SAN FRANCISCO — Colby Brooks scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half as the Loyola Cubs overcame a 14-point second quarter deficit, trailing for all but the final 5:06 of the game in a come-from-behind 56-50 win over the Monte Vista Mustangs in the semifinals of the 44th Leo LaRocca Sand Dune Classic.
Trailing 30-16 after a Jason Lai 3-pointer with a minute left in the second quarter, Loyola (13-3) went into the half with momentum on a Remington Rofer 3-pointer and Andre Parris putback, a sequence that Monte Vista head coach nick Jones was quick to point to following the game.
“The end of the first quarter and the end of the second quarter were not good,” he said. “The end of the first quarter was on me, we tried to get cute there.”
Monte Vista (5-5) led 8-0 after early threes by Anthony Santa Maria and Lai and held a 17-12 advantage after a quarter, a gap that would have been larger if not for a turnover and Jack Kreisch lay-in. Kresich scored seven of his 11 in the first half, while the second half belonged to Brooks.
“He was a load,” Jones said.
Brooks hit a 3-pointer to answer a Noah Rivas basket as Loyola cut the lead to 33-29, then converted a 3-point play to get the Cubs within two with 1:25 left in the quarter. Sophomore Jalen Cox hit a 3-pointer off a Grant Roquemore offensive rebound to make it a 42-41 game with seven minutes left, and Brooks would answer a Lai 3-pointer to ensure the Mustangs wouldn’t grab any momentum. Cox, who scored just five points but was lauded by head coach Jamal Adams for his defensive efforts, gave Loyola the lead for the first time with a pair of free throws, and Monte Vista would score just five points the rest of the way, with three coming on a desperation three by Lai, who scored a game-high 22, to make it 54-50 with 11.6 seconds left.
“They cranked up the pressure, took us out of our sets and overwhelmed us a bit with their size and length,” Jones said of Loyola’s second half defense.
The Cubs outscored Monte Vista in the fourth on free throws alone, going 10-for-10 at the charity stripe in the quarter and 15-of-17 for the game. Brooks got fouled on an offensive rebound with 1:58 left to knock Santa Maria out of the game as he collected five of his eight rebounds over the final four minutes of the game.
“This team isn’t like last year, where we could score easily. When we guard and get turnovers, that’s our best offense we’ve got, in transition,” Adams said. “I didn’t think we came out and matched their energy and intensity.”
The Cubs not only forced turnovers, they limited Monte Vista point guard Nate Rutchena to just three points, covering the Cal football commit for the entirety of the game.
“We had size, and we wanted that to be the deterrent,” Adams explained.
With Rutchena facing tight defense, Rivas and Connor Stechschulte each scored seven, while Parris finished with nine for the Cubs and Rofer had seven off the bench, including four free throws in the fourth quarter.
Menlo-Atherton 64, Mission 42
Menlo-Atherton head coach Mike Molieri didn’t mince any words when criticizing his team’s defensive effort in losses to Bellarmine and Mitty, but the three games since have been far stronger on the defensive front, with his Bears never allowing more than 13 points in a quarter on Friday in a 64-42 win over Mission.
“Definitely a lot better,” he said. “I’m still getting a feel for this team, and that’s something I have to take responsibility for to figure out this group and get them on the same page.”
Though Menlo-Atherton (5-3) managed to force a mind-boggling 35 turnovers, Mission was able to hang around until a 19-3 run to close the game. M-A never trailed and only saw the score tied once after the game’s opening minute, but Mission (3-9) tied the game with two minutes left in the second on a putback. Nick Tripaldi got the next five points, draining one of his four 3-pointers from the corner, and after Mission responded on a Reggie Torno three, JD Carson got a steal and layup to make it 26-22 heading into the break. Two of Skyler Thomas’ 12 points opened the lead to 36-26 in the third, but Mission got back to within six with 6:19 left on a pair of Cohn free throws.
M-A would kick it into another gear for the rest of the game, going back up by 10 on a Carson and-1 and getting the last of Tripaldi’s game-high 16 points on another three. Thomas, who had a game-high seven steals, scored on back-to-back possessions to stretch the lead to 17, and after the benches were emptied, Will Hultgren would get four points to crate the final margin.
Justin Anderson scored nine for M-A and Carson finished with eight, with the two football players each gathering five steals. Trevor Wargo scored 13, while Julian Neal led Mission with 12 points. Cohn had nine points and nine rebounds.
“Turnovers continue to be an issue for us,” Mission head coach Arnold Zelaya said. “We need to get better and figure things out in a hurry.”
