How to tame a Dragon: Perez playing lock-down ‘D’ for Manteca

His body and head slammed against the hardwood with a thud! that silenced the rowdy home crowd.

Man down.

Manteca High senior guard Angel Perez left Tuesday’s 60-54 victory over Archbishop Riordan in the semifinal round of the CIF Northern California Division III playoffs after getting bowled over along the sideline.

Perez stepped in front of Daniel Norman, attempting to take a charge midway through the fourth quarter. Instead, he was whistled for a blocking foul and remained on the ground for several seconds after the collision.

Teammates, administrators and an assistant coach rushed to his aid, but Perez was able to leave the game under his own power.

Coach Brett Lewis said Perez passed a series of concussion protocols on Tuesday evening and will play Saturday against Bishop O’Dowd in the Northern California D-III final at American Canyon High.

They’ll need him.

Bishop O’Dowd is gunning for its second straight regional championship.

The Dragons won the Open Division state title a year ago, defeating Modesto Christian and Mater Dei of Santa Ana in the final two games of its postseason run.

Without Ivan Rabb, now a freshman at Cal, O’Dowd has dropped into the Division III bracket, where it has already slayed top-seeded Weston Ranch and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory.

Now it puts No. 2 Manteca in the crosshairs.

“They’re bigger than us overall,” Lewis said, “and their guard play is very good. They can all score; they can all handle the ball. I think they’re so young that they can be hit or miss, but it’s definitely come together in the last month for them.”

Same is true of Perez, a scrappy 6-foot guard that plays tenacious defense. Good luck getting away from him.

Perez began the season in a bit role for the Buffaloes, but was thrust into the starting lineup with about two weeks left in the regular season.

On the heels of a second loss to Weston Ranch, Lewis was searching for a spark on defense. He challenged Perez.

His first test: East Union dynamo Gyse Hulsebosch, a quick-trigger guard that averaged 20.8 points per game this season. Perez held Hulsebosch to 14 on 5-of-17 shooting.

“That defensive stopper mentality was something we were missing,” Lewis said.

Perez’s ability to finish at the rim has also been an asset to Manteca, which became the first basketball team in Manteca Unified history to clinch a berth in a CIF regional final.

On Tuesday, he scored all six of his points in the second quarter as Manteca rallied to take a 34-30 lead at the intermission.

The Buffaloes trailed 17-14 after the first quarter and quickly found themselves in a 24-18 rut after James Chun’s corner three-pointer.

Perez helped fuel a 9-0 run. He showed instinct and athleticism on two reverse layups.

He also scored a career-high 17 points in a 68-38 win over Lincoln of Lincoln in the quarterfinals of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III tournament.

Any offensive production is a perk, Lewis said.

“Anything extra we get out of him is big,” Lewis said. “That’s what makes him special. He doesn’t need to have the ball. He doesn’t need to assert himself on the offensive end.

“He walked in this morning and asked, ‘Who do they got? Who am I guarding?’ That’s what he wants to do. He knows that’s his role, and he’s accepted it. He can run and he’s not fazed.”

Bishop O’Dowd boasts two of the top sophomore guards in the state: Elijah Hardy, a U.S. national junior team pool player; and explosive Naseem Gaskin, who scored 31 against Weston Ranch.

Hardy nearly posted a triple double in a first-round rout of Vista del Lago. He had eight points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Lewis said Perez will likely start on Gaskin, who sent the semifinal with Sacred Heart Cathedral into overtime with a three-pointer in the final minute. The Dragons won, 67-64.

“We might have to throw a little bit of everything at him,” Lewis said of the 6-2 Gaskin.

Perez frustrates his opponents with a face-guarding style that is remarkably by the book. He doesn’t hold or grab or take cheap shots to rattle his mark, Lewis said. Instead, he plays you like a high-noon duel at the center of town – straight up.

Perez bottled up El Capitan sharpshooter James Sellers (team-high 80 three-pointers) in a victory to open the section playoffs. Two games later, he held Vista del Lago’s Luke Avadalovic to seven points through three quarters.

And then on Tuesday, Perez cooled off Chun, who scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half.

“Every team we’ve played has had a really good knock-down shooter,” Lewis said, “and every game it has been Angel’s job to deny that shooter the ball and bother him as much as he could.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 11:49 AM with the headline "How to tame a Dragon: Perez playing lock-down ‘D’ for Manteca."