NORWALK, Ca. – All things considered, a whole lot of things fell in favor of the Bishop Montgomery High team knocking off the nation’s top-ranked squad Saturday night during the eighth James Samson/Fairfax State Preview.
The Chino Hills team that came into the game 21-zip and averaging 100 points per game was limited to 30 points under its average against the Knights’ man-to-man defense.
The Huskies, who normally crank in 12 to 15 3-pointers a game, were limited to just four buckets behind the arc.
And the best guard in America missed 19 of the 21 shots he attempted against Bishop Montgomery, which also came into the game 21-0 and ranked No. 2 in California and Top 10 in all of the reputable national rankings
Yet, the Huskies – even with McDonald’s All-American Lonzo Ball enduring a shooting performance that can only be summed up as “awful” – left the building 22-0 after a 71-67 victory in front of packed-to-the-hilt Cerritos College gymnasium.
There were two major “takeaways” from the game.
One, if you were one of the 1,000 or so folks who were left standing in a line that strung nearly to the football stadium after 4 o’clock when no more admissions (at $13 a pop) were being sold, three hours before Chino Hills and Bishop Montgomery tipped off, you learned a valuable lesson:
The next time the teams meet – and it could happen twice, in the CIF Southern Section Open playoffs and in the State Southern Regional Open playoffs – get to building as early as possible, buy your ticket and get your butt in a seat.
Second, the Huskies are going to be very difficult to beat, regardless of the caliber of opponent.
Of course, that’s been a given for a while now.
The Knights – led by three of the best underclassmen in the state in juniors Ethan Thompson and Jordan Shackel and sophomore David Singleton – burst to 13-point advantage (at 17-4) barely four minutes into play.
After a timeout, the Huskies – who missed their first 11 shots – rebounded from their biggest deficit of the season to go up, 22-19, before Singleton’s third 3 of the quarter, this one at the buzzer, dead-locked the score.
Singleton cooled off in the second quarter (missing all three of his shots) but Schackel hit a couple of deep 3s and converted an “And 1!” while Thompson added a couple of buckets including an eye-popping slam over the top of Elizjah Scott.
Lonzo Ball hit a 3 early in the quarter but those would prove to be his final points as his missed his next 15 attempts, from both deep and in close, while usually guarded by Thompson (with ample help).
And Singleton continued to do a solid job of contesting LiAngelo Ball’s 3-point attempts (he did hit three of the team’s four, with frosh brother LaMelo Ball hitting the other in the fourth quarter) and preventing him from getting into too deep on post-up opportunities.
The two-point edge (at 39-37) the Knights carried into intermission was still there (52-50) heading into the fourth quarter.
And then the lead was at eight points (at 60-52), after a Schackel 3, with a bit more than six minutes to go and a healthy portion of the 2,500-plus in the building was abuzz with the anticipation that they were going to be witnesses to the No. 1-ranked and Ball Brothers-led team finally get kicked to the curb.
But, as the naïve were about to discover and everyone else was to be reminded, this Chino Hills’ 21-0 start was about a lot more than just Lonzo Ball’s – or his brother’s – jump shooting accuracy.
Lonzo Ball (who finished with 12 assists, 11 rebounds, five steals and three blocked shots) almost immediately got the ball to LaMelo after Schackel’s 3 and the 14-year-old answered with his own 3.
The “middle Ball’’ – LiAngelo – chipped in with a 3 and a layup, freshman center Onyeka Okongwu scored twice on pick-and-rolls buckets via Lonzo passes and Bishop Montgomery – caught between attempting early (in the shot clock) “open” shots and trying to exploit Chino Hills’ gambling defense, opted for the former.
And it played into the Huskies’ hands, as Okongwu (who finished with seven blocks) and Lonzo swatted attempts or the Knights missed “open” jumpers.
Scott scored off one of his many offensive rebounds to put the Huskies up, at 66-64, with 1:56 remaining and, about a minute later, Okongwu scored on the second of those PNR’s with Lonzo to pad the advantage to four points.
After a Schackel follow of his own miss got the Knights to within 68-66 with 39 seconds remaining, Bishop Montgomery doubled Lonzo to prevent him from catching an inbounds pass so the ball went to LaMelo and he was immediately fouled with 23.4 seconds to go.
