Mission Prep tops Atascadero in 74-65 upset. Howard with career high
In a well-matched San Luis Obispo County Friday night high school basketball game, Mission Prep beat Atascadero 74-65.
The Mountain League battle featured one of the region’s better teams in Atascadero against Mission Prep, led by presumably the best San Luis Obispo County player in Jamar “J.J.” Howard.
Hosting the second-place Greyhounds in Mountain League action, Howard led the Royals by pouring in a career-high 39 points and throwing down two spectacular dunks to ignite the home crowd.
Howard scored 12 of the Royals’ 16 first quarter points to set the tone, weaving his way to the basket for nifty floaters and Euro-step layups, not to mention a massive throwdown well above the rim.
“You need to throw it down sometimes to get the crowd hyped and then we get hyped,” Howard said of his first quarter dunk. “We’re just trying to start winning again. We were losing too much earlier in the season.”
Mission Prep (10-12, 5-4 Mountain League) deployed its fast-paced offense and lockdown defense in the first half, holding Atascadero (11-6, 4-2) to 22 points in the first half before Atascadero got going in the second half, putting up 43 points.
The Greyhounds were led by Riley Coalwell who tallied 17 points. C.J. Bell and Stevie Waiters added 15 points apiece to help spark a comeback and pulled within eight in the second half.
Corbin Rossi tacked on eight points for Atascadero.
Game of runs
Royals coach Terrance Harris called the game a “slugfest” initially with physical play and slow pace to open the action, before both teams went on high-energy, offensive runs.
“We wanted to pick up the pace and we did that and then opened it up for us,” Harris said.”Our first half defensively was exactly what we would hope for.”
Grant Callahan recorded 14 points for the Royals and Jayden Nozil, a freshman call-up from junior varsity, added eight points and delighted the crowd with quick moves to the basket.
“He’s a freshman!” the Royals’ faithful chanted.
Harris said that Howard, who poured in a game-high 35 points against Arroyo Grande in a 66-65 loss on Jan. 21, continues “to work and continues to to refine his game.”
Howard averages about 24 points per game, increasing that mark after Friday’s career high.
“He gave the team what they needed tonight, handling the ball, scoring ball and he had some good assists as well,” Harris said. “He was aggressive tonight. (Howard) got the points at the end of the night. He did what we needed, but it’s still a fantastic team effort and the other guys stepped up big and did what we needed them to do some great plays out there.”
Harris credited David Andrade for “battling his tail off on the defensive end, on the boards and getting some finishes out there.”
Season outlook
Royals senior forward Dominic McGuire said: “We we lost to Atascadero last time and we were just trying to come back and now go 1-0 every game out and just finish with the season with a bang.”
Powerhouse Mountain League frontrunner, St. Joseph, of Santa Maria, figures to be the runaway title favorite, with a 21-2 overall record and a 7-0 league mark.
St. Joseph is led by 6-foot-5 freshman Tounde Yessoufou, who tallies about 28 points and 13 points per game, according to MaxPreps.com.
Arroyo Grande improved to 5-2 in the Mountain League with a 64-29 win over Paso Robles on Friday.
Out of the league title hunt, the Royals are fighting for a good seeding in CIF-Central Section playoffs, Howard said.
“It’s basically about playoffs just making sure we get a good spot,” said Howard.
The 6-foot-4 junior said that he’s working on his 3-pointers, driving, and finding open guys, especially out of the press.
“I’m pretty upset I missed one free throw,” Howard said with a smile.
This story was originally published January 29, 2022 at 12:58 AM.
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