfrey 6, Spillman 5, Jiwani 2, L. Stewart 2.
3-pt. goals — Strauss 2, Deal 2, Godfrey 1, Spillman 1.
Fouled out — None.
Technicals — None.
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