Katella’s Joseph Damian brings the ball up as Segerstrom’s Ricky Carballea defends Friday night. (Photos courtesy Mark Bausman).
Katella High School boys basketball players often hear the importance of defense from Coach Carlo Davis.
It paid off again Friday night for the Knights, who overcame a slow start to defeat Segerstrom 51-42 in an Orange Coast League game at Segerstrom.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
With the victory, Katella (12-5 overall) remains atop the Orange Coast League with a 3-0 record. The Knights lead second place Kennedy in the win column. Segerstrom (9-10, 0-2) jumped out to a 9-0 lead Friday night early before Katella got going.
“It was a tough first half, we knew it was going to be tough in this environment, we’ve played here many times, it’s always loud and they have a great crowd and they play with spirit. Our guys fought through the adversity, we stuck together in the end and our defense is what won the game for us.
“We finally solved their press, made good passes and finished, all credit to my guys, talking on defense and playing hard, sucking it up, it was a great team win. We’re a defensive team, our defense is our calling guard.”
Jesus Jaramillo and Joseph Damian led the way for the Knights with 12 points each. Dillon Curtis added 11 points.
Katella sank 14 of 17 free throws while Segerstrom made 14 of 21.
Damian, a junior, scored all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter to help Katella overcome a one-point deficit going into the final stanza. His 3-pointer put the Knights ahead 38-34 and two free throws by Curtis with 2:40 left gave Katella a 43-38 lead.
“He’s our finisher,” Davis said of Damina.
“I just always have confidence in myself and my teammates,” Damian said. “We just stuck together as a team, we’re good as a team. Things are going to go up and down, but we just have to stick together, that’s when we play our strongest.”
Segerstrom held a 9-4 lead after one quarter but Katella came back to tie the game on a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Zadot Reyes ending the first half. Segerstrom outscored Katella by one in the third quarter before Katella took control in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Jaguars 23-13.
“Free throws, they made their free throws in the fourth quarter, if I have to guess we made about to 15 to 17 turnovers, no doubt we played hard, but we have to make better decisions at the end,” said Segerstrom Coach Rex Gonzales. “We are careless at times with the ball. It’s a learning process for all of us. We have to grow. They gave me their best effort wise but the decision making was not there for us tonight.”
The Jaguars leading scorer Ricky Carballea was held to 11 points. Adrian Dominguez added eight points and Nick Cervantes seven points for Segerstrom.
“The first half, we had them, we had a good game plan, they called a quick timeout and they tried to adjust, they didn’t see it coming,” Gonzales said. “We came out good, but the second unit came in and was not that ready, little things add up at the end of the day.”
Davis, the Katella coach, said he hopes the Knights continue to have success in league.
“We stay undefeated in league, we have a tough opponent next week, we have Kennedy on Wednesday,” he said. “I’m proud of all of my guys, I’m proud that we stay together and we preach play as a family, in families, things go up and down, same thing in a game, we try to stay level headed and pull it out as a family in the end.
“This is one of our better years, last year we had a really down year, so I’m happy our trajectory is going up.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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