ANAHEIM – Esperanza won easily while perhaps taking it too easy for the coach’s liking.
The Aztecs rolled to a 73-47 win over Bakersfield on Saturday in a CIF Southern California Regionals Division II second-round game at Esperanza High.
Esperanza (27-3) will play at home against Crossroads of Santa Monica (20-10) in the semifinals Tuesday, March 14, at 7 p.m. Crossroads defeated George Washington Prep of Los Angeles, 81-65, on Saturday.
Aztecs coach Mark Hill would prefer more hustle on defense and more consistent determination against Crossroads than Esperanza delivered against Bakersfield (22-12).
The Drillers, who were CIF-Central Section Division I runners-up, hung in there through much of the third quarter. Hill wanted the Aztecs to put the game away more emphatically and earlier than they did.
“I wish we defended a little bit better in this one,” Hill said. “We let them back in it in the third quarter, which was disappointing to me.”
Esperanza closed the third quarter with a 9-0 run that gave the Aztecs a 27-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Esperanza grew the lead to 30 midway through the fourth quarter when it became time to clear the bench and start planning for Crossroads.
Kezie Okpala led Esperanza with 25 points including four 3-pointers. Okpala, a 6-foot-8 senior guard averaging 30 points a game, had a height advantage of at least 5 inches on every Bakersfield player who guarded him.
Julian Almazan scored 14 for Esperanza, with two 3s, and drew postgame praise from Hill for high energy. Jared Obermeier added nine points and two 3s for the Aztecs.
Esperanza junior forward Brendan Harrick continues to recover from a shoulder injury suffered in the CIF-SS Open Division first-round loss to Esperanza.
The Crossroads-Esperanza winner advances to the Division II championship game on Saturday, March 18.
Regional finals in Divisions II-V can be played at a home team’s home gym if the CIF State office decides that home gym would be large enough to host the game. The highest-seeded team is the home team in the state tournament.
Crossroads and Esperanza both went 0-2 in the CIF-Southern Section Open Division playoffs.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
