MORAGA, Calif. — It took until the last of the seven games at the 23rd MaxPreps/De La Salle Martin Luther King Jr. Classic to have one of the down-to-the-wire finishes the annual event has been known for, but fans who stuck it out until the tail end were in for a treat.
Jalen Lewis, a 6-foot-8 freshman sensation for Bishop O’Dowd, made his first big splash at the event, in which the Dragons are an annual participant, with a jumper from the free throw line with five seconds left to give his team a 50-49 win over Campolindo in the event’s nightcap.
“I knew there were a lot of college coaches here. A lot of people had eyes on this game,” Lewis said of his performance in the event, which has been graced in past years by players such as Aaron Gordon, Cassius Stanley and Jalen Green. “That play was meant for me to curl for a layup, but they were clogging the key so I had to pop out.”
Lewis’ heroics upstaged the efforts of Cougars sophomore Aidan Mahaney, who was limited to nine points but hit a 3-pointer to retake the lead after O’Dowd had come back from a nine-point deficit. Mahaney aso had the final basket of a foul-filled third quarter to put Campolindo (13-5) up 39-30, and a pair of Emmanuel Callas free throws with 7:01 left to answer two from Marsalis Roberson had the team playing in its own backyard at Saint Mary’s University Credit Union Pavilion (formerly known as McKeon Pavilion) sitting pretty.
In a game where the teams combined to commit 42 fouls, the Dragons took advantage of the quick whistles, using and-1s by both Lewis and Cal commit Monty Bowser, who scored 14 points in front of future head coach Mark Fox, to draw even at 42. Roberson would then hit a mid-range jumper to put Bishop O’Dowd (10-7) ahead for the first time since the early stages of the second quarter, but Mahaney’s 3-pointer after Matt Radell rebounded his own miss put the Cougars back on top. Callas sliced through the defense to make it 47-44, but Bowser, who made six of his seven attempts at the line, sank two with 2:20 left.
Neither team was excellent on free throws, with O’Dowd going 12-for-20 and Campo hitting just 6-of-14, making the constant fouls called throughout the second half all the more exasperating. Callas split a pair of with 1:56 left, and Taj Phillips, one of the smallest men on the court at 5-foot-9, found an open Roberson to retie the game. Chase Bennett, one of Saint Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett’s two sons to play for the Cougars, put his team back on top by making a free throw with 1:11 left, and after sitting on the receiving end of some questionable calls throughout the night, Campolindo caught a massive break with 49.2 left as Roberson missed two free throws, with the second clearly deflecting off Radell before going out of bounds yet being awarded to the Cougars.
Even with the gift, they still couldn’t put the game away. Roberson, who had 12 points and 13 rebounds, grabbed a tipped ball with 22.8 left, and after head coach Lou Richie called timeout, the Dragons went to work. Roberson stood on the wing and passed to a rolling Lewis, who took the ball at the free throw line and made his shot with five seconds left. The Cougars neglected to use their final timeout and wouldn’t even get off one last shot as Roberson knocked the ball away, giving the Dragons a rare chance to celebrate a close win.
“Four of our losses have been under four points, so it’s nice that we’re starting to win the close ones,” Richie said.
They won a close one on Monday night in Moraga despite dealing with Campolindo’s frustrating style. For all the talent the Cougars have, they thrive on the defensive end rather than simply trying to outscore teams and wow crowds with firepower. They had assists on 13 of their 20 baskets, with Carter Mahaney, Aidan’s older brother and a Northern Arizona commit, dishing out six of them.
“They do such a good job of holding on to the ball until the end of the shot clock, and they get what they want,” Richie explained.
While many talented players would overcompensate for the frustration by going out of control and trying to play hero ball, Lewis did nothing of the sort, maintaining his composure the entire way en route to a team-high 15 points.
“They’re protecting the perimeter really well, they’re smashing down and doubling in the post so I can’t make an easy post move,” the articulate freshman said.
He and Radell each finished with 15 while each team’s role players also combined to largely even each other out. While Bennett hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter, Cade Ronzone came off the bench to make key plays for the Dragons on the defensive end, with an early steal and charge.
“Whatever they need me to do, I’ll step in and do what we’ve got to do to win,” said Ronzone, a member of one of the four sets of siblings to appear in the game. He and his brother Cade play for O’Dowd, while Campolindo has three sets of brothers, including the Mahaneys. “It’s plays like those that win the game. In a one-possession game, that charge comes out in the end.”
