Artesia Produces Runaway Victory

Lakewood Artesia High turned a nine-point halftime lead into a runaway victory Tuesday night, defeating Simi Valley, 70-45, in a Southern Section Division I-AA semifinal at Long Beach City College.

Top-seeded Artesia used a 12-1 third-quarter run en route to the victory.

Artesia will play Long Beach Poly, a 84-71 winner Tuesday over Etiwanda, for the championship Saturday at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

“They were relentless,” Simi Valley Coach Dean Bradshaw said of Artesia. “They’re a real good team. We’re a good team, but tonight they made us look like we weren’t so good.”

Simi Valley (25-6) trailed, 34-25, at halftime, but the game got out of reach in the third quarter when Artesia made five of its first six shots to take a 46-26 lead with 4:58 left in the quarter.

In contrast, Simi Valley turned the ball over on its first three possessions, missed both of its shots and was one of two from the foul line.

“We didn’t feel like we had a height advantage on them,” Artesia Coach Wayne Merino said. “We felt like we had to have a great defensive effort and we did. We felt like we had to pressure their guards and we were able to do that.”

Although Artesia (29-1) started a front line that went 6-foot-7, 6-7 and 6-6 and had subs that were 6-9 and 6-6, it was superior quickness that helped them outrebound Simi Valley, 37-25.

Artesia’s quickness also forced Simi Valley to commit 19 turnovers, including six in the third quarter.

“We felt like we had an athletic quickness advantage on them,” Merino said. “And that helped us defensively. . . That is about as well as we’ve played this year defensively. Offensively, we had our moments, but we can play better than we did.”

Artesia made only 14 of 42 shots in the first half, but held a 26-11 rebounding advantage.