CIF Friday boys championships: Mitty, St. Joseph take titles

SACRAMENTO – Of all Aaron Gordon’s record 21 rebounds, the one he'll remember most likely will be his last.

It secured Archbishop Mitty's 53-50 CIF State Division II championship victory over Summit (Fontana). It tied a 10-year-old state championship game record. And it finished off the Monarchs’ first-ever state championship victory before 3,638 fans at Power Balance Pavilion and it helped wiped away two state title game defeats in 2007 and 2008 when his brother Aaron Gordon starred.

“It feels so amazing I can’t tell you how good it felt,” said Gordon, who also had a team-high 17 points. “The whole thing was an out-of-body experience.”

As dominant as the 6-foot-7 sophomore was, the Monarchs from San Jose (32-2) needed big performances from senior Brent Younger (12 points), Kyle Toth (10 points) and clutch fourth-quarter play from senior guard Brandon White, who made the last three points of the game.

His free throw with 22 seconds broke a 50-50 tie and after a Summit turnover, he converted an uncontested layup with seven ticks left. Summit (28-8), which had shocked the state’s top-ranked team and defending state champion Lincoln last week, took the ball out near midcourt but Dorian Cason’s pass went well over the head of guard Montigo Alford toward the Mitty basket.

Alford prevented the ball from going out of bounds but saved the ball right to White standing right under the basket. Alford's 3-point attempt missed badly and Gordon grabbed his final rebound as the final horn sounded.

“That was the most cautious layup I ever scored,” White said. “I just thanked God the ball ended up in my hands.”

The win capped an unprecedented night for Northern California teams, which won all four games.

Cason, a 6-8 post headed to Portland, had a game-high 19 points and Alford added 14.

Second-year Mitty coach Tim Kennedy was relieved afterward. His team outrebounded Summit 42-31 and forced the Skyhawks into 34 percent shooting.

“From day one this was the goal and we did it,” Kennedy said.

Summit played a furious second half and actually outplayed the Monarchs most of the final 16 minutes. The Skyhawks had trouble converting inside, missing at least eight chip-shots under duress, and they were 0-for-17 on 3-pointers.

"It's so hard because that's a game we could and probably should have won," Cason said. "It's hard to realize all the things we accomplished right now. I know nobody expected us to be here. Nobody gave us much respect all year. We got here. Only if we could have finished it off."

Mitty 53, Summit 50

SUMMIT (28-8)
Alford Montigo 6-17 2-4 14, Devon Alexander 2-8 0-0 4, Darrick Arnold 3-4 0-06, Quinton Lilley 1-4 0-0 2, Dorian Cason 4-9 11-14 19, Isaiah Taylor 0-3 0-0 0, Cameron Lewis 2-7 1-4 5. Totals 18-52 14-24 50.

MITTY (32-2)
Colin Wan 3-7 0-1 6, Kyle Toth 3-13 2-2 10, Neil Vranicar 1-8 0-0 3, Aaron Gordon 7-11 3-6 17, Brent Younger 6-9 0-0 12, Brandon Whit 2-4 1-2 5, Connor Gorman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 6-11 53.

Summit   9  10  17  14  -  50
Mitty      9  17  13  14  -  53

3-point goals: Summit 0-17, Mitty 3-16 (Toth 2, Vranicar). Rebounds: Summit 31 (Cason 10), Mitty 42 (Gordon 21). Assists: Summit 7 (Alford 4), Mitty 6 (Wan 3). Turnovers: Summit 13, Mitty 19.

DIVISION V
St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 47, St. Bernard (Playa del Rey, Calif.) 44

St. Joseph senior guard Jacari Whitfield practiced 1,000 3-pointers this week in preparation for today's CIF State Division V championship game.

He made 680.

All paled in comparisons with the five he made - especially the high-arching, go-ahead swish he made with one-minute remaining - in his team's victory over Cinderella squad St. Bernard.

