ORINDA, Calif. — Aidan Mahaney may not have shown it, but he was playing on Monday night with a chip on his shoulder.
Having missed late free throws that would have tied the game in a home loss to Miramonte a year ago, the Campolindo sophomore was out on a mission to complete the rivalry season sweep that his team couldn’t grab in his freshman season.
He had a pair of pivotal steals in the final minutes, knocking down the go-ahead three with 1:35 left off the first and ending the game with the second as his Cougars held on for a 50-48 road win to stay unbeaten in DAL Foothill play.
“That stuck with me,” Mahaney said of the prior year’s failure. “I’ve been preparing myself my whole life to step up to these big stages.”
After watching the Matadors erase an 11-point third quarter deficit, Mahaney, with his heart pounding but expression and body language unchanging, delivered the plays that the Cougars needed to win what had become a back-and-forth game.
He scored 10 of his 15 in the first half, and with sophomore center Matt Radell’s nine points, Campolindo (18-5, 9-0 DAL Foothill) had jumped out to a 28-19 halftime lead, but after Radell got the opening basket of the third quarter, the tides turned. A pair of Matt Meredith threes would spark an 18-6 Miramonte run, with Quenton Breznikar giving the Matadors the lead on a transition layup. That was the first of five lead changes in the final two minutes of the quarter, with Meredith’s short jumper putting Miramonte (12-10, 4-4) up 41-40 just before the buzzer.
After a Radell layup and free throw, Chris Watson would score five straight to put the Matadors up 46-43, and they’d have a chance to go up more but fail to capitalize as a Meredith 3-pointer and Niyi Olabode putback both rimmed out. The Mahaney brothers took the opportunity and ran with it, with Carter, the senior committed to Northern Arizona, scoring his first points in a week to cut the lead to one by scoring over the much taller Olabode.
“I just practice those moments,” said Carter, who had missed the prior two games with a torn ligament in his wrist and didn’t score until the fourth on Monday, but made all four of his points count. “I love hitting the big shot.”
The Cougars would come up empty on their first bid to take the lead, but Aidan would come up with a steal and pull up for a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:35 left, a perfect shot that deserved a Mike Breen “BANG!” to punctuate the moment. Miramonte would get a fresh shot clock on an Emmanuel Callas foul with six seconds left in the possession but turn it over on a travel with 48.4 left, and it was Carter who gave Campo a two-score lead on another jumper over a defender with 12.7 remaining.
Miramonte would do everything right in the final seconds to have a chance to tie, with the last of Meredith’s game-high 17 points on a layup with 7.8 seconds left. Breznikar would give the team’s sixth foul just eight-tenths of a second later, and Cade Bennett was sent to the line with 6.0 remaining, but he’d miss the front end of the 1-and-1. Meredith drove into the lane with hopes of tying the game, but Aidan poked the ball free and Carter picked it up, dribbling out the final seconds to clinch the victory.
It’s the type of loss that’s not an easy one for the Matadors to swallow, but just three weeks after the Cougars beat them handily at home, first-year head coach Chris Lavdiotis, who turned heads with his outfit on Monday night, is keeping perspective.
“We’re playing so much better now than we were three weeks ago,” he said. “The goal is to win the North Coast Section, and we’re good enough to do it. We’re really getting there. Our practices have become really focused, really intense, very competitive. Yes, it would be nice to beat Campolindo, but the goal is bigger than that.”
Miramonte will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the Division III field when the playoffs commence in two weeks with Meredith, who had a game-high 10 rebounds to finish off a double-double, leading the way. Watson scored 12 and twin brother Nick added eight, with six in a third quarter where the Matadors scored 22 to more than double their first-half output. Meredith had 10 in that quarter after a modest five in the first half.
Before the game-changing 18-6 run, Campolindo was in control behind the strong play of both the younger Mahaney and Radell, who finished the night with 14 points and seven rebounds. A year ago, Radell was seeing fewer and fewer minutes as the season progressed, but he’s become far more comfortable in the post as a sophomore.
“I’m not the most skilled, big man out there so I try to make up for it by being as physical as possible,” Radell said. "I’ve noticed that being a center, you have to be really physical to be able to compete at this level.”
He and Emmanuel Callas were in sync in the second quarter, where the two combined for all of the points in a 10-0 run to take a nine-point lead after a Chris Watson and-1 had put Miramonte up 17-16.
“I think our high-low action is really good, and that’s how we get a lot of our easy points,” Radell said of his chemistry with Callas, who scored 10 on the night.
Both teams will be back in action Wednesday as they continue three-game weeks. Miramonte will host Las Lomas (15-7, 4-5) after the Knights pulled off a Monday night upset win over Clayton Valley that puts Campolindo clear of the Ugly Eagles by two-and-a-half games. The Cougars will be making the short trip to Lafayette to face Acalanes (15-8, 3-6).
