Alemany Shuts Off St. John Bosco

Alemany High basketball Coach Joe Anlauf will be the first to admit that he doesn’t make all the right moves, but he made the correct decision Saturday night when he switched to a zone defense in the second half against St. John Bosco.

The zone put a stop to a Brave by the name of Kelvin Means and allowed Alemany to pull away and defeat St. John Bosco, 68-54, in a Del Rey League game at Alemany.

Means was virtually unstoppable in the first half, scoring 21 points, including 17 in the second period when he sank 8 of 10 shots. But that was against the man-to-man defense of Shaun Thomas and several other Indians.

When Anlauf went to the zone in the third period, Means was unable to drive to the basket effectively and was forced to shoot from the outside. The result: He missed all six of his third-period shots and scored just eight points in the second half, finishing with 29.

“I probably should have gone to the zone earlier. I guess that’s maybe a strategical error on my part,” Anlauf said.

“Means is an awesome athlete. He was too quick for anybody we had. I thought Thomas did a real good job on him in the first half and he still had 21 points.”

When Means went cold in the third period, Alemany (12-4, 4-0) began to stretch its 37-35 halftime lead.

Indian forward Dave Swanson, who led all scorers with 30 points, tossed in six in the third period, and Thomas and center Bill Lucid added four each as Alemany built a 51-41 advantage after three quarters.

Swanson, who hit 10 of 14 shots, and Lucid each scored six points in the fourth period as the Indians pulled out to a 16-point lead at one juncture before settling for the final 14-point margin.

Lucid finished with 22 points and Swanson had seven rebounds.