SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – There are near-countless examples of the outcome of a high school basketball game being more seismic than “just a win” or “just a loss”.
The Trinity League contest at JSerra was one of those games.
The host Lions, only within 10 points at intermission because senior guard Aidan Fowler scored a layup a second before the buzzer, turned in an electric second half and knocked off Mater Dei, 68-62.
The Monarchs came into South Orange County gymnasium as the top-ranked team in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30 and with overall and Trinity records of 21-1 and 6-0.
The Lions’ victory brought them to 20-4 and 4-3, with two losses to St. John Bosco, and one to Mater Dei when they met in the first round on Jan. 5 in Santa Ana.
The outcome will also impact the makeup and seeding of the CIF Southern Section’s, eight-team Open Division playoff field – to be announced by the CIF SS office in Los Alamitos at noon on Feb. 4.
The Lions’ victory moves the squad onto a much more manageable path to one of those eight bids than existed before Wednesday night.
The Fowler- and Sebastian Rancik-led team closes the regular season with games Friday at Orange Lutheran; Saturday, at Mater Dei’s XXIX Nike Extravaganza against San Diego power St. Augustine); and Trinity finales at Santa Margarita on Tuesday and home to Servite next Thursday.
Win all of those and few Open “resumes” will be better than the Lions will have built.
Coach Gary McKnight’s Monarchs, who won 15 in a row after their only other loss (Dec. 15, to Long Island Lutheran, in the Bahamas), can still win the league title – outright – by winning its final games: Friday night (home to Servite), Tuesday night (home to No. 6 St. John Bosco and Thursday night (at No. 18 Santa Margarita).
There’s also a Nike Extravaganza clash with No. 17 Los Alamitos Saturday that, via a victory, would also enhance the Monarchs’ Open “resume”.
OK.
Now, here’s why JSerra’s victory, propelled by the 36 points, four assists and two steals from the 5-foot-10 senior Fowler, was significant beyond the implications detailed above:
*The Wednesday night clash was the 36th varsity game played between the schools’ boys’ basketball programs.
JSerra – which began interscholastic athletic competition in 2004 before becoming a member of the Trinity League two years later – lost the first 35 of those.
Yeah, that’s right: the Lions took a 0-35 record against the Monarchs onto the floor Wednesday night.
*And . . . the Lions were playing without Head Coach Keith Wilkinson, serving the end of his six-game, CIF Southern Section-mandated suspension – resulting from the fourth-quarter demonstrative, on-court criticism of the officiating that led to two technical fouls and ejection in the Jan. 5 game at Mater Dei.
Per the CIF SS mandate, Wilkinson could still conduct practice sessions with the Lions but couldn’t be in the gymnasium during those six games.
The guy who served as the program’s “interim head coach” during that stretch?
It was 30-year-old C.J. Cooper, a CIF SS Player of the Year at La Verne Lutheran and a 2011-15 backcourt standout at University of Texas El Paso.
One of his assistants during his stint at UTEP under Head Coach Tim Floyd?
Keith Wilkinson.
“He was the first player I ever showed around UTEP on a recruiting visit,” said Wilkinson, a Capistrano Valley High and USC graduate (he played for the Trojans under Floyd) who was an assistant coach at UC Riverside before taking over at JSerra in 2018.
While Wilkinson watched the game – via a streaming service – with his family in their San Juan Capistrano home, it was on Cooper and the rest of his staff to navigate their players around a lot of metaphorical roadblocks Wednesday night.
They were going to be emotional, of course – even if Wilkinson was sitting on their bench.
But most importantly, they had to follow their gameplan, execute and stand firm against each challenge they faced against a team that returned six key players from the Monarchs’ CIF SS Division 1 winner last spring, and added the 2022-23 OC Player of the Year (Brandon Benjamin, via Canyon).
And the Lions checked all those boxes.
“We were focused and watched a lot of film (from the first meeting with Monarchs),” said the 6-9 Rancik (bound for the University of Colorado) after scoring nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, during which the Lions trailed by three points with a little more than four minutes remaining.
“We knew (if they were going to collect a victory – of both historical and in-time importance), we were going to have to prepare by working as hard as we can and be as focused as we can every minute of every practice.”
Usually remarkably on-target jump shooters Owen Verna and Luke Barnett missed a combined 12 of 15 shots (including six of seven from behind the arc) for the Monarchs Wednesday night – and several of those were of the clean, in-rhythm, wide-open variety.
And the Lions – a big part of the effort coming from 6-5, 235-pound freshman G.C. Eboigbodin, who snatched a game-high nine rebounds – were able to clog the territory in the lane, cutting the room for low-post, footwork-master Benjamin (eight points and only four rebounds in 23 minutes) to operate.
But 6-8 sophomore Brannon Martinsen (24 points, via eight of nine from the field – he was 3 of 3 behind the arc – and five of seven free throws) and 6-5 senior Scotty Belnap (16 points, including four 3s) were such effective scorers throughout, that it seemed as if the Monarchs would be able to get out of SJC with that streak at 36.
And that would have been the case, if not for the ball-handling, jump-shooting and dribble penetration for layups-mastery displayed by Fowler (pictured), Martinson’s chief competition in this O.C. Player of the Year race.
The 5-10 Fowler missed all eight of his shots in the first half of the Jan. 5 game at Mater Dei before scoring 18 points after intermission.
Belnap – with help from a multitude of teammates and multiple traps – turned in a determined defensive effort against Fowler Wednesday night.
But, with just a few exceptions, Fowler was able to utilize his strength, quickness, and savvy to navigate on-ball screens and get wherever he wanted to on the dribble – and convert any shot available.
He missed five field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter – 13 of 17 over three quarters, including three 3s – but hit a layup and all four of his free throws down the stretch.
As remarkable as the effort was, it was far from an aberration.
He scored 31 points (12 of 17 from the field, including five of six from behind the arc) in a double-overtime win over No. 2 Eastvale Roosevelt, at Redondo High, during a Nov. 28 Ryse Williams/Pac Shores matchup.
That was the one of the reasons the Lions were already in the hunt for an Open Division bid.
Wednesday night’s performance provided them with another – while making a bit of history, too, of course.
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