Gomez leads La Mirada into the CIF 2A Semifinals with 79-69 win over Walnut
La Mirada’s Julien Gomez (3) goes up for a shot as they play Walnut in their CIF quarterfinal boys basketball game at La Mirada High School on Tuesday. La Mirada defeated Walnut 79-69. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
LA MIRADA– The La Mirada Boys Basketball team, for the second year in a row, are back in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2A Semifinals, with a convincing, 79-69, win over visiting Walnut in the quarterfinals Tuesday (Feb. 14).
The Matadores, however, have a larger goal in mind – the CIF Championship. They lost on their new home court last year to San Juan Hills, 59-49.
With the win, La Mirada (24-8) will host Pacifica Christian of Orange County (23-8), a 76-56 winner over Sonora, in a semifinal game Friday (Feb. 17).
“I think maturity is the difference between last year and this year and they know what it’s like to be in this situation,” said La Mirada coach Randy Oronoz, of his young team. “It’s crazy to say with six sophomores that I have, but credit to guys like Athan Sierra, Sean Cervantes and Anegi Castillo.
“We went three years without having a home game and we’re taking every advantage we can. We have one loss in this gym and it was in the finals (last year).”
Sophomore guard Julien Gomez, who is averaging 26 points per game, scored a game-high 34 points for the Matadores.
“It all started on the defensive end,” Gomez said. “Shout out to my teammates who created fast breaks for me and secured rebounds so I could get out on a run in transition.
“The reason why I was getting so many open layups, was I could shoot the ball extremely well and I can get to the rim uncontested.”
Gomez scored 25 of his 34 points in the second half to help the Matadores to a double lead, which reached 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore M.J. Smith added 19 points for the Matadores, along with six points each from Sierra and sophomore Chris Perez.
Gomez was complimentary of Smith’s improvement over the last year. “I’m going to be honest with you, (Smith) has really improved over the summer. He took a big jump from last season to this season.”
Smith had six points for the Matadores in the first quarter.
“Coming from (Gomez), that means a lot,” said Smith, of his longtime teammate. “Me and Julien have been playing together since we were young and have a lot of team chemistry,” Smith said. “We just kind of thrive off of each other.”
Perez, who was feeling ill in the game, scored two 3-pointers back-to-back early in the first quarter.
“We all have enough experience to go on to the finals,” added Smith. “Honestly, we’re just focused on Pacifica, but it’s all lingering in the back of our minds to get that championship. We’re not going home without a ring.”
Leading the way for Walnut was senior guard Malik Khouzam with 23 points (3 3-pointers), along with 21 points from sophomore guard Myles Wainwright. Wainwright also sank three long-range baskets for the Mustangs.
The third player in double figures for Walnut (28-3) was senior guard Gavin Ibrahim with 17 points. Ibrahim led the way from long distance with four 3s).
As a team, the Mustangs had 10 3-pointers.
An unsung hero for the Matadores was Cervantes (3 pts.), who was big on defense.
“If I have to sacrifice my shots for them to win the game, I’ll do it,” Cervantes said. “Coach Dave (Martinez) is a great defensive coach and with his mind and our willing to be gritty, because we’re a smaller team, that combines for a great defensive team. It’s been successful for us so far.”
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team leading by more than three points.
Gomez scored the last five points for the Matadores with three free throws and a driving layup at the buzzer, for the 19-17 lead heading into the second quarter.
“This is a huge local game and all the credit to Walnut and a great team with 10 seniors,” La Mirada coach Randy Oronoz said. “I was nervous coming into this game because of how tough they are,” Oronoz said. “They play as a team and have been playing I think for three years with nine of them on varsity.”
The second quarter opened with a 9-4 run, led by a long-range basket by 6-6 sophomore center Jaydin Cox to give the Matadores a 26-19 lead early in the quarter.
As in the first quarter, La Mirada scored in the last few seconds of the second quarter with a driving layup by Smith to take a small, five-point lead, 34-29.
The third quarter was another 19 points by the Matadores, especially led by Gomez with 13.
Oronoz was also complimentary of his star player – Gomez. “Julien is really special in the third. He gets going and that’s been our big quarter. Just having the ability to have that in our back pocket, knowing that we come out strong in the third quarter, we just challenge the guys to extend the lead.”
La Mirada assistant coach Martinez, who specializes in the defense and has been with Oronoz for five years, said of the young team – “Defense is very important and it’s probably one of the key components to staying in some of these games against talented teams,” Martinez said. “We’ve come up with a system that fits this team. It doesn’t fit every player, but it’s enough to understand that we have principles and a culture that is defensive first.”
With a slim three-point 44-41 lead by the Matadores, with 3:28 left in the third, they finished the quarter with nine consecutive points to extend the lead to 10 points, 51-41.
That was the difference the remainder of the way for La Mirada.
Gomez scored seven of the nine points and Walnut didn’t get any closer than 10 points in the final quarter.