Callas finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Carter scored eight in front of interim NAU head coach Shane Burcar, but the Dragons had their three top players in double-figures, including Lewis, who showed why there’s as much buzz surrounding him as Ivan Rabb, who graduated from O’Dowd in 2015 after winning a CIF Open Division Championship.
De La Salle 56, Central Catholic-Portland 47
De La Salle may have used a short bench on Monday afternoon, but one of the two reserves who did see the floor provided the necessary spark to power the Spartans to a 56-47 win over Central Catholic-Portland.
After holding the Rams without a field goal for the first 10 minutes and 39 seconds, the Spartans found themselves looking at a seven-point deficit in the third after sophomore Luke Johnson had provided a spark for Central Catholic (8-5). The 6-foot-7 forward had helped his team back into the game with seven points in the second quarter, then hit a three early in the third, and with junior guard Darius Gakwasi scoring a quick six points, the Rams led 30-23.
That’s when Alonzo Washington answered the call for the Spartans. The Pittsburg transfer had a modest stat line of nine points, three rebounds and three assists, but he made an impact at the most essential of times to lead De La Salle (13-4) to victory. He had consecutive assists on a Chris Bunch basket and Miles Daniels three, then scored on consecutive possessions to tie the game at 33. Daniels then blocked a shot at one end and laid it in at the other as Noah Clifford picked up his second consecutive assist to put the Spartans ahead entering the fourth.
Clifford, like Washington, didn’t have a huge day in terms of scoring but was involved in all sorts of key moments. The hulking 6-foot-6, 240-pound sophomore didn’t put the ball in the hoop until the final minutes but had seven rebounds and four assists, including the helper on the latter of Jack Byers’ two fourth-quarter threes to give DLS a 45-39 lead. Before that, Washington had put the Spartans up four with a putback.
“He’s been unbelievable,” head coach Justin Argenal said of Washington’s impact. “He adds a different dimension in regards to toughness and competitiveness that we definitely need. He’s gonna bring that every day.”
The Rams would fight back to tie the game at 39 on baskets by Gakwasi and sophomore Jordan King, but the Spartans would take control on Byers’ second and third 3-pointers of the day.
Byers scored 12 while Bunch and Daniels each finished with 14. Gakwasi had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead Central Catholic, with Johnson right behind at 12 points and seven boards. DeRay Seamster scored 10 for the Rams, who fell to 0-3 against out-of-state teams. They previously lost to Mater Dei and Bishop Gorman.
Dublin 64, Modesto Christian 49
Don’t tell the Dublin Gaels they’re just a 3-point shooting team.
Yes, Tom Costello’s squad did connect eight times from long range in a 64-49 win over Modesto Christian, including four in the final quarter to pull away, but the Gaels managed to outrebound the Crusaders 18-8 on the offensive glass and 40-29 overall to snap a two-game losing streak.
Yes, 6-foot-8 Cal State Northridge commit Alex Merkviladze was a force for Modesto Christian (13-6), but the native of Georgia scored eight of his team-high 14 points in the first quarter and was hardly given any chances in the paint after that as the Gaels were the ones to dominate the glass despite facing the Crusaders’ twin towers. Junior Chris Fan, also at 6-8, did have a team-high seven rebounds, but only one came on the offensive glass as he stationed himself out high, where he was unable to crash the boards. Instead, the game’s top rebounder was Dublin’s 6-1 guard, Devon Jackson, who also scored 13 points.
Anthony Roy led the way for the Gaels with 15, scoring 10 in the second half to help Dublin (14-4) pull away after taking a 27-26 lead into the break on one of those 18 offensive boards, a Jalen Pierce putback. Pierce, who saw increased playing time to match up with Fan and Merkviladze, had six points, with four of his five rebounds coming on the offensive end. His final putback gave the Gaels a 49-40 lead, and a Roy 3-pointer on the next possession would put Dublin ahead by double-digits for the first time. Roy would add another five points to answer a 3-pointer from Jaden Phillips, and the lead would balloon to as large as 16 in the final minutes.
Michael Pearson finished with 12 for Modesto Christian while sophomore Oziyah Sellers added nine.
Weston Ranch 65, Moreau Catholic 53
Junior guards Mi’Son Coilton and Donjae’ Lindsey each scored 21 points to lead Weston Ranch, but perhaps it was what happened when the two weren’t on the floor that helped lead the Cougars to a 65-53 victory over Moreau Catholic.
