The youth and inexperience still shows at times for the Bishop Montgomery boys basketball and that’s expected with three freshmen in the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against Long Beach Poly.
Despite that, the Knights managed to find a way to make key plays, leading to a 47-46 overtime win at the Ryse Williams Pac Shores at Redondo High.
“It was a good gritty win,” Bishop Montgomery coach Doug Mitchell said. “Cameron (Brewer) was feeling sick, Christian Hall tweeked his back early in the game, he wasn’t feeling good …I just thought we showed some grit.”
The Knights trailed after the first period (12-6), but led at halftime (20-19). Late in the third quarter, the Knights took a 30-24 lead, but it was gone before the quarter ended.
In the fourth period, the Knights took a 37-35 lead on a mid-range jumper by Sharif Ford. However, it was Poly who had the lead at 41-39 as time started to tick away. With less than 30 seconds remaining, the Knights’ sophomore center Eric Gong scored a tough basket to tie the game at 41-41, eventually sending it into overtime.
In the extra period, the Knights’ freshman Tarron Williams scored the opening basket and from there, the “veterans” Hall and Denis Woods, both juniors, knocked down free throws to hold on for the win.
Another promising aspect of the win is that it followed Thursday’s loss against Pacifica Christian, also at Redondo.
“They (the freshmen) are getting better,” Mitchell said. “I’m happy that they got this win tonight because we’re starting to figure some stuff out. We played better tonight, we’re not playing well, but we’re playing better.”
Tarron Williams led the Knights with 12 points and his brother Terron had 10. Gong, who was recently cleared after a foot injury, scored 11.
“He had two games this week and he didn’t really start practicing full scale until Monday,” Mitchell said. “He was cleared two weeks ago. He’s not in good shape yet, but he’s young and he’s going to make a difference.”
ST. ANTHONY 84, LEUZINGER 61: Joshua Garland scored 15 points to lead the Olympians at the Ryse Williams Pac Shores at Redondo. Da’mari Taylor had 11 for the Olympians (2-2).Friday, Leuzinger defeated Hart 58-57, led by Malachi Knight’s 17 points, Darrian Henry had 14 and Garland had 13.
ROLLING HILLS PREP 67, HAMILTON 43: Terell Hopkins led the Huskies with 14 in Friday’s win. Mateo Trujillo and Kawika Suter both turned in double-doubles. Trujillo had 13 points and 10 rebounds, along with seven assists. Suter had 12 points and 12 rebounds. He also had five assists. Nick Welch Jr. also scored 12 points.
VISTAMAR 51, WISH ACADEMY 33: Isaiah Hill scored 17 points and Justin Huebner and Caiden Chen had 13 and 12, respectively in the win.
Earlier in the week, Vistamar defeated Environmental Charter 56-45. Hill had 23 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Sebastian Eckstein has 12 points.