Before the season started, Coronado High School boys’ basketball coach Anthony Ott said the goal for the season was to win CIF and, along the way, win the Holiday Classic tournament hosted by Torrey Pines. Though the Islanders couldn’t achieve the latter, the former goal still remains.
Coming off the holiday break and nearing league play, the Islanders are at 9-6 overall; they went 2-2 in the holiday tournament.
Coronado narrowly beat Ramona High School in their first game of the tournament, 61-59. Junior forward Aiden Roberts led the way, notching 16 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. Roberts floated between varsity and JV last season and has become a major contributor to the varsity squad this season. Standing at 6’4 on a shorter Coronado team, the group has relied on his rebounding, as he leads the Islanders with 8.8 per game.
“I’ve been telling him since he was a freshman that his time’s going to come and he’s going to make a really big impact on this program and help us win games,” Ott said. “And that’s being a force on the inside, running the floor, making good passes, taking open shots when available.”
Ott also cited senior forward Derick Ritter as one who had a quiet but extremely impactful game, only scoring four points but grabbing 10 rebounds and coming through with two big assists in which he “threw it down court like a football.”
The Islanders followed the two-point win with a seven-point victory over Rancho Buena Vista. Junior Austin Brown and sophomore Ah’Mahn Oliver scored 19 and 17, respectively, and Oliver and Ritter grabbed a combined 19 rebounds while Brown added seven assists.
After pulling out two close wins, the Islanders dropped two more close games, losing by six to Poway and by one to Army and Navy Academy in overtime. Though Ott’s goal was to sweep the Governor’s Division, that goal has shifted, and the hope is that the team uses the last two games as motivation. The Poway loss was a reminder that the team can hang with the No. 1-ranked Division 2 team in San Diego, per MaxPreps.
“I think the last two games we had should be a wake-up call for us,” Ott said. “It was a good preview to what could be in the playoffs, in the championship.”
As for the Army-Navy loss, the reason for motivation is inverse.
“I think that game proved to me – and I hope it proves to our players – that when you don’t come in with the enthusiasm and desire to be competitive for four quarters, you’re going to lose games to teams you shouldn’t lose to,” Ott added.
In terms of what the Islanders have done well thus far, the ferocity of the defense has been a revelation for Ott. He expected a good defense, and as a smaller team, a speed advantage. But the half-court man-to-man defense has exceeded expectations and, according to Ott, it’s mainly due to the pride the team carries itself with.
“I knew we could speed teams up and press teams and force turnovers that way,” Ott said. “But we have proven to be a team that has the ability to slow things down and make things very difficult for our opponents in the half court … You’ve got to take some pride in being able to stay in between your man and the hoop.”
The Islanders did a better job at taking care of the ball during the tournament. Before the Holiday Classic started, Coronado turned the ball over around 18 times per game. Following the four-game set, that number is closer to 16.
A pleasant surprise for Ott thus far has been the offense’s ability to play in a more freelance style, not needing specific plays or sets to be successful. Oliver and Brown lead the team on the scoring front, averaging 15.1 and 12.1, respectively.
There’s a specific attribute that Ott wants the team to get better at as the season progresses: consistency.
“We have points in the game where we fluctuate too much in our competitiveness and focus,” Ott stated. “A point of emphasis coming into practice this year before our league play is going to be, ‘Can we be consistent in practice with our focus, our effort, our communication, our energy, our enthusiasm, all those things that we can control, right?’”
The Islanders go up against La Jolla Country Day on Jan. 6 before starting league play on the the 9th against Patrick Henry.
