BELLFLOWER – It took only about 75 minutes into their senior seasons for Christian Collins and Josiah Johnson to remind those in the St. John Bosco Gymnasium Tuesday night why they are two of the best players anywhere in high school basketball.
The 6-foot-9 Collins scored 35 points – 27 of those after intermission – to go with 13 rebounds and two blocks for the host Braves.
And the 6-4 Johnson was every bit as dynamic and productive for the Monsoons, via 25 points (including four consecutive 3-point jumpers in the fourth quarter) with eight assists, six rebounds and two spectacular blocked shots of his own.
Appropriately, the game’s final possession started with Collins defending Johnson when the ball was inbounded with 12 seconds to go.
And St. John Bosco didn’t secure the 68-66 victory until Johnson failed to convert on a high-degree-of-difficulty, reverse layup attempt from along the right baseline just before the buzzer sounded.
Afterward Collins – who, like Johnson, could be announcing his college choice before too long – said he had pleaded with Coach Matt Dunn throughout the game to guard the high-octane Johnson.
“He told me he didn’t want to take a chance on me getting into foul trouble,” Collins added.
But when Johnson – who hadn’t hit anything from beyond about 15 feet going into the final quarter – pulled up off his dribble from well behind the arc and swished those four consecutive shots against competitive but smaller defenders, Dunn relented during that final timeout.
“When we were watching film (of Mayfair and Johnson), he wasn’t doing that (hitting 3s),” said Collins (pictured/left).
Collins got into a wide stance and lined up against Johnson (pictured/right) after the Monsoons’ point guard caught the inbound passe (delivered from just in front of the Mayfair bench) near the right side, about 10 feet beyond the top of the key.
Collins took away Johnson’s line of vision for a clean 3, forcing him to drive from the wing into the right baseline, into congestion and with Collins trailing.
“I couldn’t get a good look (at the rim),” Johnson said afterward, who frequently soars well above the iron for either-hand slams – he’s right-handed but passes and dunks just as often with his left hand.
Dunn, whose team is set to take on Harvard-Westlake Saturday night at UCLA in the Mission-Trinity League Challenge, said he couldn’t recall seeing Johnson play in person before Tuesday night.
Seeing was believing.
“He’s really good,” Dunn said. “Those were hard 3s he hit. Both guys (Collins and Johnson) were magnificent tonight.”
Each squad got key contributions from the stars’ teammates in a game in which the difference was never more than eight points (the Monsoons led 29-21 in the second quarter).
Senior Gavin Dean-Moss – a friend of Johnson’s since they were elementary school-aged teammates – had 12 points and four assists in his de facto debut as the Braves’ starting point guard, while senior forward Max Ellis got all 12 of his points from behind the arc.
Senior guard Marcus Valdez added 11 points for the Monsoons (including two first-quarter 3s set up by Johnson’s left-handed passes zipping into his shooting pocket) and sophomore forward Amon Boykin chipped in with nine points and six rebounds.
Mayfair Coach Donnell Meekins saw a boatload of positives that outweighed the disappointment of the narrow loss to one of the region’s preeminent powers.
“We will get a lot better when we get our other two best players on the floor,” he said, alluding to transfers who didn’t suit up Tuesday night, guard Ace Simon (L.A. Price) and 6-8 Ismail Abdul-Rahman (Millikan).
He expects Simon to be cleared by the CIF Southern Section office “soon” while Abdul-Rahman is serving a SOP (Sit Out Period) that doesn’t conclude until Dec. 26.
Both squads will play in the ninth Classic at Damien (Dec. 26-30) .
The Braves will also be deeper by then as they are awaiting CIF SS clearance for 6-5, Corona Centennial senior transfer Tariq Iscandari.
Based upon his performance with the program in the summer and fall, he’s expected to start or get “starters’ minutes” when he’s eligible.
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