Malibu High School's boys varsity basketball team finished in fifth place with a win over King-Drew High School Friday at Santa Monica.
The Sharks finished off the Golden Eagles 63-59. This game reflected the week for the Shark as they were up as many as 19 at one stage of the game only to limp home with the win. While Malibu started the week with a win over Jefferson High, the Sharks proceeded to lose the next two to University High and Newberry Park.
Wednesday night, the Sharks faced University High, a Division 1 basketball powerhouse. The Sharks tried hard but were outmatched and outgunned all night. The University High Wildcats swarmed and pressed the younger Malibu team all night running out eventual winners, 26-81. Malibu continued to struggle against the press and the Wildcats forced 29 Malibu turnovers. To compound the Sharks woes, University High also shot 19 for 35 in the first half alone. It was a tough game leaving Malibu to lick its wounds and face a Newberry Park team that did not fare much better against University High.
Malibu was hopeful to rebound back against Newberry Park. The Sharks started what dissolved into a scrappy affair with too many turnovers and not being able to make its free throws. The second quarter saw more of the same with Malibu trailing 20-29 at the half. Unfortunately, the Sharks could not close the gap with the turnovers rising and the team shooting 44% from the free throw line; Newberry Park ran out eventual winners 39-59.
Malibu looked to salvage some pride when they faced King-Drew High School this evening. In the first quarter, the Sharks focused on defense but also had trouble finding the basket and were down 9-10 at the end of the quarter. The second quarter started with the Sharks continuing to harass the King-Drew Golden Eagles in defense but, this time, defense led to easy baskets driving to half time with a lead of 31-17 on 9/12 shooting for the quarter. The only downside to the quarter was that the Sharks lost point guard and captain, Anthony Kodomichalos due to injury towards the end of the quarter. He was unable to take any further part in the game.
Junior guard, Bryan Salcedo came in for the injured Kodomichalos. King-Drew tried to press and Malibu was able to break the press and score easy lay ups. Sophomore guard, Marsalis Adriano also provided strong back up with persistent defense and aggressive offense. This allowed the Sharks to increase their lead by the end of the third quarter, heading into the final quarter up, 44-29.
King-Drew staged a massive rally and the game was slipping away from the Sharks. Both teams were tired as this was their fourth game in four days. There were many individual efforts at various points of the game. Senior guard, Andrew Yazdani stepped up in Kodomichalos’ absence, with 4 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks before fouling out in the fourth. Despite fouling out, junior center, Justin Holmes, continued to have a solid tournament with 22 points, 13 rebounds on 11/19 shouting. Nick Carlson also provided some strong rebounding in Holmes’ absence with 6 rebounds and a nice put back. However, the win was delivered on the back of senior forward, Will Rosenthal, who went 12/13 at the free throw line on his way to collecting 18 points. These performances allowed the Sharks to prevail 63-59.
Malibu High is away to Channel Islands High School on Tuesday and back at home in Malibu on Wednesday, Dec. 5 against Pacific Christian.
