Sports

Mt. Miguel Boys Eliminated From CIF Hoops Playoffs

A stifling zone defense was the Matadors' downfall, as they fell behind in the first half and couldn't close the gap.

The Mount Miguel Matadors walked off of the floor of a raucous gymnasium at Mission Bay High School Wednesday night, heads down, knowing that in their biggest game of the season, they didn't play their best.

A pressure-packed zone defense and too many turnovers turned out to be Mount Miguel's downfall, as the lost 60-54 in the semifinals of the CIF Division III playoffs.

“Their zone kind of stifled us in the second quarter, we got in foul trouble too, and without one of our shooters on the floor, we just couldn’t score,” said Matadors head coach Jay Rowlett.

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Mount Miguel started quickly. They forced turnovers and rattled off an 8-0 run, which was capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Marcus Booker and Thomas Butler, to jump out to an early 12-4 lead in the first quarter. Mission Bay, however, responded with their own 8-1 run, and the lead quickly diminished.

The second quarter was where the game turned. Mount Miguel couldn't find any offensive continuity against the Bucs’ zone. Shots were forced, and there was not a lot of ball movement. When the Matadors would score, Mission Bay continued to push the tempo, easily beating a lackluster press defense and getting a few easy buckets.

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A breakaway dunk by C.J. Rayford and a driving layup by Jerald Albritton late in the first half pushed the Mission Bay lead to 39-27 at the break.

In the third quarter, the Matadors were able to force some turnovers, but missed on a few easy opportunities to score, and couldn't close the double-digit defecit.

“We weren't able to capitalize,” Rowlett said. “We just didn't score enough. We didn’t make the plays down the stretch we needed to. They made some. We didn’t.”

The Mission Bay lead got to as many as 14 with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter. Mount Miguel made a furious comeback, and looked to have a chance midway through the last frame. A big three by Booker closed the lead seven. That was followed by a steal and another Booker bomb to make it 55-51. But that was as close as the Matadors would get.

It was the last game for seniors Mohammud Abdi and Shakeel Hill. Abdi banked in a last-second three-pointer for the Matadors, making his final shot as a varsity player.

“They’ve been a pleasant surprise,” said Rowlett of his seniors. “They are both first-year varsity players. I mean, we got Mohamud off the dang street (figuratively) in intramural ball at the school. For him to be where he is now, he came a long way. Shakeel the same way. He’s a defender and rebounder. They did their roles.”

Rowlett said the team accomplished two of their three goals: winning 20 games and winning the Grossmont League. But they fell short of winning CIF. They finished the season 22-8. Still, there is a lot of talent coming back to Mount Miguel next year, and Rowlett said the goals will be the same.

“The worst part is there’s no practice tomorrow, but these guys are a good solid group,” he said. “Yeah, we got a lot of people coming back. Our goals won’t change. I mean, we graduated six last year and our goals didn’t change. We just came up a game short of our third goal. We’ll get back at it next year.”

Mount Miguel     15     12     10     17  –  54
Mission Bay        12     27     10     11  –  60

Mount Miguel scoring: Marcus Booker 18, Thomas Butler 17, Mohamud Abdi 14, Corey Littleton 5.

Mission Bay scoring: Jerald Albritton 15, C.J. Rayford 11, Jimmie Elder-Chapman 11, D. J. Mebratu  9, Dylan Holler 8, Vincent Petties-Wilson 4, James Cloud 2.

 


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