Although the Mitty Monarchs (23-5) trailed the Soquel Knights (20-7) until there was a minute left in regulation, they put up a strong final rally to win the game, 59-57. Mitty all-star Aaron Gordon served as the backbone and driving force behind his team, managing 27 points, five blocks and two dunks. No other Monarchs scored more than nine points, while Soquel had four sharpshooters that scored in double digits. Soquel also had 12 3-pointers compared to Mitty’s two.
“Soquel’s a heck of a team. They’re in the Open Division for a reason. People are saying they’re a cupcake coming in here, but that’s a heck of a team," Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. "They have great players, they have guys who can make plays, they can defend."
Soquel, which lost a very tight game against Bellarmine in the preseason, did not appear to be intimidated at all at the start.
“They were in attack mode and we were in a fog to start, so that was a big problem for us and then we woke up a little bit, were able to make plays down the stretch and pull out a victory," Kennedy said. "We turned up the heat a little bit [in the fourth], tried to pressure them just to get them playing fast, turn them over, and we were able to do that.”
Soquel led 57-55 with 1:10 left when Gordon tossed up a layup, missed, put back his own shot and sank it while drawing a foul. He made the free throw to put the Monarchs up 58-57.
With 40 seconds left, Mitty forward Brandon Abajelo forced a steal and drained some time. Soquel forward Lucas Cordoza came right back with a steal, which he dished to guard Tucker Wiget on the fast-break. Wiget missed the three and the Knights scrambled to recover. They got the ball back with 12 seconds left and Wiget got an open look at the right corner, but he missed the shot again and Abajelo nabbed the rebound, falling down with it and sealing the deal for the Monarchs.
Said Abajelo, “I was just hoping it was going to come out. I noticed that it was going to be an airball so I just had to go get it. The most important thing is we have to fight back and we have to keep playing. We can’t get down on ourselves.”
Soquel small forward Sam Walters started the game by draining a 3-pointer. Wiget followed up with a quick steal and a layup to put his team up 5-0. Mitty then went on a 9-0 run to put themselves ahead 9-5 midway through the first quarter, thanks in large part to Gordon, who had an impressive block at the three-point line followed by a breakaway slam dunk. But a long jumper from Soquel forward Scotty Akrop, a 3-pointer from guard Cody Valcarel and a three-point buzzer beater from Wiget allowed the Knights to take a 17-13 lead.
The Knights maintained that lead through three quarters, but Mitty came back four times to tie it in the fourth quarter before finally claiming the lead.
“We never doubt ourselves at all. We always think we’re going to come back and win,” said Gordon. “We came out complacent. They’re the eighth seed and we read it on paper, but teams are different live than they are on paper.”
Mitty’s Abajelo and Brandon Farrell each put up nine points. For the Knights, Wiget led his team with 15 points and three triples. Walters had 12 points and four 3-pointers. Cordoza had 12 points and Valcarel had 11.
The Monarchs advance to the CCS Open Division Semifinals to play Archbishop Riordan Wednesday at Independence High School. Soquel moves into the consolation bracket to play Palo Alto on Tuesday at Independence, but will also be back for NorCal playoffs.
Though his team pulled out a win, Kennedy wasn’t satisfied with the performance.
“As a coach, you’re never happy because you’re always going to find little things that you did wrong, and we had multiple things," Kennedy said. "We’re going to work on being ready to go right from the start, our defensive rotation, controlling dribble penetration and contesting threes. That was a big weakness tonight and they exposed us.”
