GARDENA – Doug Mitchell had to wait a heck of a long time to bag his 750th victory as a varsity basketball head coach once that total hit 749 when his Bishop Montgomery High team knocked off Heritage Christian in the title game of the Mission Prep Christmas Tournament in San Luis Obispo.
In fact, the Knights had to wait just as long to play another game after that tourney title victory on Dec. 22 – four weeks to the day.
With their season all but shut down because of the impact COVID had on their program, the Knights finally played again Wednesday night, overcoming 22 turnovers en route to toppling the host Gardena Cavaliers, 68-59, in a Del Rey League contest.
Mitchell’s team saw its advantage trimmed to 50-49 after Serra guard Tomi Adesiji banked in a 3 (he didn’t call it) with 4:29 remaining.
But the Knights (11-1, not including a forfeit “win” on Nov. 29 in the Trevor Ariza Tournament at Westchester High), hit 10 of 12 free throws the rest of the way – two of those capping “And 1s” by senior Jalen Vazquez and junior Kelsey Phipps, the latter pushing their advantage to 12 points with 1:06 to go.
The Cavaliers, with 24 turnovers of their own, fell to 15-7 overall (and 2-2 in league) with their third consecutive defeat over five days.
Mitchell’s team still has seven Del Rey League games to play – including a return game with Serra at home in Torrance on Feb. 2 – before the Southern Section playoffs are set to begin for it, either on Feb. 9 or two days later.
The Knights remain in contention for a spot in the CIF Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division and – if not in the Open – a top four or so seed in the Division I bracket.
There’s a lot to admire about this team, notably its quality perimeter play – so in evident, despite the turnovers, on Wednesday as Vazquez (who didn’t begin playing this season until Dec. 16 because of a back ailment) finished with 15 points and four assists, and fellow senior Kristopher Krause added nine points, while juniors Phipps and Will Smith III chipped in with 16 and 11, respectively.
But there are a lot of basketball to be played before the Knights’ post-season path is determined.
And a lot of that basketball is going to be of the practice variety in their home gym.
Mitchell (pictured; he became the school’s head coach in 1989 and its athletic director last June) may have been concerned about his team’s relative sloppy performance – especially on the offensive end – but didn’t seem particularly upset about it, either, considering the circumstances.
“Four,” he said afterward, when asked how many practices he’d put his team through since it was cleared to get back into the gym, referring to Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday sessions which probably had the “feel” of preseason workouts after such a long layoff.
Barring any other stoppages of play – no guarantee, of course, in the COVID era – they figure to be considerable sharper by the time that playoff opener arrives for the Knights.
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