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L.A. Jordan wins while losing

So it seems the scheduling gamble didn't pay off for L.A. Jordan.

The Bulldogs loaded up their nonleague schedule with powerhouses and then finished 0-3 against Southland teams ranked in the top 25 by The Times in the wake of Thursday's 49-32 loss to Mater Dei.

Not so fast. Jordan Coach Elijah Asante said earlier this week that his team would benefit from its schedule no matter the results of games against Mater Dei, Esperanza and St. Bonaventure.

"It pays off because when we get to league play, we are so dominant," Asante said. "We went 6-0 in league last year and averaged about 46 points a game, and it was a direct result of scheduling these tough teams.

"Our four preseason games, if you look at the ratings of the teams, it's higher than any four teams we could possibly play in the playoffs. If you took Carson, Narbonne, Taft and Dorsey and lined them up, they wouldn't be a bigger struggle than Locke, Esperanza, St. Bonaventure and Mater Dei. We've already competed on a higher level than we're going to have to do in the playoffs.

"Does that mean we're going to win it all? No, because Carson did the same thing we did [by playing a difficult schedule]. Who knows who's going to get the payoff? Is it going to be us, Carson or maybe a team that didn't do what we did? Who knows how the ball bounces? But it certainly puts us at an advantage. When we go in, we're not going to see anything we haven't seen."

Asante said he was hoping to parlay an upset of Mater Dei and an undefeated run through Eastern League play into a No. 1 seeding in the City Section playoffs. Now it seems the best the Bulldogs could do would be something in the No. 4-6 range, based on close losses to top teams.

But once they get to the postseason, watch out.

--Ben Bolch