Ben Kone isn’t going to get the fairy tale ending he was hoping for.
The Archbishop Mitty High senior basketball player found out Wednesday afternoon that he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament (commonly known as ACL) ending his season and his playing career for the Monarchs. Monarchs coach Tim Kennedy conveyed the news to the San Jose Mercury on Wednesday.
Kone, a 6-foot-8 forward and Oregon State signee, hurt his knee in a game against St. Ignatius on Friday night.
Kone was present for Tuesday night’s game against St. Francis but arrived to the gym on crutches and said he would find out the results from the MRI on Wednesday.
After leading Mitty to the 2014-15 California Interscholastic Federation State Division II title game last season expectations were high this season for the Monarchs.
After falling 71-70 in double overtime to La Mirada for the CIF State D-II title in Berkeley, Mitty was primed to vie for West Catholic Athletic League and Central Coast Section Open Division titles and make a run for a a CIF-State Open title.
Things haven’t worked out so well for Mitty since then.
Kone’s then-teammate Sebastian Much, who missed most of last season but showcased flashes of brilliance in the Monarchs NorCal and state playoff run, moved back to Orange County early this school year when Much’s mother got a new job.
Much — a 6-7 sharp shooting forward — is averaging 18.8 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists this year for JSerra Catholic in San Juan Capistrano.
It wasn’t seen often but when Much was paired with Kone it gave the Monarchs the best 1-2 punch in the entire CCS.
With Much gone it left Kone, the 2014-15 Prep2Prep CCS player of the year and WCAL MVP, to shoulder much of the load.
Kone was game and having already committed and signed to play for the Beavers in Corvallis, was ready to lead the Monarchs.
Mitty once again took on a difficult non-league slate, arguably the toughest in the section playing in tournaments such as the Father Barry Tournament in Sacramento as well as the Torrey Pines Tournament in San Diego. The Monarchs battled for a 5-5 non-league record.
The Monarchs started 4-2 in WCAL play, this before falling to St. Francis, the No. 1 ranked team in the Prep2Prep CCS top 25, 62-60 without Kone and fellow starting forward Nick LaBruna.
Kone had hopes of winning a state title for the Monarchs when he transferred from Salesian High in Richmond after his freshman year.
During his sophomore year he garnered all-WCAL second-team honors on a team that captured the WCAL and CCS Open Division titles before falling to Capital Christian in the CIF State NorCal Open Division semifinals.
He is scheduled to have surgery in mid-February and will begin his rehab shortly after.
The rehab will be tough but work ethic will not be an issue for Kone who had made it a habit of having early morning workouts and training sessions before school bell even rings.
While Kone will ultimately come up short in reaching his biggest goal of winning a state title at Mitty he won’t when it comes to getting back to 100 percent and playing at Oregon State.
“I’ll be back and better than ever,” Kone said in a text message Wednesday afternoon.
Ryan Silapan can be reached at rsilapan@prep2prep.com and followed on Twitter @RyanSilapan
