What we learned from Mayfair’s league win against Bellflower
LAKEWOOD — Mayfair made it two home wins in a row as they capped off a dominant 84–42 win against Bellflower on Friday. The Monsoons recorded an early 15–5 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. They continually…
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Continue ReadingLAKEWOOD — Mayfair made it two home wins in a row as they capped off a dominant 84–42 win against Bellflower on Friday.
The Monsoons recorded an early 15–5 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. They continually drove to the rim at will and corralled a multitude of wide-open 3-point makes to extend the lead. As a result, Mayfair built up a 20+ point halftime lead for the second straight game. The second half was filled with more of the same as Mayfair took advantage of the array of defensive breakdowns from Bellflower. The 42-point win resembled just how much of a one-sided contest the game was on both ends of the floor.
The win for Mayfair defined impressive for a number of reasons, including the offensive contributions from across the board. With 2022 guard Dior Johnson out for the contest, this meant that Mayfair needed to generate more offensive production from its key role players. Of course, 2020 guard and top prospect Josh Christopher Josh Christopher 6'4" | SG Mayfair | 2020 State #11 Nation CA-S was going to provide a stout all-around performance. But who else was going to step up in Johnson’s absence?
To Mayfair’s credit, several players were able to lead the charge and provide for a well-rounded, balanced offensive attack. 2020 guards Elijah Shahid and Rodney Guillory were among the ones complementing Christopher’s play. Shahid did well in several sequences when it came to spacing the floor and providing a sudden spark. It seemed as if whenever Mayfair was stagnant in its offensive sets, Shahid was waiting in the corner to drill an uncontested 3-point shot, which he completed several of in the game. And Guillory was just as active in Mayfair’s possessions, with strong finishes at the rim and a couple of shot-creating passes to the paint that constantly created problems for Bellflower.
For a team that has been led by the dynamic duo of Christopher and Johnson over the past month, Mayfair’s role players carried the load in Johnson’s absence against Bellflower.
But as has been the theme all season long, Josh Christopher Josh Christopher 6'4" | SG Mayfair | 2020 State #11 Nation CA-S stole the show. The #11 ranked talent in Prep Hoops’ 2020 rankings provided yet another prolific scoring performance. He recorded a game-high 41 points, just two days after going for 30 in the home opener against Norwalk. On the heels of being named to the McDonald’s All-American roster, Christopher orchestrated a highlight-filled performance for the Mayfair home crowd in what was his penultimate regular-season high school home game.
Christopher essentially played to his core strengths against Bellflower; he was seemingly unstoppable in the paint. Once in the paint, the 6’4″ guard dictated play at an efficient and unrelenting rate. When driving to the rim, Christopher continually overpowered Bellflower defenders and finished with relative ease at the rim. His ability to not only maneuver his way into the paint but also veer into the area made it even more difficult for Bellflower’s defense to contain.
As shown here, Christopher withstands the challenge from two Bellflower defenders and winds up scoring the layup without much trouble. This is an area of his offensive repertoire that will translate very well at the college level.
His defensive activity was also on full display throughout the contest. He was a menace for Bellflower’s offensive setup from the very first sequence of the game up to the 4th quarter. He recognized switches and recovered quickly to stay with his man on defense. Christopher surely has the potential to blossom into a stout man-to-man defender, especially when taking into account his high work rate on that side of the ball.
Aside from his field day on both sides of the floor, the one notable highlight of his day came at the free-throw line. With the chants of “overrated” echoing across the gym from the Bellflower section, Christopher made the free throw and silenced the away crowd.
For Bellflower, the struggles just continue to mount on the defensive side of the ball. Of course, no player had any answer for Christopher. Even when Buccaneers head coach Amir Kermani called for tighter coverage on man-to-man defensive sets, nothing seemed to work in their favor. However, the Bucs have a few positives to take away and learn from, such as with their early 8–0 run in the second half and overall improved 3-point shooting. The hope for the Bucs as the season winds down is to continue to learn from their nagging defensive miscues and also to exploit key team strengths.
Bellflower will now look ahead to its final league games of the season while Mayfair continues to set its sights on finishing the season with yet another CIF title.