For all Sacred Heart Prep’s firepower with guards JP Kerrigan, TJ O’Brien and Drew Wagner, the Gators need their bigs. That was certainly evident Saturday in the championship round at the San Diego Surf and Slam.
SHP boys’ basketball fell in the title round 58-48 to Whitney-Rocklin at Helix High School, snapping a four-game winning streak with its first double-digit deficit loss of the season.
Through three games — including a 73-52 win over Ogden-Utah in Wednesday’s opener, followed by Thursday’s 66-22 landslide over Christian-El Cajon — the Gators totaled 25 made 3s in the tourney, including 10 in Saturday’s finale. Wagner led the way with five 3s in scoring a game-high 19 points, but it wasn’t enough against the reigning Sac-Joaquin Section Division II champs.
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“The first two games show what we can do when we play together and when we have energy on the court at all times,” Wagner said. “And then the last game shows what happens when we get too stagnant and don’t buy in to the togetherness play as much.”
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Sacred Heart Prep senior Drew Wagner dribbles at the San Diego Surf and Slam in the semifinal round last Thursday against Christian-El Cajon at Helix High School.
Melinda Osterloh
The Gators (7-4) have impressively navigated a challenging non-league schedule without 6-5 center Matthew Norris. The junior big is expected to return from injury in mid-January, but they could have used him in San Diego.
The guard trio was productive, for sure, with Kerrigan adding four 3s to score 14 points. He and Wagner were named to the Surf Division all-tournament team. Despite this, SHP head coach Tony Martinelli said Saturday’s game wasn’t the team’s best performance shooting wise, with little inside scoring presence allowing Whitney to keep up the perimeter pressure.
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“That kind of snowballed into everything else,” Martinelli said.
“Having that threat on the floor, those three guys, that’s a luxury,” Martinelli said of his guards, “… just didn’t get the scores inside that we need to take the pressure off them.”
Whitney (11-6) led throughout, but SHP did keep it close most of the way. The Gators cut it to 29-27 heading into halftime, but Whitney junior Ely Willis — who earned tournament MVP honors — scored a team-high 14 points as the Wildcats pulled away in the second half.
“A lot of just one-possessions and just having to play a lot of defense,” Martinelli said.
The loss was SHP’s first in over two weeks, since falling Dec. 14 at Serra 53-45. The Gators went on to defeat two West Catholic Athletic League teams at the DJ Frandsen Memorial Tournament at Bellarmine — 60-58 over the Bells, followed by 70-69 over St. Francis.
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Traveling to the San Diego Surf and Slam is a long tradition for SHP. It is the eighth time the Gators have played in the tourney, their last appearance coming in 2021-22.
“I thought the on-court stuff was really good,” Martinelli said. “I got to see a bunch of different guys playing, which was nice. … That’s always really a positive when you travel like this and have three different games. … It just didn’t end the way we wanted to … but overall, just a real positive experience.”
The Gators enjoyed plenty of team bonding off the court, including go kart racing and a trip to Dave & Buster’s. At their hotel, they spent time playing the video game NBA 2K as well as some poker, with senior Matthew Wendling proving the team’s resident card shark as the big winner there.
“I think the biggest things came off the court, honestly,” Wagner said. “We were all hanging out together … so, I think we got way closer as a team. … Even though the last game didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to, we all had a ton of fun on the trip. So, that was a huge highlight.”
San Diego taxpayers are subsidizing the short-term rental industry’s trash collection under the People’s Ordinance. The 2017 letter from the city attorney to Councilmember Zapf is crystal clear: transient occupancy (rentals under 30 days) generates “nonresidential refuse.”
The city is prohibited from providing free weekly collection to these units. Yet, thousands of whole-home STRs continue to receive curbside service at taxpayer expense. Measure B (2022) modernized funding but left the core definition intact — transient rentals remain ineligible for city residential service.
Requiring owners to arrange and pay for private hauling would shift the full cost off the general fund. With roughly 7,954 active licenses, and residential collection costing about $520 per unit annually, the city could save approximately $4.1 million a year. That money could repair streets, fund public safety or lower taxes for actual residents. Enforce the ordinance as written.
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — As the Muslim community prepares to celebrate Eid al-Adha next month, a San Diego teenager is working to bring comfort and joy to children impacted by the recent tragedy at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
Seventeen-year-old Sarah Abdin spent the past week fundraising, shopping and assembling nearly 100 Eid goodie bags for students at the mosque’s elementary school.
While many teenagers are focused on final exams, Abdin said she spent some nights working until 2 a.m. to make sure every bag was ready in time for the school’s upcoming graduation celebration.
The project was inspired by the recent shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where children were present during the incident. Abdin, who attended the mosque as a child, said hearing about what students experienced motivated her to take action.
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Each bag contains a variety of treats, activities and gifts intended to help children celebrate Eid, one of the most important holidays in Islam.
Abdin said community members quickly rallied behind the effort, helping raise funds and support the project. After days of shopping and preparation, she and her sister spent several hours assembling the bags ahead of delivery.
The goodie bags are expected to be distributed during the elementary school’s graduation festivities in early June.
Abdin said she hopes the gesture serves as a reminder that the children are surrounded by a community that cares about them and stands beside them during difficult times.
The fundraising effort received widespread support, helping cover the cost of the goodie bags and allowing organizers to expand their reach to more students.
How interesting that Donald Trump is deporting Brown people who pay taxes and contribute to our economy (though they will never reap any benefits from those taxes) and instead is using our tax money to import and set up South Africans (none of whom are anything but White) who have never contributed to our economy. Could skin color perhaps have something to do with this policy?