He hit the first – after a fortuitous high bounce – and missed the second.
Sophomore Fletcher Tynen appeared to have a clear path to a transition layup but Okongwu dashed that plan with his seventh block and LaMelo was fouled again and sank a couple of insurance free throws with 11.7 seconds to go.
Singleton (22), Schackel (19) and Thompson (17) combined for 58 points to out-score the “Ball Brothers” by 13 points.
But that wasn’t enough, which is just another thing for potential opponents – including Coach Doug Mitchell and the Knights – to ponder over the next six weeks or so.
Oh, yes; there were seven other games played on Saturday:
*Sierra Canyon 69, Maranatha 52: The Trailblazers (18-3 and No. 3 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 25) were playing without injured junior starters in guard Remy Martin and forward Adam Seiko.
And 6-foot-10 transfer sophomore Marvin Bagley III is still awaiting a ruling on his appeal to the CIF Southern Section on its initial denial for his eligibility.
But Coach Ty Nichols’ team still was way too much for the Minutemen to cope with as Nevada-bound guard Devearl Ramsey scored 19 points and sophomore Joe Wallace added 18.
This was the final game of the night and at least three-quarters of those on hand for the Chino Hills-Bishop Montgomery had cleared the building before intermission of this one.
*L.A. Fairfax 87, L.A. Windward 55: The Wildcats, under recently appointed interim coach Rod Foster (a former UCLA and NBA guard), were no match for one of the top teams in the L.A. City ranks.
Freshman guard Ethan Anderson led the Lions (22-3 and No. 17 in last weeks’ Top 25) with 20 points while Loyola Marymount-bound Donald Gibson chipped in with 14.
*Orange Lutheran 67, Carlsbad Army-Navy 61: The Lancers overcame an early deficit then held off the late charge of a squad that (with just two reserves) never substituted.
Junior guards Joseph Riley and Chris Williams scored 17 and 15 points, respectively, for Orange Lutheran (19-4 and No. 15 last week).
*Santa Monica 73, Gardena Serra 60: USC-bound guard Jonah Mathews scored 27 points and junior center Daniel Schreier added 22 as the Vikings (20-2 and No. 9 last week) won their 15th game in a row.
*Las Vegas Durango 56, L.A. Loyola 55 (OT): Junior forward Zyare Ruffin, while falling backward, hit a 16-footer with six seconds to go to put the team from Las Vegas up a point.
And then center Henry Welsh just missed a 19-footer at the buzzer than would have won the game for the Cubs.
*Calabasas 62, L.A. Brentwood 42: Senior Ryan Murphy scored 23 points (15 of those coming on shots from behind the arc) as the Coyotes (18-5) won for the ninth time in a row.
Senior Dylan Horn also hit five 3s while scoring a team-high 17 points for Brentwood.
*El Segundo 65, San Pedro Rolling Hills Prep 44: Rolling Hills came into the game with a 13-2 record to El Segundo’s 10-11 but was well over-matched en route to the loss.
Senior guard Jamal Howard led the Eagles with 13 points.
Frank, I couldn’t help noticing that you referred to Lonzo Ball as the best guard in America. I couldn’t agree more strongly. I have been an avid hoops fan for over 50 years and have seen a lot of games at all levels. The first time I saw Ball was in the game against High Point Christian that was televised on ESPNU. I told my wife and other friends afterward that I had never seen anything quite like it. I never thought that, in my lifetime, I would see another player that compared with Magic Johnson in terms of all he could do on the court to make his team successful. I think most of my friends who didn’t see the game think that I was overstating it when I told them I might have just seen the next great player. Granted it was only one game but his season stats suggest that it was not an anomaly. As you pointed out, the fact that his team beat the second best team in California despite a 2 of 19 shooting performance on his part just goes to show that he can carry a team to victory without scoring. I can now bolster my credibility with those I’ve told of this magnificent performance by pointing out that you who are recognized as one of the most knowledgeable basketball writer/analysts of the past 40 years called him not just the best high school guard but the best guard (period) in America. Thanks for all you have done to enhance my enjoyment and appreciation of basketball through your writing and analysis through the years. I first read your articles when I came to Long Beach in the early 70s and you were writing for the Press-Telegram and I remember when you first started the “Best in the West” selections that became one of the benchmark references for us basketball junkies.