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.”
May 11, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez (37) hits a grand slam home run during the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.Image: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
James Paxton fired six shutout innings and Teoscar Hernandez belted a grand slam as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers blanked the San Diego Padres 5-0 on Saturday night.
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Paxton (5-0) gave up four hits, walked none and struck out four in improving to 3-1 in six career starts against San Diego. It was a 180-degree turn in terms of control from his previous outing against the Padres on April 14, when he issued a career-high eight walks in five-plus innings.
Matt Waldron (1-5) pitched well but still took the loss, permitting two hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings with a pair of walks and six strikeouts. Freddie Freeman was the only Los Angeles player to solve Waldron, homering down the right field line in the first and doubling to lead off the fourth.
Freeman’s homer turned out to be the only run the Dodgers needed but the game was still tense until Hernandez delivered his big swing in the sixth. Waldron and reliever Adrian Morejon set up the slam with control troubles.
Waldron departed after issuing a one-out walk to Shohei Ohtani. Morejon got Freeman to fly out but then walked Will Smith and Max Muncy, tossing a wild pitch to boot. Enyel De Los Santos came on for Hernandez, got ahead of him 1-2 and then hung a slider.
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Hernandez whacked it an estimated 390 feet into the left field seats for his 11th homer, tying Ohtani for the team high as the Los Angeles fans in a Petco Park record crowd of 46,701 roared their approval.
San Diego’s best chance to reach Paxton occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning. Donovan Solano laced a leadoff double into the left field corner. However, Paxton got Ha-Seong Kim to fly out to right, induced a first-pitch popup from Jose Azocar and fanned Kyle Higashioka to leave Solano at second.
Freeman was the only Dodger with two hits, while Fernando Tatis Jr. collected two of the Padres‘ six hits.
If you enjoy grass skirts, coconut shell tops and a good mixed drink, they you’re likely familiar with Beeline Creative, and their signature product, Geeki Tikis.
Geeki Tikis come in all shapes and sizes but have one thing in common, they represent the geeky pop culture themes we come to expect at San Diego Comic-Con.
This year, Beeline Creative will be back in the Lucasfilm Pavilion (traditionally in #2913) with an array of Star Wars products for any cantina.
Their first exclusive, a mini muglet, was revealed on Instagram and features Watto, junk dealer and gambler from The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. This tiki will be limited to 500 pieces.
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Are you looking forward to Beeline Creatives San Diego Comic-Con exclusives? Let us know what character you’d love to see on Twitter.
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — We’re still a couple of weeks from Memorial Day, but it’s never too early to honor the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Carry the Load is a National relay rooted in bringing the true meaning of Memorial Day to light.
The San Diego stretch of the national relay that will end in Texas begins Saturday morning in La Jolla.
