Looking back on his team’s playoff run this season, the Coronado boys’ basketball coach, Anthony Ott, said the team’s aggressive style of defense took the Islanders far in playoffs, all the way to the San Diego section of the CIF semifinals.
Coronado lost 54-48 in a hard fought battle against Maranatha Christian High School in the semifinals on Feb. 26.
They finished the season with a 14-17 record overall, 3-7 in City League play.
Overcoming a cold stretch where the team went 1-9 from Dec. 12 to Jan. 17, the Islanders slipped into the playoffs and rattled off three straight upset wins, including a road victory at rival Point Loma High School to put the team in the semifinals.
Ott cited steals and forced turnovers that were crucial to their playoff run.
“That aggressiveness on defense really led to a ton of steals, which led to a ton of fast break buckets,” Ott said. “We were sharing the ball very well and then shooting a high percentage. That kind of overwhelming defensive mentality that we had towards the end of the year translated to a lot of high percentage layups.”
According to Ott, junior forward Derick Ritter and freshman guard Ah’Mahn Oliver played big roles in shutting down the Point Loma Pointers’ best player, with senior guard Loxly Johnson rotating over to help when necessary.
On top of the suffocating style of defense the Islanders were able to play, Ott said the team’s offensive production took a jump during the Point Loma game, citing multiple players scoring in double figures.
“I think that might’ve been our season high in assists,” Ott said. “Nobody cared who scored, nobody cared who was guarding who, we just really played as a team.”
However, against Maranatha Christian, things didn’t shake out as well. In a 54-48 loss on Feb. 26, the Islanders simply did not shoot the ball.
“I’ve re-watched the film of that game and the shots that we took were all really good shots so we just didn’t shoot the ball,” Ott said. “We went two for 20 from the three-point line, I think we missed 15 layups.”
Despite a disappointing result in the CIF Semifinals, Ott said he was proud of his squad – proud of them for their dedication, work ethic and camaraderie throughout the season.
“We when we break our huddle we always say ‘together’ and ‘family’– those are kind of like little mantras that we’ve been saying,” Ott said. “They really prove that to be true. You saw a lot of leadership development, especially from some of our younger guys that will be returning next year.”
The Islanders concluded the 2024-2025 season ranked No. 531 in California, and No. 40 in the San Diego Section.
