(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The “East L.A. Hardwood-Hoops Classic” huge rivalry and 2nd round final regular season game in the Eastern League, was played on 2/3. It took place once again in front of a “Standing Room Only” (SRO) crowd, this time in front of 1,300 at Garfield’s gymnasium.

And once more, it was played in the historical format of being the second-half of an evening “double-header” format for the most fortunate of  students, cheer/song groups, parents, and community members who were able to attend. And to top it off, it was “Senior Night” for both Garfield teams.

At stake for this “match-up” was a shot at getting a seed in the CIF/L.A. City Section playoffs, with Garfield competing in Division 3, while Roosevelt was designated to be in Division 1. On that playoff note, Garfield defeated Animo De La Hoya in its first-round game to advance to a Wednesday, 2/15, 7:00 pm Home game against Jordan/Los Angeles with a record of (13-5). The Bulldogs easily defeated Jordan, earlier in the season. Roosevelt also earned a playoff spot but was defeated by Granada Hills Charter in a first-round game.

Content wise in both of our Roosevelt vs. Garfield rivalry game productions, new viewers and longtime followers will be able to see each full game in “play-by-play” format, along with a a great photo gallery.  

–GAME SUMMARY–

[1st Half]:The Roosevelt Rough Riders jumped out to a quick 5 point lead, but the Garfield Bulldogs came back to catch them and then set the pace and intensity for the rest of the game when the Bulldogs’ Head Coach, Jamal Barnes unleashed his troubling and harassing “full- court” press that the Riders did not handle very well, resulting in a flurry of turnovers that stalled them from getting into their offense. They would never fully recover from it although Head Coach Manny Medina, was missing one of his starters, #11/Edwin Ramos, who was unable to play. 

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The score at the end of the first period was Garfield (17), Roosevelt (11). The Bulldogs’ #24/Ethan Fuentes was then inserted into the game in the 2nd quarter and he was the man with the “hot hand,” as he shredded the Riders defense time and again on “put-backs” off rebounds, steals, and mid-range jump shots giving him a healthy and much-appreciated (10) points that gave the Bulldogs a big (35-22) halftime lead. When comparing the teams’ bench scoring, it was quite obvious that Coach Manny Medina couldn’t match it with any of his personnel.

[2nd Half]: The Garfield crowd was very optimistic and ecstatic that their team could handle the Riders’ lack of a strong defense and continued to show their depth in this game, when 6-6 Center, #32/Adam Nouri began to get some touches and “put-back” rebounding hustles on the offensive boards to add (6) points in the period. His teammate, starting guard #1/Korey Perkins got busy and added (5) points of his own. Co-Captain Jayden Barnes was given a rest in this quarter by his father and that allowed more playing time for some of the reserve Seniors on their final regular season game at Garfield. The score at the end of the 3rd period was Bulldogs  49, Rough Riders  28.

For the final quarter, and with a very comfortable lead, Coach Barnes used the opportunity to send in his Seniors for their Appreciation Time with the student crowd cheering them for their last appearance inside of their home gym. Steadying this group of players such as Axel Chico, Sam Herrera, and Santiago Rodriguez, was Jayden Barnes at point guard to finish out the game. Other Seniors who were announced in pre-game and who played good minutes were: Co-Captain, #11/Luis Cotto and #20/Giovanni Rosa. 

In their last (8:00) minutes of play, the Riders could never overcome the lack of offense in their poor 3rd quarter when they only put up (6) points. They added only (11) to close out the game with just occasional baskets that barely reduced the 20-25 point margins that the Bulldogs enjoyed in the 2nd half. In the final period, Garfield had stretched their lead from 15 to 21 points, and the Riders were basically playing for respectability by hoping to close the final score to a reasonable margin. Unfortunately, they couldn’t, and the Bulldogs were victorious by a margin of 25.

[Final Score]: Garfield  65  Roosevelt 40

[Garfield Offensive Game Stat-Line]: Jayden Barnes/18; Ethan Fuentes/13; Adam Nouri/11; Giovanni Rosa/8; Korey Perkins/7; Jayden Garcia/5; and Luis Cotto/3.

[Roosevelt Offensive Game Stat-Line]: Joshua Vega/13; Romeo Avila/13; Jared Andrade/6; Jacobo Villalobos/3; Hendrix Sampson/Bryan Romo/Naszeer Reed, all with 2.