Note From The Editor: We invite All of our followers to view our “Play-By-Play” posting of the Roosevelt vs Garfield HS Boys Varsity Basketball game that took place on Friday, 2/9/18.
Div. 2 Playoff Update: The #9 seed Riders lost their 1st round playoff game to #8 seed Grant HS by the score of (71-62). The #7 seed Bulldogs won their opening round game vs. #10 seed Cleveland, (60-43). The Bulldogs also won their second round game by upsetting #2 seed Marshall, (59-55) at neutral site, Sotomayor HS, but lost in their semifinal round game to #3 seeded, Van Nuys HS at Hamilton HS, by the score of (76-59).
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Rivalry Game Background: The standing room only crowd of 1,000+ who witnessed the annual “East L.A. – Hardwood Classic,” Game #2, otherwise known as the Roosevelt Rough Riders (8-3) facing off with their traditional rival, the Garfield Bulldogs (9-2), were treated to a competitive defensive match-up. The final Eastern League game of the 2017-2018 season took place at Roosevelt’s Rough Rider Gymnasium and wasn’t decided until the final two minutes of the game.
Brief Game Summary: East L.A.’s “War on the Floor” was another defensive battle between these two long-time high school rivals. Garfield won their first encounter back on 1/12/18 by the score of 43-40. Now let’s get to our recap of this game. The first half belonged to the Mario Perez–coached Riders as they provided just a bit more offense than the Ricardo Rivas–coached Bulldogs, to claim a close lead at half time, 21-19.
The third quarter saw the Riders expand their to lead to six as the period ended in a (30-24) advantage. However, the fourth and final quarter saw the Riders offense, which had plenty of wide-open shots both from the perimeter and close-in to the basket, go extremely ice-cold while the Bulldogs played hard on both offense and defense to rally and come from behind. They finally caught their opponent at (32-32) and then went to secure the victory by going to the free throw line and making critical shots to give them the final winning margin of (37-32).
With their win, the Bulldogs (10-2) captured the Eastern League title, while the Riders record fell to (8-4) and finished in 3rd place. Both teams played well enough to earn themselves berths in the Division-2 tournament which began on Thurs. 2/15.
Players Of The Game: #33 Everardo “Max” Muñiz/F/SR, Roosevelt, 18 pts. (Unofficially); and #2 Angel Hidalgo/F-G/SR, Garfield, 10 pts. (Unofficially).
To see the full list of All Boys & Girls Basketball Playoff Brackets, click here.
Game Videography Credits: Erik Sarni, East L.A Sports Scene Productions.
East L.A. Sports Scene