Having previously only rotated in eight players most nights and with their bench limited by an injury to freshman Kodey Weary, head coach Chris Teevan pulled up a pair of freshmen from the JV team and got key minutes from both Elijah and Elliot Mobley in their varsity debuts to keep the starters fresh.
“It allowed us to get into foul trouble and to give people some breaks,” Teevan said. “We just have guys getting comfortable in their roles, and once you do that you stop thinking about playing basketball and just start making plays.”
The newfound depth helped Weston Ranch (10-10) ensure the Mariners never made their signature second-half push, something they’ve been apt to do for years, including a buzzer-beater win at last year’s event. Lindsey got the first four points of the third quarter to open up a 35-25 lead, and when Moreau Catholic (10-7) answered with baskets from both Johnathan Langford and Trey Knight, the Cougars dug in and handled the challenge. Lindsey came up with a huge block, Gavin Wilburn scored two of his seven points a minute later and Lindsey came through to score again after a Coilton block to push the lead back to ten, all while holding the Mariners to just two points in a four-minute stretch, a welcomed change of pace for Teevan.
“We’re a really bad third quarter team,” the eighth-year head coach said.
Moreau would never get closer than eight the rest of the way and the lead grew as large as 14 in the fourth, with Jordahn Johnson scoring the last of his 13 points off a full-court inbound pass from Coilton to break the press. Johnson finished a rebound shy of a double-double, while Knight led MC with 17 points. Fellow junior DJ Johnson added eight for the Mariners, who lost for the first time in their six appearances at the event.
Damien 79, St. Patrick-St. Vincent 60
A back-and-forth first half gave way to a dominant final two quarters as the Damien Spartans pulled away down the stretch to defeat the St. Patrick-St. Vincent Bruins, 79-60.
Spartans point guard Malik Thomas picked up his third foul with 26 seconds left in the first half but only seemed to grow stronger in the fact of adversity, scoring 16 of his game-high 26 in the second half to help Damien (17-5) pull away. St. Patrick-St. Vincent (12-7) took a 39-38 lead a minute into the second half on two of Jaden Alexander’s 16 points, but Thomas would kickstart a 14-1 run that would put the game firmly in the hands of the squad from Los Angeles. A junior who’s rated as just a 2-Star recruit by Verbal Commits but is considered a high 4-Star by 247Sports.com and Rivals.com, Thomas looked much more like the player befitting of such high honors on Monday afternoon, knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers off Bradley Xie assists early in the fourth to help his team pull away after the Bruins had gotten within eight.
DJ Jackson had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Bruins but made just one of seven free throw attempts, while Alexander finished a rebound shy of a double-double. Jalen Scott added 13 points for SPSV, with three 3-pointers in the first half, but sophomore RJ Smith had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Damien. The Spartans also got 15 points from Austin Cook, their lone senior to see any minutes before the game was out of reach.
Salesian 50, Pacifica Christian 35
Visiting from Orange County, the Pacifica Christian Tritons left the Bay Area bruised, battered and beaten, all thanks to the efforts of one Te’Jon Sawyer.
The 6-foot-8 senior filled up the stat sheet with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds as the Salesian Pride rolled to a 50-35 win, suffocating the Tritons on defense until calling off the dogs in the fourth quarter. Salesian (15-3) was well in control by the time Shane Bell threw down an alley-oop from Austin Johnson in the second quarter, taking a 31-13 lead into the break, and back-to-back dunks by Demarshay Johnson made it 41-19 late in the third, with Bell delivering the alley-oop on the latter of the slams. Charles Erving led Pacifica Christian (15-6) with 10 points and Houston Mallette added nine.
Capital Christian 60, Riverside Poly 43
Entering the day averaging 72.8 points per game and having only three losses on their ledger, all to strong opponents, the Riverside Poly Bears came into Monday with tremendous buzz, but it was the Capital Christian Cougars who stole the day, allowing a season-low point total to the Southern California representatives in a convincing 60-43 win.
An 18-4 second quarter gave Capital Christian (13-7) a 31-19 halftime lead, and the Cougars hardly even checked the rearview mirror the rest of the way, stretching the lead to as much as 20. Sophomore Darrion Williams had 15 points and 15 rebounds to lead the victors, who have just two seniors on the roster. Caden Flowers knocked down a trio of 3-pointers as one of 11 different players to score for the Sacramento powerhouse, while San Diego State commit Lamont Butler led Riverside Poly (17-4) with 13 points and Derek Rubidoux finished with nine.
