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Sports

Morningside Eclipses JSerra, 60-58, in Boys Basketball Quarterfinals

Trenton Coggins scores 23 points for the Lions, but the fourth-seeded Monarchs win to advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 4A semifinals on Friday night.

Senior Trenton Coggins scored a team-high 23 points but that wasn’t enough as JSerra lost in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 4A boys basketball playoffs to Morningside, 60-58, Tuesday night at Morningside High in Inglewood.

Trailing 56-55, with: 55 seconds remaining, Coggins had possession of the ball and inadvertently tossed an errant pass meant for sophomore forward Devon Pflueger out of bounds and gave the Monarchs the ball. Morningside knocked down four straight free throws to secure its victory.

“It was just a miscommunication,” Coggins said. “We usually have someone trailing behind and I thought he was there. It was a bad mistake.”

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The fourth-seeded Monarchs led from start to finish but never held a lead of more than eight points and the game was always in reach of the Lions.

“I thought we had them,” JSerra coach Joedy Gardner said. “We made a nice run at the end but give them credit, they knocked down their free throws and played great defense.”

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The Lions (16-14) seemed frustrated at Morningside’s defense, as the speedy Monarchs utilized a trapping zone defense that forced JSerra into committing 13 turnovers that led to numerous fast-break opportunities for the Monarchs.

Morningside (16-12-1) scored 32 points off of lay-ups and was constantly pushing the ball up quickly on offense to take advantage of their speed.

“They pushed the ball really well,” Gardner said. “They were the higher seed, really well-coached and were supposed to win, but I felt we just ran out of time. Give us another 30 seconds and I think we win that game.”

In the matchup of the night, Coggins (17.3 points per game) went head to head with Morningside senior Gerry Blakes (23.2 points per game), who has committed to Hawaii. Blakes got the better of the two but not by much, finishing with a game-high 25 points, two more than Coggins, and knocking down the final four free throws.  

“We were going at it,” Blakes said. “We were both guarding each other at times and I think we were trying to show who was better.”  

Morningside scored the first two points of the game and took a 13-6 lead with 1:36 left in the first quarter before JSerra scored the final four points of the quarter to cut its deficit to 13-10. The Monarchs did the same thing in the second quarter, stretching out to an eight-point lead before the Lions trimmed it to four at the half.  

“They wouldn’t go away,” Morningside coach Donnell Meekins said. “We would make a run and they would respond. They would make a run and we would respond. It was a great game.”  

In the third quarter, JSerra switched to a zone defense that slowed down the Monarchs and got them out of rhythm offensively. The Lions tied the score at 39 but Morningside scored the final four points of the quarter.  

“They went to a zone in the third and that got us out of our game offensively,” Meekins said. “I was surprised that they went back to man defense in the fourth because we just isolated Gerry and they couldn’t guard him.”  

When JSerra walked into the gym all they had to do was look up at all the banners in the rafters, featuring names like Byron Scott, Elden Campbell, Jim Harrick, Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson, to get a sense of the amount of history that filled the Morningside gymnasium.  

“I think it’s really nice for these kids to play in an environment like this,” Gardner said. “It’s what CIF playoff basketball is supposed to be about. I tried to explain to the kids the rich basketball history of this school and I think they got a sense of it when they walked on the court.”  

Said Coggins: “I mean, you obviously are aware of it. You just have to look up and you see all the big-time names and championships to understand.”  

The Lions, who finished tied for fourth in the extremely tough Trinity League, came into Tuesday’s contest riding a three game winning streak having beat La-Puente 72-66 in overtime in the first round.

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