St. Anthony’s Errion Gymnasium played host to the inaugural JTown MLK Showcase on Monday, with four games featuring four Long Beach teams playing on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Millikan fell to Garfield 59-46 to open the day, then Westchester defeated West in the second game of the day in the only matchup that didn’t involve a local team.
The last two games saw Cabrillo come back in thrilling fashion to defeat Cantwell Sacred Heart in overtime, and then St. Anthony defeat Jordan to close the day.
Cabrillo 89, Cantwell Sacred Heart 82 (OT)
Cabrillo senior Kahliel Williams wasn’t having his best game. Still, the senior told his coach to stick with him and let him keep playing hard on defense. The Jags trailed late in the game but fought back and then, with three seconds left, they trailed by just two points. Jaguars coach Chris Spencer called an all-out ball denial defensive coverage–if Cantwell’s inbounder had been able to get it over the top, there was no backup.
“It was one of those all-in moments,” said Spencer.
Sure enough, it was Williams who dove in front of the inbound pass, intercepting it, and then contorting his body to make a layup as time expired, and as he fell to the ground. That sent the game to overtime, where Cabrillo outscored their opponents by seven to win it 89-82.
“I told the guys it’s not over until the bell, it took some luck but they kept fighting and they executed,” said Spencer.
Spencer said his Jaguars came into the game just three games shy of winning a school-record 15 games, and that his senior class desperately wanted to take that next step. It showed as they fought back from small deficits time and time again throughout the thrilling game.
Junior Lincoln Dean paced the Jaguars with 24 points and five assists, and said that the grimy Monday victory was indicative of the team’s personality.
“We just want to be the grittiest team in the Moore League,” he said. “We’re not the tallest, we’re not the fastest, we just want to be the team that plays the hardest and gets the win.”
Mason Johnson also had 22 points for the Jaguars in an impressive win. Cabrillo faces Lakewood on Wednesday and then hosts Compton on Friday for Senior Night.
St. Anthony 80, Jordan 64
There wasn’t a trophy handed out after St. Anthony’s wire-to-wire win over Jordan to wrap up the JTown MLK Showcase, an event that both the Panthers (organizers) and Saints (hosts) worked together to put on. However, there could have been a trophy, as St. Anthony effectively wrapped up an unofficial Moore League title, having now defeated Long Beach Poly, Wilson, and Jordan, three of the top five teams in the league.
“We’re standing on what we said,” said Saints coach Alan Mitchell. “Jordan accepted the challenge to play us last minute after other teams backed out. This win means a lot. You’re playing against teams and schools a few miles away. It’s a lot from the school perspective and the pride perspective.”
Mitchell played for Jordan coach Chris Francis in high school and said he loves competing against his old coach. “I told him I’ll trade one of these wins for one of their rings,” he said with a smile.
The Saints led 16-12 after the first quarter and then exploded in the second half with 29 points to take a 45-28 lead at halftime. MItchell rotated a dozen players through the game, and said his team has bought into the idea that they might come in and play hard for a few minutes, and then rotate back out.
“What’s the end goal?” he asked. “That’s what’s important. When you forget that end goal you can forget the vision and the purpose. That’s when things get a little shaky, and we don’t want that.”
St. Anthony’s efforts spoiled a phenomenal game from Jordan’s Jay’mari Redmond, who had a game-high 31 points. The Saints were led by Aman Haynes’ 18 points, backed up by and 16 points from Chandler Young.
“This means a lot,” said Haynes. “Being the best team from Long Beach, that’s special for us.”
