It's
been almost two years since the last De La Salle/Martin Luther King Jr.
Classic basketball event has been held due to COVID-19.
For
first-year De La Salle coach Marcus Schroeder it's been 16 years since
he was a participant. The current 33-year-old was a star guard for the
2006 De La Salle team that won a state championship under Frank Allocco.
After a stellar college career at Princeton and decade-long
coaching run at St. Mary's College, Schroeder has returned to lead the
Spartans who enter 10-4 after starting the season 10-1. They'll play
perennial Sac-Joaquin Section power Capital Christian-Sacramento in one
of the two afternoon session games of this 24th annual event.
Schroeder
accepted the head coaching duties in Aug. after a 10-year stint at St.
Mary's, where he was the associate head coach for the nationally-ranked
program. He began at SMC as a graduate assistant in 2012 and worked his
way up.
The MLK Classic was a part of Schroeder's De La Salle
experience and he said he's excited to compete in the event again, this
time as a coach, mentor and teacher.
"The last 25 years of
basketball on MLK day have produced us with some great West Coast
matchups, a ton of exciting games and a chance to reflect on the values
and lessons that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached every day.
"Ultimately, this is a chance to come together as a community through basketball to hopefully build a more just society."
Here
are recaps of the games, all played at De La Salle, with the brunt of
reporting done by Pat O'Rourke, who is broadcasting each game via
vimeo.com/delasalletv12:30 p.m. — University (San Francisco) (10-7) vs.
Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) (4-4),
WATCH2 p.m. — Campolindo (Moraga) (11-1) vs.
Valley Christian (San Jose) (7-5),
WATCH
5 p.m. — De La Salle (Concord) (10-4) vs.
Capital Christian (Sacramento) (9-7),
WATCH
Modesto Christian 67, Salesian 58
Jamari Phillips showed fans why he's considered one of the top sophomores in
the state by scoring 27 points while junior guard
BJ Davis added 18,
leading the Crusaders (15-1) to their 11th straight win with a
hard-earned triumph in the final of five games.
Phillips,
who came in averaging 23.1, scored 13 points in the first half and 14
in the second as Modesto Christian led pretty much wire-to-wire against a
Salesian squad (4-5) that hadn't played in almost a month.
A technical foul led to four
straight free throws by Harris to close the gap to 62-56 with 1:06
remaining, but Salesian, with a chance to cut the lead to 3, turned the
ball over and Phillips went in for an uncontested dunk to essentially
put the game away.
Salesian last played in
Las Vegas on Dec. 21 and was then hit hard by COVID-19. The Pride hung
tough throughout, twice cutting the lead to 3 in the third quarter.
Prince Oseya, a 6-10 junior, scored all eight of his points in the
second half for Modesto Christian. He also had eight rebounds.
Final
game statistics were largely even with Modesto turning the ball over 10
times to eight for Salesian, holding a 32-29 edge in rebounds and both
teams shot it well from the line: 16 of 19 for the Crusaders and
15-for-19 by Salesian.
Jamari Phillips, Modesto Christian
File photo by Sam Stringer
Flanagan,
a 6-8 senior forward, scored 11 of his game-high honors in the third
quarter. Johnson drilled a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:56 left in
the game to give De La Salle its biggest lead 60-48.
The
Cougars (9-8), who had their three-game win streak snapped, scored five
quick points, but Webster made two straight free throws and
John Rathbun swished three straight to put De La Salle back up in control.
Anthony Garcia had 13 points and
Kanye Clarke
10 for Capital Christian, which was outrebounded 34-27 but had five
less turnovers (11-6).
John Flanagan, De La Salle
File photo by Jim Malone
St. Mary's College-bound point guard
Aidan Mahaney drilled six 3-pointers to finish with 18 points and
Cade Bennett
added 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Bay Area's top-ranked team put
on a clinic en route to a rout over the Warriors (7-6), who managed just
17 points in the final three quarters.
The Cougars had 10 3-pointers in the first half while taking a 48-19 halftime lead.
Logan Robeson added 12 points for the winners, who also held a 34-19 edge in rebounding.
Mahaney
and Bennett played only about half of the third quarter before
Campolindo coach Steven Dyer emptied the bench. Most of the fourth
quarter was played with a running clock.
The
victory was particularly impressive considering Valley Christian's
improved play of late, winning West Catholic Athletic League games over
Top 10 Bay Area teams Bellarmine and Serra.
Cade Bennett, Campolindo
File photo by Justin Fine
Sophomore
Cole Boake had 20 points and
Luke Bradley
added 10 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half to lift
the Red Devils (11-7) to a shocking victory over the Dragons (4-5), who
were outscored 38-15 in the second half.
O'Dowd
raced to leads of 9-0 early and 37-23 at halftime, but watched
University drilled nine 3-pointers in the second half, capped off by one
from Bradley with less than two minutes to play to virtually clinch it.
The Red Devils, who have been without their marquee player
Joey Kennedy,
a 6-6 junior who injured his knee the second game of the season, took
their first lead 50-49 with 4:45 left on a tough inside layup by
Grant Lyon, who along with
Gus Parsons had eight points each. They wouldn't trail the rest of the way.
The
Dragons, coming off a three-game win streak including an impressive
53-50 win over Moreau Catholic on Saturday, committed 13 turnovers in
the second half.
Cahal Connolly, a 6-9 senior, led O'Dowd with 14 points and 10 rebounds, however he was held scoreless the second half.
Cameron Brown added 12 but he fouled out early in the fourth quarter.
Moreau Catholic 57, Vanden 54
Thompson
scored 12 of his points in the second half, including three 3-pointers
that helped Vanden actually take the lead in the second half.
Moreau
forced 19 turnovers and committed on eight itself, but Vanden, led the
6-foot-7 Emerson-Hardy, controlled the boards with a 37-22 rebounding
edge. Vanden had its four-game win streak snapped. Of its 10 defeats,
seven have been by four points or
less.
Trey Knight, Moreau Catholic
File photo by Sam Stringer
