Niles Follows Directions, Leads Monroe to Victory

Monroe High’s Kenyatta Niles had no problem following instructions Tuesday night. He did so willingly and made his coaches look brilliant all the while.

Niles scored a game-high 25 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Vikings to a 75-67 victory over San Fernando in a semifinal game of the City Section 3-A Division playoffs in front of a standing-room only crowd at Kennedy High. Monroe will face Banning on Friday in the final at the Sports Arena.

“Coaches kept telling me to shoot,” Niles said. “Shoot more, they kept saying. So, I did.”

With Monroe holding a precarious two-point lead seconds into the fourth quarter, Niles scored eight of Monroe’s first 14 points of the period. His third 15-foot jump shot of the quarter gave Monroe a 60-50 lead with 3 minutes 26 seconds to play.

San Fernando (15-9) pulled to within 67-60 on a short jumper by Miguel Martinez and then to within six points, 69-63, seconds later on a three-point basket by James Wells. But the Tigers, the North Valley League champions, could get no closer.

It became a transition game in the fourth quarter, and it seemed the Tigers didn’t stand a chance against the quicker, more explosive Vikings. “Once (opponents) come out of their set offense and it becomes a transition game, teams just play into our hands,” Monroe Coach Paul Graber said.

No one seems to excel more--or demonstrate as much flair--in the transition game as senior Jeff Nadeau (19 points). The fleet-footed Nadeau, who signed a letter of intent to play football at Arizona next season, helped put away the Tigers in the fourth quarter with two tomahawk dunks.

The Vikings (23-3), who have won 10 consecutive games since losing to North Hollywood on Jan. 22, never trailed after the game’s opening baskets. Monroe led, 21-12, after the first quarter, but San Fernando made an impressive run in the second quarter and cut the Vikings’ lead to 30-29 on a layup by J.R. Montgomery.

What hurt San Fernando most was the ineffectiveness of leading scorer Javier Ramos. Ramos, who averaged 18.1 during the regular season and was a standout in a quarterfinal victory over Gardena, couldn’t make a shot during the first half. He missed layups, three-point tries, five-foot tries. Everything he put up, came back down. After a scoreless first half, he finished with seven points.

“I think this was Javier’s worst game all year,” San Fernando Coach Dick Crowell said. “He felt the pressure and it got to him.”