Bell-Jeff Streaks Past L. A. Baptist to Notch 12th Consecutive Win

Joe Dunn had no doubts about the athletic ability of his Bell-Jeff High boys’ basketball team at the beginning of the season. But the Guards’ collective youth--they start only one senior--left Dunn uncertain about how they would hold up in the clutch.

He found out Tuesday night at Notre Dame High as Bell-Jeff defeated L. A. Baptist, 60-52, in the semifinals of the Southern Section 1-A Division playoffs.

The Guards’ 12th consecutive victory advanced them to the Friday’s final against Beaumont, a 51-46 winner over Cathedral on Tuesday. It also ended L. A. Baptist’s six-game win streak.

Bell-Jeff (19-6), the Santa Fe League co-champion, could have folded early.

The favored Guards trailed, 15-2, midway through the first quarter. Their vaunted half-court trap was not working as L. A. Baptist repeatedly found the open man for easy layups.

“We came out a little too hyper,” senior center Henry Polee said. “We were overplaying the ball and they were getting easy layups.”

L. A. Baptist (19-5), the Alpha league co-champion, made its first 4 shots, 7 of its first 8, and 8 of 11 in the first quarter but led by only 5 at the end of the period.

Credit that to Bell-Jeff’s superior athletic ability, which finally made an impact over the last three minutes of the quarter. The Guards’ quickness forced three turnovers as Bell-Jeff blitzed the Knights, 10-2, in the last 2:40 of the period.

“We knew it was only a matter of time before we started getting some breaks,” said Polee, who scored 13 points. “We just had to calm down.”

Nick Sanderson, Bell-Jeff’s leading scorer, heated up in the second quarter, scoring 17 of the Guards’ 19 points.

Sanderson, who averages 18.2 points a game, made 7 of 8 shots, including 3 from three-point range.

“I felt like I couldn’t miss,” Sanderson said. “I kept telling the guys to give me the ball. I wanted it every time down the court.”

Sanderson’s hot hand gave Bell-Jeff a 31-29 halftime lead that left L. A. Baptist Coach Maury Neville shaking his head.

The Knights had made 76.5% (13 of 17) of their field-goal attempts but trailed by two points.

“I don’t know what you saw but it was pretty obvious to me,” a disconsolate Neville said afterward. “They just had better athletes than we did. We were outmanned.”

The Knights appeared to run out of gas in the final period.

After narrowing Bell-Jeff’s lead to 40-39 with less than two minutes left in the third period, L. A. Baptist was outscored, 20-13, the rest of the way.

Shots that were dropping before were going in and out of the basket and Bell-Jeff was getting the majority of the loose balls.

“I think we just wore them out in the last quarter,” Dunn said. “It took a while, but our pressure began to show some effects.”

Trailing, 50-41, with 4:31 left, L. A. Baptist was forced to foul, and the Guards converted 8 of 10 free throws in the period.

Chris Dyer, who scored 13 points, was 6 of 6 from the line.

Mike Guthrie of L. A. Baptist tied Sanderson for game-high scoring honors with 17 points.

Teammates James Hoback and Brett Craig added 14 and 13 points.