Boys’ basketball: It’s all about Khaliq Bedart-Ghani for Loyola

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

If you want to know which team is going to win the Mission League, follow the progress of 6-foot-6 senior Khaliq Bedart-Ghani of Loyola.

Loyola (11-1) needs him to perform specific duties to beat top teams. It has happened before. He rebounded and played defense when the Cubs knocked off Long Beach Poly earlier in the season. But he was missing in action on Wednesday when Loyola lost to Crespi, 75-73, other than trying to shoot a couple of shots from outside.

Loyola can’t beat good teams that rebound without Bedart-Ghani asserting himself as a physical presence inside. The lack of an inside defensive presence who rebounds and blocks shots was sorely missed against Crespi.

So that’s how you’ll know whether Loyola emerges as Mission League champion. Next up is a showdown road game with Mission Hills Alemany on Friday at 7 p.m., and based on the Crespi strategy, there’s no reason Alemany can’t follow and attack the Cubs up and down the court.

The other Mission League games have St. Francis at Crespi and Harvard-Westlake at Notre Dame. It’s going to be a battle all season.

-- Eric Sondheimer