CORONA, Ca. – A year ago, the Rancho Christian High squad shredded Etiwanda’s defense while on its way to a 78-54 victory in the championship game of the sixth BattleZone Tournament at Centennial High.
Things were a whole lot tougher for Coach Ray Barefield’s Eagles Saturday night, a year later, in the same location and with the same championship on the line.
But the Mobley Brothers and their teammates made sure the result was the same – no matter the margin.
Younger brother (he’s a junior) Evan Mobley tied the score with two free throws with 1:23 remaining and then his older brother, Isaiah, completed the remarkable comeback – from a first-half deficit of 15 points – with two more free throws with just 1.2 seconds to go for the 56-54 victory over the host Huskies.
The victory gave the No. 3-ranked (in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 25) Eagles a 4-0 record after victories during the week over Eisenhower, Foothills Christian, No. 21 Chino Hills and, finally, No. 9 Centennial.
Even with the gut-twisting loss, Coach Josh Giles’ Huskies used their four games during the week – with wins over San Bernardino, No. 10 Etiwanda and Chino Hills, as well as the loss to Rancho Christian — to demonstrate why they’re already one of the very best teams in the Southern California.
They’ll get another chance on Tuesday night when they travel to Chatsworth to play No. 1 Sierra Canyon at 5:30.
Saturday night they used the stunning jump shooting of “Buckets” (aka, “DJ”) Davis to build their 15-point advantage (at 38-23) late into the second quarter, with Davis bagging 24 of those points, three-quarters of which came via six 3s.
But he missed his final two shots of the quarter while the Eagles were scoring the final eight points to get to within seven at intermission.
Dogged by junior Bryson Stephens (a transfer from JW North) most of the second half and also challenged by the shot-blocking (or altering) of Mobleys, Davis didn’t get any buckets in the final 16 minutes while closing the game by missing his final 12 shots.
Those included a 60-footer following Isaiah’s two free throws that came reasonably close to winning the game for the Huskies at the buzzer.
Sophomore Luke Turner (in the third quarter) and junior Jordan Montgomery (in the fourth quarter) each hit second-half 3-pointers that kept the Eagles chipping at the Huskies’ advantage.
But, of course, it was the Brothers Mobley – at both ends of the floor – that kept Centennial from pulling off the upset.
They combined for 11 of their team’s 14 fourth-quarter points (Montgomery’s 3 provided the other) while combining for nine rebounds and four blocked shots in the final eight minutes.
Isaiah (PICTURED) finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks and was the easy choice for the event’s Most Outstanding Player plaque while his younger brother was a blocked short of a triple-double with 13, 10 and nine.
It was a Saturday of down-to-the-wire affairs at Centennial, with Chino Hills using three overtimes to outlast No. 20 Rancho Verde (80-73) and Etiwanda needing an extra four minutes to edge Foothills Christian, 63-59.
The Chino Hills-Rancho Verde third-place game was highlighted by terrific performances by the Huskies’ USC-bound Onyeka Okongwu (25 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots), as well as Rancho Verde’s future Cal State Fullerton Titan (forward Tory San Antonio, with 28 points) and football-basketball standout Jaxen Turner, a future Arizona Wildcat who scored 28 points with buzzer-beating 3-pointers to send things into the first and second overtimes.
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