UNION CITY – The tears were falling and the hugs plentiful for James Logan on Tuesday night, as the Colts defeated Branson 54-49 in the CIF NorCal Regional Final, their second such title in three years. Malcolm Steadman scored 17 points for top-seed Logan (27-6), and the Thompson cousins – Brett and Brah’jon – each had a huge fourth quarter in which the Colts had to push back a never-say-die Bulls team.
“Stops, stops, stops, stops,” Logan coach Mel Easley said when asked about the keys to the win. “I knew if we could win the defensive battle we were definitely going to win that game.”
“They have a will to win,” Branson coach Jonas Honick said about his team. “We were one shot away.”
Second-seeded Branson (31-3) has ridden the back of Viktor Rajkovic in the regionals, and its star had a solid outing with 20 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks, and two assists. But it was subdued compared to his averages of 31.5 points and 15.5 boards through the first two NorCal wins, and the credit for that goes to Logan’s stingy defense, which often double-teamed and even triple-teamed the 6’5” senior. The Colts wasted no time in setting the defensive tone, as they swatted away two Rajkovic shots in the first quarter and for most of the game collapsed on him anytime he got near the hoop.
“We watched film all week on (Rajkovic),” Steadman commented. “If we take him off you cut the head off the snake.”
Kwentyn Wiggins provided a much-needed second option offensively with 14 points, and Will Jacobsen tacked on another nine for the Bulls. The Colts’ Steadman did all his damage in the first three quarters, and by the final buzzer there was no doubt who the difference-makers were: Thompson and Thompson.
Brett had a three-pointer to start the fourth, a big steal in which he called a timeout just before careening out of bounds on the play, and a three-point play halfway through the quarter that gave Logan a 44-42 lead. He finished with 14 for the game, with three three-pointers. Steadman had the other three from deep for the Colts, while Branson struck from downtown only once.
Brah’jon had eight of his 15 points in the last three minutes of the fourth, including a three-point play at the 1:28 mark that gave Logan a 49-48 lead. After a missed three and a foul by Branson, he sank a free throw with 1:04 left, and after a free throw by Wiggins, a bank shot on a drive with 23 seconds remaining that gave Logan a 52-49 advantage.
On the final sequence, Wiggins missed from downtown and Hawkins grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 7.9 seconds left. He made both attempts from the foul line, and all Branson could do was get it downcourt, heave up a three, and then watch Brett Thompson grab the rebound and throw it in the air as he galloped to meet his celebrating teammates at midcourt.
“Ever since I came out the womb I’ve been playing all three sports and wanted to win a championship” Brett Thompson remarked. “Branson, they’re a tough team. They didn’t get rattled.”
Both teams started off cold, with the first score coming at 5:32 remaining and Logan up 7-0 at the halfway mark of the first. Up 9-7 to start the second, the Colts lead didn’t stick, and the teams were tied at 19 at halftime. Neither team was efficient from deep, and in the third – which ended with a Hawkins layup to make it 37-31 Logan – the Colts made a noticeable effort to take it to the paint.
“We regrouped at halftime, came out and was ‘Okay, since our three’s not falling let’s start attacking the basket’,” Brett Thompson added.
But Rajkovic heated up, forging an 11-1 run, and gave Branson its final lead of the game at 48-46 with 2:27 to go. A minute later Brah’jon started his six-point flurry to send the Colts to Sacramento.
Logan’s victory comes two years after the Colts were a #3 seed and defeated Palo Alto in the NorCal final before falling to Roosevelt in the State Championship. That was a senior-heavy squad though Hawkins, then a sophomore, had 13 against Roosevelt.
Logan lost this season’s NCS Division I championship to De La Salle, a game in which Brah’jon Thompson scored 28 points but was limited in the fourth quarter due to foul trouble. This time, Brah’jon – or any other player for that matter – stayed out of the danger of picking up five whistles.
Branson, which swept the NCS Division IV playoffs convincingly, won the NCS Division V crown the year prior to falling in the Division III CIF Regional quarterfinals. The Bulls fared even better in 2017, when they also captured the NCS Division V title and went as far as the CIF Regional semifinals.
“We were expected to be where we were today,” Rajkovic said, noting that after the Gridley tournament the team made a pact to “run the table.”
Branson had a good showing in the stands for this most interesting of matchups, as the Colts’ student population is greater than that of the entire town of Ross, from which the Bulls hail. Logan is a public school with an enrollment of about 3800 in a city of 73,000, while Branson is a private school with an enrollment of 320 in a city of approximately 2,500.
“Everybody knows each other,” Honick stated about Branson as a school. “It’s a small community. The kids will get a lot of support tomorrow.”
James Logan now has just a few days to prepare for its State title bout with Chino Hills, the sixth seed out of the South.
