TEMECULA – The Bishop Montgomery High basketball team came into the Chaparral High gymnasium Saturday night with some significant obstacles facing it for its CIF Southern Section Open Division game with the host Rancho Christian.
For one, senior forward Nick Schrader was in street clothes and unavailable because of a concussion suffered in practice earlier in the week.
Not to worry – Coach Doug Mitchell inserted 6-foot-6 junior Isaiah Johnson into the starting lineup and he eventually gave the Knights eight points and eight rebounds.
For another, with 1:53 to go in the first quarter in front of a standing-room-only gathering, University of Montana-bound guard Josh Vazquez suffered an aggravation of a right-ankle injury.
NO biggie – Mitchell looked down his bench and called Vazquez’s brother, Jalen, onto the floor and he demonstrated why he’s one of the promising freshmen point guards in Southern California while helping keep the offense and defense in sync before his sibling got back into the game late in the third quarter.
And the Knights also took care of the biggest obstacles in their path, overcoming an 11-point deficit in the second quarter and turning in a terrific fourth quarter to knock off the top-ranked Eagles, 54-50, in a first-round contest of the pool-play competition.
The victory improved Mitchell’s team – seeded No. 8 – to 23-4 and marked the first time in the six years of the Southern Section’s Open competition that a top seed was knocked off in opening-round play.
Two other top seeds, Mater Dei (in 2014, the first year of SS Open play) and Sierra Canyon (two years), had to go to the wire to beat Cantwell-Sacred Heart (66-59, OT) and Heritage Christian (99-93), respectively, when there were still 16-team brackets.
The Eagles, who earned the top seed with a win against Sierra Canyon at Pasadena City College on Feb. 2, got buckets from brothers Isaiah and Evan Mobley to go up, 15-4, a minute into the second quarter.
The Knights got just two layups (after terrific post moves by Johnson when isolated against Isaiah Mobley down low) in 11 shots in the first quarter.
But they got a combined four 3s from seniors Jordan Archie (two of them), Oregon State-bound Gianni Hunt (PICTURED) and Will Crawford, and layups from the younger Vazquez and 6-8 junior reserve Bradley Ezewiro to get to within 28-23 at intermission.
A nifty post move and layup by Isaiah Mobley and a spectacular – and then some – dunk in transition by Evan Mobley after a sweet 40-foot dish from his brother padded the Eagles’ advantage to nine points and resulted in Mitchell calling a timeout barely a minute into the third quarter.
The Knights missed nine of 15 shots from the floor in the third quarter but 3s by Crawford and Josh Vazquez (his only bucket of the night) helped them get to within 40-37 after three quarters.
An Archie 3 that tied the score was answered by a 3 by Dominick Harris to put Rancho Christian back up by a trey before an Ezewiro technical gave Luke Turner a couple of free throws and a four-point edge for the Eagles with a bit more than five minutes to go.
Turner – who hit four 3s in the win over Sierra Canyon – had an unobstructed look and fire from behind the arc that would have put his team up by seven points but the ball rimmed out and was rebounded by the Knights.
A drive by Hunt, missed shot by Harris and 3 by Archie gave the Knights their first lead of the night before a follow by Isaiah Mobley gave the Eagles what proved to be their final edge (at 48-47) with 2:49 to go.
Crawford was left unattended in the deep right wing and, after a pass from Hunt, swished a 3 for a two-point edge and, after a quick Harris attempt and miss, Hunt hit Harris with a jab step and buried a shot from out front and behind the arc for a five-point edge with two minutes to go.
The Eagles went deep into the shot clock but couldn’t break down the Knights’ defense – the theme most of the night – and Montgomery’s 3 wasn’t close.
After a Hunt turnover, Evan Mobley missed a jumper but Montgomery followed the rebound in with 55 seconds remaining.
Hunt missed a jumper and Johnson was called for a foul on the battle for the rebound with 32 seconds to go.
The Knights, however, had only six team fouls at that point, so the Eagles had to inbound instead of shooting a 1-and-1.
The Eagles ran a set to free up Turner and Montgomery for 3s and the latter was the one to got up the attempt but it was off and rebounded by Johnson with 11 seconds to go.
Rancho Christian had to foul twice after inbound passes to get the Knights to the free-throw line and, when they did with eight seconds remain, Hunt hit the front end of the 1-and-1 attempt that, after his second miss, rendered Montgomery’s final 3 – and miss – meaningless and set off the celebration of the Knights and their large following that made the big Saturday hike to play in, and watch, the best opening-round game of the division.
Both teams, in large part, struggled offensively with the Knights hitting just 21 of 56 shots from the floor (with the Mobleys blocking or altering a lot of those misses) but knocking in six of 12 over the final eight minutes.
Hunt scored all 15 of his game-high points over the final three quarters with Archie using four 3s and a just-inside-the-arc jump for his 14 points.
The Knights’ half-court defense was, in reality, the star of the night as Mitchell’s crew was usually able to double- or triple-team either Mobley when they got into the lane while still recovering to close out hard on their jump shooters.
The Eagles’ primary jump shooters – Harris, Montgomery and Turner – were a combined seven of 31 from the floor after knocking in 13 of 28 seven nights before against Sierra Canyon.
Seven-foot Evan and 6-10 Isaiah Mobley were a combined nine of 21 from the field despite playing well above the rim most of the night for a combined 22 rebounds.
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