Beyond the X: Aaron Gordon's last stand

The Mater Dei chip
He just plays to win. Especially against Mater Dei, a program led by the state's most successful coach, Gary McKnight. He was after his 10th state title and two of them — in 2007 and 2008 — came against Mitty and Gordon's older brother, hero and mentor Drew.

"That (beating Drew) is definitely a motivating factor," Gordon said after practice. "I was there. My whole family was there and it made for a long ride home. We all hate to lose."

McKnight is quite familiar with Gordon's competitive edge and family loyalties.

"Little Gordon (Aaron) isn't going to be too happy we beat his brother," McKnight told the press after Mater Dei's regional final victory over Etiwanda, which set the stage for the Mitty matchup.

And on this day, Little Gordon wasn't pleased with his team's practice — particularly his own — considering it was just 48 hours until game time. The Monarchs missed chippies, Gordon had trouble hanging on to the ball under heavy duress and the team in general looked tired of practicing.

It was the fourth-straight day of preparation following a pinnacle performance, a 70-50 victory over Sheldon (Sacramento, Calif.) in the Northern California finals, also at Sleep Train Arena.

In that game, Gordon had 29 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks, a vintage performance during a season in which he averaged 21.6 points, 15.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3 blocks per game while shooting 60 percent from the floor. It far surpassed his career numbers of 18.4 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

Though dominating as usual, it was the team's supporting cast, led by junior point guard Connor Peterson and seniors Brandon Farrell, Brandon Abajelo and Davis Messer, that pushed the Monarchs to the very surprising 20-point win over a loaded Sheldon squad that had previously dispatched Salesian (Richmond, Calif.).

Salesian beat Mitty 72-51 earlier in the season.

"Aaron has carried us so much of the way but (against Sheldon) everyone stepped up and relieved the pressure off of him," Messer said after practice. "The key for us (against Mater Dei) is we need to step up to that level again. He can only carry us so far."

Said Abajelo: "We need people to make plays down the stretch. He can't win it by himself and we can't win it without him."

But they would have to play much better and crisper than on this day. Mitty coach Tim Kennedy was more empathetic than concerned.

"I would give this practice a five or six tops," he said. "These guys are kind of tired. They're just hungry to play now. They're tired of beating each other up."

Gordon was tired, but not enough to beat himself up some more.

After his teammates had left, he spent 45 minutes working through drills to help him with ball control and shooting. He weaved up and down the court, dribbling two balls at once for 10 minutes. He stood underneath the basket, jumped up and dunked, caught the ball going through the hoop without it hitting the floor, then jumped up and dunked again. He did it at least 20 times until he reached a state of exhaustion. He then repeated that drill four or five times.

After that, he finished off the night with 15-20 minutes of mid-range jumpers on feeds from an assistant coach.

"He'd do this all night if I let him," Kennedy said. "Of course I love this about him. To have your best player be your hardest worker is ideal. It has a lot to do with why we've had the success we've had and why Aaron is who he is.

"But we have to cut him off. We have to save his legs."