ETIWANDA – A year ago the Bishop Montgomery High boys’ basketball team suffered gut-twisting losses to Sierra Canyon in the CIF Southern Section and State Southern Regional Open semifinals.
Next Saturday night (Feb. 23), the Knights will get another pop at the program that blocked it from 2018 championship games – in a 2019 championship game.
Coach Doug Mitchell’s team earned that trip to Riverside’s Cal Baptist University for the Southern Section Open title game against the Trailblazers by holding off host Etiwanda, 72-65, in a final-round, Pool A game.
The Knights’ players, coaching staff and fans had to wait until about 10 minutes after the conclusion of the game with Etiwanda to get the news that Rancho Christian had edged Rancho Verde 54-51 in the other Pool A contest.
Rancho Christian’s win left it and Bishop Montgomery with 2-1 pool records, meaning the Knights would get the championship slot based on their Feb. 9 playoff-opening 54-50 over Rancho Christian.
As the No. 8 (of eight) seed, the Knights were on the road for each of their first games, going to Riverside County for their first two games and San Bernardino County Friday night.
The Knights have rarely been “full strength” his season, with seniors Gianni Hunt and Nick Schrader missing much of December with leg injuries, and Schrader missing the first two Open playoff games while undergoing “concussion protocol” because of a blow to the head suffered in practice leading up to the game with Rancho Christian.
And that that season-long trend was in place against Friday night, with University of Montana-bound guard Josh Vazquez not making the trip to Etiwanda with his teammates while staying home to recover from a sore ankle and illness that struck him during the week.
But the 6-foot-6 Schrader more than made up for the loss of Vazquez, dropping in consecutive deep corner-3s to open things and finishing with a team-high 21 points.
The Knights (24-5) seemed to be breezing while holding an 18-point advantage (67-49) after Hunt dished to Schrader for a layup with a bit less than four minutes remaining.
But then the wheels came off.
After scoring a layup to get his team within 16 points, sophomore Jahmai Mashack was whistled for hand-checking Hunt in front of the Bishop Montgomery.
Hunt tossed the ball into Mashack’s chest after the call and was hit with a technical foul.
Junior guard Camren Pierce converted both free throws but couldn’t convert on a drive.
A Jordan Archie turnover was cashed in for a Mashack transition 3, on the other end, Hunt took an ill-advised (relative to “time and score”), quick jumper and the rebound was turned into a transition layup by Mashack
Senior Will Crawford (who had hit three 3s already) forced another “too quick” shot from the left corner but Archie snared the rebound.
But Archie was trapped by two defenders and the Eagles converted a turnover into a layup by Darryl Jackson – getting them to within 67-60.
Another “why shoot?” miss and turnover, sandwiched around a Mashack miss from 3, was followed by Archie fouling Pierce (17 points) on an attempt behind the arc and Pierce swished all three free throws and the Eagles were within four points with 53 seconds to go.
Ten seconds later Hunt (14 points) was fouled and hit both ends of the 1-and-1 before Pierce raced for a layup to get his team back to within four points with 32 seconds remaining.
But it proved to be the end of the frenetic rally, as Archie hit three of four free throw attempts around a missed 3 by Pierce.
“It got a little scary (down the stretch),” Mitchell said, after learning his team had a game to play next Saturday night in Riverside.
“Gianni made a few mistakes (the T and quick-and-missed jumper) that were probably out of a fatigue. Usually we have Josh to split the ball-handling duties with him but he mostly had to do it all himself tonight.
“We’ve got about a week so recover so hopefully we can all be healthy and full-strength next Saturday.”
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