With the score at 42 and the Pilots (27-9) unable to penetrate St. Bernard's zone, Whitfield took a pass from the right wing and made an NBA-range 3-pointer from well above the top of the key.

After St. Bernard (26-9) made two free throws, St. Joseph broke the Vikings' press and Whitfield found Gemeny Givens for an uncontested layup with 25.5 seconds left.

After a couple of possessions, St. Bernard had one last chance but a shot from just beyond halfcourt by Brandon Randolph hit the rim and glanced away as did the Vikings' dream season.

Last year St. Bernard was 4-23. Last time St. Joseph played in the state title in 2009 the Pilots were swamped by 16 by Windward and Whitfield was off.

On Friday, he made 5 of 14 shots - all 3-pointers - and scored a game-high 15 points. Brendan Keane, a 6-foot-10 senior center, had 10 points, Givens nine points and Garrett Rich a game-high 14 rebounds.

Randolph led St. Bernard with 14 points and Emani Gant and Thurman Thomas added 10 apiece.

"I wasn't going to lose here a second time," Whitfield said. "One way or another I wasn't going to let us lose."

Both teams were looked extremely determined in this nip-and-tuck, evenly-matched affair. Nobody led by more than five points and the scores at the end of the first three quarters was 12-12, 28-28 and 34-33 (St. Joseph).

The lead changed three times before Whitfield made his fourth 3-pointer to put St. Joseph up 42-40 with 4:20 left. Thomas, who made a buzzer-beater to send St. Bernard to the state-title game, tied it with an outside jumper with 2:30 left to tie it at 42.

The score remained that way until Whitfield's go-ahead 3-pointer.

"I'm pretty confident in my shot," Whitfield said. "When the pass was coming off I knew I was going to shoot. I was pretty sure it was going in."

Randolph said his 50-foot shot felt pretty good when it left his hands. Referees later said the shot would count had it gone.

"We played hard, but we just lost," said Randolph, a tremendous 6-3 sophomore. "I thought we did the best we could. We'll try to get it next year."

Said St. Bernard coach Reggie Morris: "We have nothing to be ashamed of. If you told anyone at the start of the year that we'd be in the state championship they would have laughed. I'm very proud of the team.

"That said, this stings because it's a game we could have won."

It was the fourth state title for St. Joseph and second for longtime coach Don Lippi, who said he had no film of St.
Bernard to study all week.

"We ran a couple of plays but they bring so much pressure we just told the kids to run where they aren't," Lippi said.

St. Joseph Notre Dame 47, St. Bernard 44

ST. BERNARD ( 27-8)
Daniel Cordoba 0-3 4-4 4, Brandon Morrison 0-3 0-2 0, Brandon randolph 6-17 0-0 14, Thurman Thomas 4-10 1-2 10, Uzoma Mbelu 1-3 0-0 2, Jason Pepperes 1-2 0-0 2, Jeremy Hunter 0-2 0-0 0, Michael Garcia 1-3 0-0 2, Emani Gant 5-12 0-1 10. Totals 18-55 5-9 44.
ST. JOSEPH NOTRE DAME (27-9)
Jacari Whitfield 5-14 0-1 15, Dominic Lippi 1-9 0-0 3, Evander Woods 0-2 0-0 0, Gemeny Givens 4-6 0-0 9, Brendan Keane 5-12 0-2 10, Sean Harding 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Lacy 2-5 1-2 6, Garrett Rich 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 19-53 1-5 47.

St. Bernard  12  16  8   8  -  44
St. Joseph   12  16  7  12  - 47

3-point goals: SB 3-16 (Randolph 2, Thomas), St. Joseph 8-21 (Whitfield 5, Lippi, Givens, Lacy). Rebounds: St. Bernard 35 (Thomas 10), St. Joseph 43 (Rich 14). Assists: St. Bernard 10 (Randolph 3), St. Joseph 10 (Whitfield). Turnovers: St. Bernard 10, St. Joseph 16.