By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
SAN LUIS OBISPO - Richard Solomon scored six points in the second overtime to lift Bishop Montgomery into the championship game of the Mission Prep Classic with a 60-55 win over Taft of Woodland Hills on Monday.
Matched up against Taft forward Terran Carter (6-5), Solomon had just six points in regulation play. However the 6-9 junior came up big in the overtime periods, scoring the final four points of the first overtime and six of Bishop Montgomery’s nine points in the second to finish with 16 points.
“Their big guy got into foul trouble so we thought we could go at him and then get the ball to Richard,” said Knights coach Doug Mitchell. “Justin (Cobbs) didn’t have one of his better shooting nights but he was able to attack the basket and get the ball to Richard.”
Solomon’s heroics put Bishop Montgomery in today’s National Division final against Bishop O’Connell of Arlington, Va., which defeated Campbell Hall of North Hollywood 63-36.
Solomon’s basket off a Cobbs assist with 20 seconds in the first overtime might have been enough to light the Knights to a win if not for the play of Toreador freshman Landon Drew. The brother of Larry Drew, who is now playing at North Carolina, Landon drove past his defender and used a screen by Carter to score a layup with three seconds left to tie the game at 51-51 and force a second overtime.
Solomon and Cobbs went right to work in the second overtime. After Taft took a brief lead on a free throw by Justin Hawkins, Cobbs drove to the basket on consecutive possessions and dished off to Solomon for the layup. Solomon scored another basket on an assist from Terran Moore to put the game out of reach, 59-52.
The game see-sawed back and forth throughout regulation play with Taft taking the early lead on the play of Carter. The senior forward scored nine straight points midway through the first half to put the Toreadors ahead 15-10. The Knights rallied, however, scoring the final seven points of the first half to tie the score at 23-23.
In the third period, Bishop Montgomery built a slight advantage, 33-28, before Hawkins dumped in two buckets to close the gap to one point. Morgan Wright gave the Knights a 43-39 lead late in the fourth quarter with a three-point play, but Taft outscored Bishop Montgomery 5-1 down the stretch to send the game into overtime.
Michael Williams had 20 points to lead Taft while Carter finished with 15. Cobbs had 15 points for the Knights.
Bishop Montgomery (9-1) opened the tournament with a 57-48 win over Kentwood of Covington, Wash. The Knights limited Kentwood junior Josh Smith, who is considered by some recruiting services as the No. 1 junior in the country, to just 10 points in the win. Cobbs and Michael Panaggio each had 15 points for the Knights. Tre Tyler topped Kentwood with 20 points.
Meanwhile Taft opened the tournament with a 64-60 win in overtime against Sheldon of Sacramento. Williams nailed five 3-pointers in the game and finished with 22. Hawkins helped out with 14, half of which came in the extra period. Darius Nelson led Sheldon with 13 points.
Bishop O’Connell didn’t have much trouble with Campbell Hall, the defending California Division 4 champions, running away with the game with a 27-6 run in the fourth quarter.
The loss was the first for Campbell Hall since a defeat at the hands of South Atlanta and Derrick Favors on Jan. 19 of 2008. The Vikings had won 20 games in a row, including a 6-0 mark this year.
Kendall Marshall led the way for the Knights with 23 points while David Eismeier contributed 13. Keegan Hornbuckle and James Johnson each had 10 points for the Vikings.
Bishop O’Connell opened the tournament with a 54-49 win over Sylmar with Devin Cole tossing in 13 points. Gary Ricks topped Sylmar with 22.
Campbell Hall edged Los Osos 73-67 with Johnson scoring 27 points. Kendall Williams scored 26 points for Los Osos.
Sheldon sent Kentwood to the seventh place game with a 62-49 win on Monday. Josh Smith had 22 points and 11 rebounds for Kentwood, but Nelson countered with 28 points to pace the Huskies. Sylmar joins Sheldon in the consolation final after a 58-37 win over Los Osos.
Kentwood and Los Osos meet at 9:30 a.m. while Sylmar and Sheldon play at 2 p.m. and Taft and Campbell Hall play at 3:30 p.m. The championship game is set for 8 p.m. at Mission Prep High School.
In the Elite Division on Monday, Campolindo defeated St. Joseph’s of Santa Maria 63-38 and Fremont topped El Dorado 67-64 in the consolation semifinals while Mission Prep topped Mission Hills 45-33 and Rio Americano beat LACES 66-49 in the championship semifinals. Mission Prep and Rio Americano play at 6:30 p.m. in the championship game.
