The third game of the Nike Extravaganza's Saturday night session saw Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, California) battle Orange Lutheran (Orange, California).
Poly came roaring out of the gates strong, with a 9-2 run to open the game. The Jackrabbits of Long Beach were playing faster than the Lancers of Lutheran in the first few minutes of action, and led 23-9 with just under 1:30 left in the first quarter. Senior guard Jeremiah Sadler dominated with 13 first quarter points for Poly, and his team took a 27-11 lead into the second quarter.
The lead only grew from there as the Jackrabbits coasted to a 72-49 win over the Lancers.
Orange Lutheran got dismantled inside, as well as by each of Poly's guards throughout the quarter. The Lancers committed too many unnecessary turnovers, and that poor decision-making led to a 42-22 halftime score in favor of Poly.
Long Beach continued to dominate in the second half, and it became clear that the Jackrabbits' athletes were superior to Orange Lutheran.
Poly coach Shelton Diggs was animated and passionate after his team's performance.
"We shot it really well today, didn't turn the ball over, and rebounded really well," he said. "We defended great, and that's just what we do."
Jeremiah Saddler finished with a fantastic 26-point performance on 9-of-16 shooting for the Jackrabbits.
"I got off to a pretty fast start, which was big for us," he said. "I definitely wanted to showcase all of my skills out there."
For Orange Lutheran, 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Josh Griffin finished with 10 points and two rebounds.
"We need to work on being more aggressive and tough out there, for sure," he said.
