Boys Hoops: Price Presents Tough Challenge for La Cañada in Finals

It’s not quite David vs. Goliath, but La Cañada’s matchup with Price certainly doesn’t appear to bode well for the Spartans on paper.

When the third-seeded Spartans step on the floor of the Anaheim Arena in the championship game of the CIF-Southern Section Division 3AA boys basketball playoffs Thursday, they’ll face not one, but two players headed to big time Division I programs next fall.

There’s 6-foot-10 center Norvel Pelle, a five-star prospect and the No. 2 ranked center in the nation according to Rivals.com. Pelle committed to St. John’s in November. Then there’s the matter of 6-foot shooting guard Askia Booker, a three-star recruit headed to Colorado.

As far as one-two punches go, Price’s Pelle-Booker combo ranks among the best in the region, and La Cañada coach Tom Hofman knows it will take a gargantuan effort from his squad to top the top-seeded Knights.

“Price is really good,” Hofman said. “We’re an underdog going into it.”

Price, which won a division championship last year, advanced to the title game winning its first three playoff games by at least 20 points. But in the semifinal round, the Knight nearly blew a 21-point lead in the second half before squeaking past La Verne Lutheran 63-58.

Hofman said the Spartans will have to slow the tempo down and force the game to be played in the half court.

“They want to run, and they’ve got good guard play,” Hofman said.

But merely grinding the pace down to a halt won’t be enough to limit Price. While the Knights like to get out in transition, they have the personnel to be deadly effective when forced to operate in set pieces and dump the ball into the low block. In addition to Pelle, Price boasts 6-foot-8 junior forward Skylar Spencer, a four-star recruit and the 18th-ranked big man in the Class of 2012.

For a squad that’s built its reputation on perimeter shooting and not interior play, that’s a tough defensive assignment. Hofman said the Spartans plan to employ a “pack-type defense” that’s a variation of a more standard man-to-man D.

One player will guard the ball handler, while the other four will play in more of a square formation, ready to help on double teams once the ball gets into the post.

“The two big guys are going to be a challenge,” Hofman said.

“ … They’re going to get in the paint — gotta double team a lot quicker.”

The Spartans got a lesson in post defense in their overtime semifinal victory over Palm Springs last Friday. In that game La Cañada faced a 6-foot-9 center in Dillon Floyd. The Spartans struggled to contain the Palm Springs big man as Floyd finished with 12 points.

“Seeing that game and playing that game gave us the opportunity to see what we need to work on,” Hofman said.

 Offensively, Hofman said it would be pivotal that the Spartans hit their perimeter shots considering how difficult it will be to score inside.

And since shooting just 3-for-25 from beyond the arc in their first round win over West Torrance, the Spartans have been deadly from downtown. In the last three games, La Cañada has gone 26 of 70 from 3.

Mike McGlashan has averaged 17 points per game in the playoffs to lead LCHS, while Matt Faber and Dario CiVon have averaged 16 and 13.3 points per game, respectively.

Hofman said it would take a similarly balanced effort to beat Price.

This isn’t the first time the Spartans have faced a team blessed with rich individual talent in the CIF-SS finals.

In the 2007 Division 3AA title game, many thought La Cañada would be overmatched by Campbell Hall, which boasted future UCLA star and current Philadelphia 76ers guard Jrue Holiday. The Spartans gave Campbell Hall all it could handle in an overtime loss.

Thursday in Anaheim, they'll face another daunting task — and this time they hope to pull off the upset.

“We just tell them that it’s going to take a team effort to beat the individuals,” Hofman said. “We’re stressing it’s five-one-five — not one against St. John’s, not one against Colorado.”