The Hornets’ defensive performance stifled the Comets in an 85-52 win in the second round of the 3C2A SoCal regional playoffs on Feb. 28. Head Coach Perry Webster was on the brink of making history for the most career wins at Fullerton. On Saturday night, Webster’s mind was more focused on winning the game and bringing home another state title.
“My only focus is just on this team and trying to win a championship. I’m proud of all of our accomplishments and the wins we’ve had,” said Webster. “We’ve had a lot of really good players over the years. That’s something I’ll spend more time on and think more about in the offseason.”
After last week’s win over Irvine Valley, Webster primarily focused on defense the entire week heading into Saturday’s game. Webster knows if this team is going to make it back to state, the players need to be locked in on getting stops.
Fullerton’s game plan from the start was to limit the Comets’ three-point shooting and make them take mid-range jumpers. Palomar was successful at driving past the Fullerton guards into the paint. Jaedyn Patterson had issues staying in front of Comets point guard Angel Ochoa. Ochoa drove the ball into the paint a few times before spraying it out to the arc for open shooters.
Ochoa found small forward Isaiah Pomare on the opposite wing for a three after drawing two defenders in the paint. The Comets took an early 7-4 lead, three minutes into the game. Webster, on the sideline, looked in disgrace as he told Patterson on the next possession to slow Ochoa down.
Patterson adjusted and got into Ochoa’s grill by pressuring the ball. He made Ochoa turn the ball over under duress. At the 9-minute mark of the first half, Patterson was all over Ochoa. He forced Ochoa to drive left, and Patterson was able to stay in front, while poking the ball away from him.
Donovan Pitts picked up the loose ball and passed it ahead to Jaqari Miles, who missed a reverse layup. Pitts put the ball back in on a third opportunity after Brayden Smith missed, to make it 18-13 Hornets.
On the next defensive possession, Patterson pressured Ochoa in the backcourt. Ochoa tried to dribble past Patterson, but he would not give an inch as Ochoa extended his arm out, drawing an offensive foul.
Another issue the Hornets’ defense had was rebounding off missed shots. Palomar’s Jaidyn Norman dribbled down the lane and missed a layup. The Comets’ Justin White tipped it back in, as nobody from Fullerton boxed out. That gave Palomar a 7-6 lead, almost four minutes into the game. Palomar’s Alyvn Renfro-Hardy missed an outside shot, but his teammate Ochoa picked up the loose rebound and drew a foul on Yoda Oke.
Webster was unhappy with the team’s inability to finish the possession with a rebound. He told his players on the court and on the bench to “box out and get the rebound first.” The Hornets were trying to beat Palomar’s defense in transition for easy baskets.
Fullerton gave up another offensive rebound later on in the first half. The Hornets brought a double team in the post on White. He kicked it back out to the perimeter and swung it over to Isaiah Pomare for a corner three. Pomare missed the shot, but White was able to gather the rebound and put it back in. That gave Palomar a 24-21 lead with five minutes left before halftime.
The Hornets were able to limit second-chance shots from the Comets. Fullerton ended the half on a 14-0 run to take a 35-24 lead. Jaqari Miles was all over the defensive boards in the first half.
Webster made a substitution at the 15-minute mark to bring in Miles, and he did not disappoint. Miles rebounded an Ochoa floater in the lane that rolled off the rim. He went coast-to-coast for a transition layup.
At the 2:45 mark, Miles continued to defend and rebound at a high level. Norman tried to dribble, drive, and draw a second defender for an open three on the opposite corner. Miles was able to stay in front of Norman, as he kicked it out to Pomare, but Yoda Oke stayed home on him. Pomare would settle for a mid-range jumper that was airballed, as Miles grabbed the rebound.
Miles also scored six points during that span. In a tie game, MJ Smith passed the ball over to Miles on a dribble hand-off. Miles got an on-ball screen from Pitts and drilled a three from the wing, to give the Hornets a 27-24 lead.
Two possessions later, Miles knocked down another three. This time from the opposite wing, as Patterson drove baseline. He kicked it out to Pitts in the corner, who swung the ball over to Miles for an open look. That gave Fullerton a 31-24 lead with 1:30 to go in the first half.
“I just saw a bunch of open gaps. My teammates hit them. Felt good,” said Miles. “We work on those every day, shooting drills in our gym.”
Fullerton made the run without Brayden Smith, as he picked up two fouls at the halfway point of the first half. In the second half, Smith took over the game. He controlled the glass on missed shots while contesting shots at the rim without fouling. Pomare of Palomar took Smith off the dribble toward the basket. Pomare thought he had an easy layup, but Smith was able to recover. He swatted Pomare’s shot off the backboard. Kairi Shepherd picked up the loose ball and dished it off to Yoda Oke for a transition layup.
“It’s really trusting our guys. We’re an athletic team. We can go and get stopped, hanging our heads on the defensive side, getting boards, getting out of transition, really just speeding up the tempo, forcing them to play our speed,” said Smith.
The Hornets ramped up the intensity, as they forced Palomar into contested mid-range jumpers. Especially Palomar’s Benjie Nudo, who had a 30-point night in Wednesday’s victory over Bakersfield. Pitts ran Nudo off the 3-point line by forcing him to drive and pull up for perimeter shots, with a hand in his face. Nudo’s attempts were rimming out or falling short.
Nudo was getting frustrated when most of his shots were not falling.
“We wanted to make them take a lot of mid-range, contested jumpers, and I thought we did a good job of forcing them into that. The analytics tell us those are the shots we want to force, so that’s what we’ll continue to do,” said Webster.
Fullerton stayed in front of their man on the dribble and altered their shots at the rim. Webster noticed the improvement in the team’s defense from a week ago.
“I thought defensively we were way better tonight. We were more locked in. We really had a focus on it,” said Webster.
Webster kept telling his players to push the ball in transition and get the ball inside to Smith.
On Fullerton’s first possession of the second half, they went to Smith, who scored over White on a hook shot. Pitts drove the lane and missed a layup, but Smith was in the right place to put the ball back in.
“Brayden put us on his back a lot of times this year. All the things that you see Brayden do on the floor, the flying dunks, the rebounding, everything that he does is almost second to the energy and the positivity that he brings his teammates and me every day,” said Webster.
After a Palomar miss, Pitts secured the board and threw an outlet pass to Smith, who was running down into the frontcourt. Smith took the pass from Pitts and threw down a dunk.
“I got a lot of switches on their guards, so we’re running a lot of screens, high pick and roll, getting a little guy on me. I work on that every day, get to my move, just quick buckets,” said Smith.
The crowd and bench started jumping out of their seats and yelling defense. The bench was raising the roof with their hands, which fired up Smith. Fullerton went on an 18-2 run to push the lead up to 53-26, 5 minutes into the half.
The Hornets continued to get consecutive stops to build onto their lead before backing off and emptying the bench for an 85-52 win.
The team celebrated the win with a poster of his 263rd career win. Afterwards, the players went wild in the locker room, as Webster credited his team for the milestone.
“How proud of us he is, and that we couldn’t do it without him. The work we put in, and we earned it too, as well,” said Smith.
The Hornets will host West L.A. in the third round of the 3C2A SoCal Regional Playoffs on Saturday, March 7. Game time is at 6 p.m.
