LAS VEGAS – The West Ranch High boys basketball team made a four-hour drive from Southern California’s Santa Clarita Valley – Magic Mountain, anyone? – to Las Vegas with aspirations of continuing to show it can do more than just “hang” with the best of the in the region.
And the Wildcats of Coach Jeff Bryant did that – and won one of the major high school tournament in the country in the process.
They capped the 11th Tarkanian Classic with a third consecutive “upset” Thursday night at Bishop Gorman High, rallying from a 10-point deficit late in the first to knock off the host Gaels, 67-62, packing a lot of championship paraphernalia for their return trip home.
Besides the championship, Most Outstanding Player (Andrew Meadow) and all-tournament (Jaqari Miles and Jazz Gardner) plaques they took with them, they also return with a 12-0 record.
They’ll also head to La Verne next week for the Tuesday start of the Classic at Damien and steely resolve to win another high-profile Platinum championship.
“We came here to win the championship,” Bryant said afterward.
“And (next) we have aspirations of winning at Damien, too.”
As the case in Wednesday night’s 60-55 “upset” of Mater Dei, Meadow – the 6-7, scraggly-haired and begoggled package of relentless effort and unbridled determination – was the lynchpin victory.
He scored a team-high 18 points – 14 after intermission, which his team went into with a seven-point deficit – and snatched a significant rebound every time the Wildcats needed one.
“He’s our ‘heart and soul’”, Bryant said of the Boise State-bound Meadow, “we’ve got to have him do those things to beat the kind of teams we beat here.”
In the first half, junior guard John “Juni Mobley”, whose long-range jump shooting led his team to tight wins over San Diego St. Augustine and Dallas Oak Cliff Faith Family Tuesday and Wednesday, seemed well on his way to picking up the division’s MOP and leading the Gaels to their second consecutive Platinum title and fourth in five years.
He scored 10 quick points to start the game and buried something approaching a 30-footer early in the second half.
He finished with only 24 points and rarely got a “clean” look at any jumper, or space for much in the way of dribbled penetration, over the last 10 minutes or so while being shadowed by 6-6 senior Isaiah Fields, a transfer from Santa Clarita Christian.
“I told our guys all week that he’s got “Stephen Curry-like” range,” Bryant said.
“If he has the ball near mid-court, we better be on him because he can hit shots from there.
“And I thought he (Isaiah), with his size and athleticism, was the guy best equipped to at least try to ‘contain’ him.”
Fields relished the opportunity to try, too.
“We’ve watched him most of the week (during the games and watching film)”, said Fields, who scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half.
“I knew I couldn’t allow him to get comfortable or get much space (for his jumper)”.
Junior point guard Darrell Morris (six points, eight assists and one turnover) had his “best” game of the week for the Wildcats, while Miles added 15 points and Gardner had nine points and 10 rebounds.
In other Platinum Division games Thursday:
THIRD
Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei 63, Dallas Oak Cliff Faith Family 61: Junior point guard Brady Karich, after rebounding a miss by Issac Williams with 11 seconds remaining, drove in a straight line all the way to the front of the rim and the game-winning layup a half-tic before the buzzer sounded to help the Monarchs improve to 8-2, roughly 24 hours after their loss to fellow SoCal program West Ranch.
Senior forward Zack Davidson, who signed with the University of Montana last month, scored a career-high 33 points for the winners.
Associate Head Coach Jason Quinn called the shots for Mater Dei after Gary McKnight was ejected by officials (apparently for complaining about foul calls) about 13 minutes into the first half.
Six-nine Jayden Toppin (he’s going to the University of New Mexico) led the Texas crew with 18 points.
FIFTH
Marietta (GA) Kell 84, San Diego St. Augustine 76: The lads from Georgia got 24 points from junior point guard Jaylon Colon and 20 classmate C.J. Brown to knock off San Diego’s defending Open Division champions.
Senior forward Jurian Dixon – San Diego’s Player of the Year as a junior – scored 20 points for the Saints.
CONSOLATION
Coronado 58, Liberty 55: In a matchup of Las Vegas – actually, Henderson – programs, UCLA-bound Sebastian Mack hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer for the victory.
NIKE
RSM (CA) Santa Margarita 51, Santa Monica Crossroads 40: Six-nine senior Rockwell Reynolds continued his strong low-post scoring and rebounding effort of the four-game week to help the Eagles improve to 14-1.
Reynolds (who signed with Northern Arizona last month) scored points to bag bracket Most Outstanding hardware while 6-4 junior Cameron McNamee added 14 points and was all-tournament.
Coach Justin Bell’s team is back at it Tuesday night (7 o’clock) against American Fork in Platinum Division opener of the Classic at Damien in La Verne (CA).
Pepperdine-bound Nils Cooper (also all-tournament along with teammate Isaiah Chappell) had 14 points for the 8-4 Roadrunners, who play Hayward (CA) Moreau Catholic Wednesday Desert Holiday Classic at Ranch Mirage High (CA).
SPALDING
Fresno Clovis West 90, Jones (FL): Senior guard Issac Martinez grabbed his second consecutive Tarkanian Classic division Most Outstanding Player honor as the Golden Eagles improved to 14-0 in dominant fashion.
Martinez scored 24 points as and he his team return to the Central Valley of California before heading north for the post-Christmas Modesto Christian Classic.
ORLEANS
Houston Christian 88, Irvine Crean Lutheran 84 (OT): The Mustangs won their consecutive game against Southern California-based competition (knocking off Roosevelt and Birmingham by two- and three-point margins Tuesday and Wednesday) in the first title game played at Bishop Gorman Thursday morning.
The Saints (7-4) came up short for a championship despite superb performances by the Bailey siblings, freshman Kaiden (38 points and seven assists) and senior Kenneth (16 points, with one of his four 3s, with four seconds to go, putting the game into overtime).
The Mustangs (16-2) were led by division Most Outstanding Player by one of the elite sophomore point guards in the southwest, 5-9 Montana Wheeler (whose brother, Sahvir, starts for the University of Kentucky).
Wheeler had 22 points and 12 assists.
BALLER TV
Augusta (GA) Christian 66, San Gabriel Academy 63: After taking an inbound pass with four seconds remaining, Braylen Smith pushed up an on-the run, 35-footer from the right side with the ball leaving his hand just a tic before the buzzer.
Swish.
SGA, which trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, had rallied down the stretch behind the shooting of Jayden Mojica (23) who, after being fouled while attempting a 3, hit two of the three free throws to tie the score.
But, instead of going into overtime, the Eagles had to settle for consolation hardware, five days before their Tuesday morning, Classic at Damien Division game against St. Monica.
Junior guard D.J. Shine led the team from Georgia with 25 points to earn division Most Outstanding player.
CAPTAIN U
Meridian (ID) Mountain View 72, Lawndale (CA) Leuzinger 48: The Olympians (8-3) saw their four-game winning streak, but seniors Amire Jones and Rashawn Carr took all-tourney plaques with them on the drive back to Southern California.
Coach Arturo Jones’ squad is back in action Monday morning (11 o’clock) with a Classic at Damien Bronze Division game against San Diego.
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