Peninsula Finishes Unbeaten in Bay League Boys Basketball

Peninsula led West Torrance by 17 points entering the final minute when visiting Panthers’ fans began an impromptu chant.

“Un-de-feated … Un-de-feated. … Un-de-feated.”

The chant was especially appropriate because Peninsula’s 74-57 victory Thursday night at West was historic in nature. The Panthers are the first boys basketball team in school history to go through a league season unbeaten.

In fact, officials said, no boys basketball team on the hill – be it Peninsula, Palos Verdes, or the now defunct Miraleste and Rolling Hills highs – had ever finished a league season unbeaten.

“It’s never been done before,” Coach Jim Quick said. “It’s the first time. It’s beyond special to be a part of this great group of young men. I couldn’t be more blessed.”   

The victory, which was in doubt at halftime, raised Peninsula’s record to 25-1 entering the CIF-2A playoffs next week. The Panthers have won their last 23 games.

“It’s awesome,” star senior Reese Morgan said about finishing the Bay League unbeaten. “That means we beat everyone in league twice. That’s saying something.” 

Morgan scored 27 points to go with 11 rebounds and four steals. But on this night he was far from a one-man show.

Senior guard Andrew Menard had 13 points, four assists and four rebounds. Junior swingman Sam Borst-Smith had 15 points, five assists and three steals. Senior forward Odera Anakwanze had eight points and 12 rebounds.

“I feel honored to have done this with these guys,” Menard said. “Once we won Bay League (at 8-0) we all said we wanted to finish league unbeaten. That was a big deal tonight.”

The Panthers, ranked No. 1 in the CIF-2A division, trailed the hot-shooting Warriors, 38-36 at halftime. That’s when the team’s pride and desire to finish league unbeaten became obvious.

Instead of playing like a team that already had a league championship and No. 1 playoff seed wrapped up, the Panthers responded with one of their best halves of the season. They took the Warriors out of their offense, holding them to 18 second-half points while they ran their offense flawlessly and steadily pulled away.

“That second half was a blast to play,” Borst-Smith said. “I think we are still getting better. We had to make some adjustments on defense tonight. They were on fire in the first half.

“When we got it going, everything was falling into place.”

The Warriors fell to 12-14 overall and 3-7 in league despite dynamic first halves by Rashad Cobb and Kieren O’Shaughnessy. O’Shaughnessy, who finished with 19 points on six 3-pointers, and Cobb, who had 18, combined to make six 3-point shots in the first half.

Although O’Shaughnessy had three 3-pointers in the second half, the rest of the Warriors did little else. After O’Shaughnessy made a 3-pointer to give West a 44-43 lead, Peninsula outscored West, 11-2, to take a 54-46 lead.

Anakwanze had six points during the surge, Menard had two baskets and Borst-Smith had a 3-pointer.

O’Shaughnessy made two 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, but it didn’t stop Peninsula from pulling away. The Panthers started the fourth quarter with a 13-6 blitz to take a 67-52 lead.

“I don’t think these kids came in here thinking we don’t have to win,” Quick said. “They came in here wanting to win, to finish unbeaten.

“I told ‘em at halftime ‘if you hold these guys to 20 in the second half, you’ll win.’ They shot the lights out in the first half, but we held ‘em to 18 after that.”

Defense and a more fluid offense were equally important, Morgan said.

“We were moving the ball,” he said, “and when we move the ball like we did, we’re very hard to stop.”

Morgan doesn’t think the pressure of keeping a 23-game winning streak alive will matter in the playoffs. It was much better to finish league unbeaten than lose just to take the pressure off, he said.

“The streak isn’t something we think about it,” he said. “It’s great that we’re 25-1 and most of those wins came in a row, but tonight was just about the league.”

No matter what happens from here, history can not take away Peninsula’s “un-de-feated” status in the Bay League.