I hope Deon Tresvant becomes a 49er

I hope Deon Tresvant becomes a 49er

By Jo-Ryan Salazar
February 11, 2007

In between savoring the Dirtbags hooking the Horns, the men’s and women’s basketball team continuing to go different directions, women’s tennis doing business as usual, men’s volleyball pummeling NAIA doormats, and softball and women’s water polo going on shaky ground, and cross country becoming world-beaters, I must go ahead a provide a special announcement: Long Beach City’s basketball teams (yes, even the women) are good.

No, scratch good, GREAT. No, scratch GREAT, UNBELIEVABLE. I’ll get to the men later in this entry. First, the women. How do say consistent? T-r-i-m-e-k-a J-a-c-k-s-o-n. That’s it. Coach Trimeka Jackson is building a strong foundation at City. Her women’s basketball team wrapping up a share of the league title. Mary Hegarty’s women wouldn’t stand a chance. Sorry, but it’s the cold, hard truth. 18-9, 6-1 in South Coast Conference play, with El Camino left before playoffs.

Now, we go to the men. Mention the name “Deon Tresvant” and every opponent raises his arms and hands in despair. Against L.A. Harbor, the team he left ship from to join Gary Anderson’s Vikings: 48 points in a double-OT win, 100-94. The game after that against L.A. Southwest: 63 points in a triple-OT win-and the title, 132-131. Don’t even bother topping that, Kobe Bryant.

(Well, maybe he already has, but in this situation? I would reckon against it.)

I hope Deon Tresvant signs with Long Beach State. With Kejuan Johnson (who is a fellow LBCC alum) and Aaron Nixon leaving, we can use him, most definitely. I kid you not. When you have someone in the clutch like that who wins in that dramatic type of fashion, you gotta be salivating at that type of effort.

By the way, the men so far got another 20-win season (with our guys soon to follow). They are now 20-10 (7-0 in SCC play) and will probably be hosting a round or two in the playoffs heading to Fresno.

I won’t be surprised if Tresvant wins in quadruple-OT, with 100 points, and a ridiculous bevy of clutch shots and some to go with. Curse my inability to split into two people. I need to get out more.

Cal Baptist – No pushover, but it’s the usual business

Cal Baptist – No pushover, but it’s the usual business

By Jo-Ryan Salazar
February 10, 2007

Cal Baptist. Ranked 1st in men’s volleyball in the NAIA. Humph. I will give this for them. They are feisty. Alan Knipe used a 2nd-string lineup, and we were on our toes. Cal Baptist-an NAIA team! I was very impressed by their effort the first game, which we won 30-27. We weren’t going to have an easy one against them. They could sweep Stanford if they could-but they weren’t on their schedule.

Had a little bit easy against the Lancers in the 2nd game. This was going to be another sweep, as expected, but the 3rd game, in typical form, would be elusive at first. I wasn’t crazy when I said the season would be on the line (albeit it was a half-joke). This would count against us if we were to fail tonight. Besides, I wanted to get back to Blair after this.

Eventually, it seemed very apparent that the Lancers would falter again…for the eighth straight time. We would sweep them 3 games to nil.

Off to Blair for me. I was able to watch the last few innings of the game. It went down to the bottom of the ninth. I though, Hmmm, this Texas team should be able to finish things off. Turns out, they wouldn’t. A couple of players hit a pitch plus a walk sent in Bobby McMurray, a JC transfer from Arizona, and Mesa Community College, who drove in two runs on a RBI. The throw to home plate was not in time, and with score tied 6-all, the home fans chanted “Long Beach State! Long Beach State!” and as saw the fans get louder and louder, my eyes panned the atmosphere around me, as if I was Maximum from the movie Gladiator. And my mind said, “Checkmate.” Danny Espinosa, who is my favorite player on this year’s Dirtbags team, drove home the winning run, and I walked out of the park singing EMF’s Unbelievable, possessed by the glory of victory.

It’s not very often we get a win against a team like this. Still early to say, but that loss to the Alumni may have become great motivation for Mike Weathers’ bunch of boys from the Beach.