Sea Hawks Finally Break Through in Second Half

In its two losses to open the season, Redondo Union grabbed early leads and then faded in the second half, losing by double-digits to on Monday and then to on Tuesday.

But against Lynwood on Thursday, the Sea Hawks reversed their misfortunes and recorded their first victory, a 63-47 win in a consolation game at the Pacific Shores Tournament.

"We knew we had to come out strong, but our emphasis was to come out with some fire in the second half because that's where we blew the past games," Redondo point guard Chris Fernandez said. "So we wanted to come out with more energy in the second half and that's what we did."

With Fernandez leading the way in the first half and guard Jacquise Bates taking over in the second, the Sea Hawks ended their two-game skid.

Redondo (1-2) will host the Dominguez-Santee winner at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

The Sea Hawks broke open a close contest against Lynwood in the second quarter and coasted for much of the game. Fernandez, who scored eight of his 11 points in the first half, and Bates, who finished with a game-high 20 points, keyed a Redondo run midway through the second quarter.

Forward Mwelu Mataya, who finished with 11 points, also converted some key baskets during the stretch, when Redondo turned a 18-15 lead after one quarter into a 35-23 halftime lead.

Fernandez said he decided to become of a presence at the offensive end after Redondo Coach Tom Maier encouraged him to shoot more.

"Coach told me my role was to put the ball in the hole," Fernandez said. "He told me to be more aggressive and to take more shots."

After a strong first half, the Sea Hawks resorted to some of their bad habits and briefly lost their focus in the third quarter. Some sloppy passing and turnovers helped Lynwood (0-3) rally to within seven (37-30) with 4:29 remaining in the third after a bucket by Joseph Rodriguez, who led the Knights with 13 points.

But a 3-pointer by Bates, who scored eight of the team's 12 third-quarter points, and a basket by Martyre DeMarco pushed the lead back to 12 (42-30) with 2:33 to play in the quarter.

Bates scored the last five points of the quarter for a 47-30 advantage heading into the fourth.

Lynwood closed the gap to 10 points midway through the period on a layup by Ephrium Nicholson, but buckets by Mataya and Bates down the stretch allowed the Sea Hawks seal the win.

Bates said it was important the Sea Hawks weathered the storm against Lynwood, particularly after they dropped their earlier contests by blowing second-half leads.

"We kept our composure in the second half and that was a big key," Bates said. "At first we started to fall into their pressure, but we started to make adjustments and talk more. I became more aggressive on offense because I needed to help my team more, so that's why I started to push it."