The Beverly Hills High School men’s basketball team tipped off against Inglewood High School Monday night, as the two evenly matched teams squared up for what was assumed to be a close game. Beverly Hills, led by head coach Jarvis Turner came into the game with a 12-10 record and sat second in the Ocean League. Inglewood, led by head coach Jason Porter, was 10-9 and was in third place in the league. A home game with the full band and cheer squads in effect gave Inglewood the possible edge in a tough matchup between two teams that had similar seasons so far. But after beating Inglewood by ten points earlier this month at home, the Normans fully expected to compete in this game.

Inglewood came into the first quarter fired up in front of their home crowd, and jumped out to an early lead. Junior guard Steven Arnold hit a pair of big threes in the quarter, and senior guard Jeremiah Queen made a couple of quick buckets. Beverly Hills started the game slowly, seemingly a little caught off guard by Inglewood’s early full-court press. 

After a slow start from both teams in terms of first-quarter scoring, Norman senior guard Lior Baradarian helped stabilize his team with a few buckets. In addition, about halfway through the second quarter Beverly Hills started their own half-court press which inserted a lot of energy and confidence in the team. This allowed the Normans to slowly get back into the game. After several free throws, Beverly Hills took a slim halftime lead, 21-18. 

The second half would see both teams open up offensively and start finding their rhythm. Still controlling the pace of his team, Beverly Hills’s Baradarian started to defer to senior forward Nile Ebi and forward Christian T., who started getting to the hoop and making a few mid-range jumpers to help maintain their lead. 

On the other end of the court, Inglewood, led by junior guard Danaus Cockrell would refuse to give up after Cockrell had 5 of his 15 points in the third quarter. The Sentinels would keep the game relatively close only down by four going into the fourth quarter. 

The fourth quarter however would be a different story, as Beverly Hills took control and extend their lead to double digits a few times. Forwards Ebi and Christian would continue to lead the Normans in the fourth quarter, both having their respective best quarters of the game with 7 and 9 points respectively. 

Fouls would plague the Sentinels in the fourth quarter, as the Normans would go to the foul line six times in the quarter to slow down the game drastically. Despite the best efforts of Cockrell and Queen, the Sentinels would end up losing a close game 52-43. Inglewood’s Cockrell looked impressive in his effort throughout the game, taking a leadership role and helping settle his team down in the half-court sets. He would go on to have 15 points and 6 assists in the game, while Queen would go on to finish the game with a team-leading 18 points. 

Beverly Hills would end up winning the game in a confident manner led by Christian’s 19 points and followed by Ebi and Baradarian both scoring in double digits. 

After the game, Coach Turner admitted that Beverly Hills had struggled thus far this season, but he is always going to be happy to get a win in the league – especially knowing how physical and scrappy Inglewood’s playing style can be. 

When asked about their performance, Coach Porter said that he and his coaching staff need to put together a cleaner game for the Inglewood players, while also acknowledging that the team needed to be better on the offensive end by finishing a few more of the opportunities they had. When asked about the performance of guard Cockrell, Coach Porter said that they know they put a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, as he usually leads the team in minutes and on the court. He also said he expects big things from Cockrell as a leader going into his senior year, and he expects him to grow in his point guard role. He acknowledged Cockrell plays hard for his team, and that his team in return plays hard for Cockrell. He further suggested he might even be able to take the next steps and play college ball as well. 

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