Every so often, there was a glimpse of the potential that has created lofty expectations for the Serra boys basketball team. But this was anything but a grand opening for the Cavaliers.
Serra opened its season with a sloppy 52-38 victory over West Torrance in the first round of the Westchester Trevor Ariza Tip-Off Classic at Westchester High Tuesday. The Cavaliers used a dominant second quarter to belie an otherwise tight contest.
"It wasn't too good," Serra senior guard Kajon Mack said. "We can play a lot better.
"We need to hustle more. We weren't moving. We work hard all the time in practice, but we weren't doing it out there today. We just slacked off. I don't know why. But this isn't how we can play."
Senior forward Daddy Ugbede paced the Cavaliers with 14 points and four rebounds. Seven of his points, including two slam dunks, came in the second quarter, the lone quarter in which Serra outscored the Warriors by more than two points.
Mack finished with 12 points, four steals and three rebounds. Dakarai Tucker added eight points and eight rebounds, and Cameron Hailey contributed seven points.
"I'm just glad we got our first game out from under us," Serra coach Dwan Hurt said. "We could have played a lot better.
"I liked the way we played together as a team. We really did some good things defensively. But there's a lot to work on. It's our first game and it's the first time they've played together in a long time."
The Cavaliers ended the first quarter leading just 11-9 after Ugbede sank a pair of tie-breaking free throws in the closing seconds.
Serra appeared to be finding its groove as it opened the second quarter with an eight-point run, and went on to outscore West 21-9 in the period for a 32-18 halftime lead.
The advantage grew to 37-18 in the third quarter before the Cavaliers slowed back down, going scoreless for nearly the final five minutes of the quarter and being outscored the rest of the way.
That was enough to leave West (2-4) encouraged about its showing in a game in which two regulars were sidelined by injury.
"We started off well," Warriors coach Paul Nitake said. "The second quarter we just got into a little funk, a lot of turnovers, a lot of fastbreaks for Serra. Unforced turnovers led to too many points for them and all the sudden we're down by 10. ...
"I thought we played well in the first and third quarters. And the fourth quarter we outscored them, so that's really nice."
"We're still growing, we're still getting better."
Stefan Inouye led West with 11 points, including three 3-pointers. Cory Gehr fueled the Warriors' solid finish by scoring seven of his nine points in the final quarter. Jamin Lackey had five points and seven rebounds.
West resumes tournament play Thursday in the consolation bracket while Serra continues its quest to reach Saturday's final.
"Now that we got the first game out of the way, we got the jitters out and we can start playing the way we play," Mack said. "Hopefully this was just first-game jitters."
Serra opened its season with a sloppy 52-38 victory over West Torrance in the first round of the Westchester Trevor Ariza Tip-Off Classic at Westchester High Tuesday. The Cavaliers used a dominant second quarter to belie an otherwise tight contest.
"It wasn't too good," Serra senior guard Kajon Mack said. "We can play a lot better.
"We need to hustle more. We weren't moving. We work hard all the time in practice, but we weren't doing it out there today. We just slacked off. I don't know why. But this isn't how we can play."
Senior forward Daddy Ugbede paced the Cavaliers with 14 points and four rebounds. Seven of his points, including two slam dunks, came in the second quarter, the lone quarter in which Serra outscored the Warriors by more than two points.
Mack finished with 12 points, four steals and three rebounds. Dakarai Tucker added eight points and eight rebounds, and Cameron Hailey contributed seven points.
"I'm just glad we got our first game out from under us," Serra coach Dwan Hurt said. "We could have played a lot better.
"I liked the way we played together as a team. We really did some good things defensively. But there's a lot to work on. It's our first game and it's the first time they've played together in a long time."
The Cavaliers ended the first quarter leading just 11-9 after Ugbede sank a pair of tie-breaking free throws in the closing seconds.
Serra appeared to be finding its groove as it opened the second quarter with an eight-point run, and went on to outscore West 21-9 in the period for a 32-18 halftime lead.
The advantage grew to 37-18 in the third quarter before the Cavaliers slowed back down, going scoreless for nearly the final five minutes of the quarter and being outscored the rest of the way.
That was enough to leave West (2-4) encouraged about its showing in a game in which two regulars were sidelined by injury.
"We started off well," Warriors coach Paul Nitake said. "The second quarter we just got into a little funk, a lot of turnovers, a lot of fastbreaks for Serra. Unforced turnovers led to too many points for them and all the sudden we're down by 10. ...
"I thought we played well in the first and third quarters. And the fourth quarter we outscored them, so that's really nice."
"We're still growing, we're still getting better."
Stefan Inouye led West with 11 points, including three 3-pointers. Cory Gehr fueled the Warriors' solid finish by scoring seven of his nine points in the final quarter. Jamin Lackey had five points and seven rebounds.
West resumes tournament play Thursday in the consolation bracket while Serra continues its quest to reach Saturday's final.
"Now that we got the first game out of the way, we got the jitters out and we can start playing the way we play," Mack said. "Hopefully this was just first-game jitters."
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Source: Heather Gripp, Correspondent, Daily Breeze