Mission Prep beats rival SLO to avenge Mountain League basketball loss
On a rainy night that packed the Mission Prep gym, the Royals’ boys basketball team and rival San Luis Obispo High Tigers came out hot, trading long-range shots and electrifying fans.
After building a 34-26 lead at the half, the Royals (20-6, 5-3 Mountain League) clamped down with tough defense to force turnovers and pull away to win 60-49 on senior night.
With the victory, Mission Prep moved into sole possession of second place in the Mountain League with two league games remaining.
SLO (19-7, 4-4 Mountain) and Atascadero (15-10, 4-4 Mountain), along with Mission Prep, all are vying for league runner-up behind powerhouse St. Joseph (26-1, 8-0 Mountain).
St. Joseph has clinched the league title as a Top-5 ranked team in California led by Baylor-bound Tounde Yessoufou, who recently broke a 21-year career scoring record for high school players in California.
Playing in the last regular season game versus their crosstown opponent, Mission Prep was led by two seniors in 6-foot-2 guard Jayden Nozil and 6-foot-5 wing Roman Benedetti, who recently announced his commitment to play basketball at Claremont McKenna next season.
Nozil had a game-high 23 points. Benedetti had 15 points and poured in seven straight points early in the second half to help his team build a comfortable lead. Brody Miller had 10 points and Stokes Wahlen had nine for the Royals.
To lead SLO, Vaughn Otto tallied 11 points, Hayden Brandow had nine and Logan Missler had eight.
SLO beat Mission Prep 66-56 on Jan. 17 at home.
“Last time we played SLO, most of our starters had the flu, so it was pretty tough,” Benedetti said. “We were all healthy today and really wanted to get after it.”
Mission Prep star makes college choice
Benedetti said a personal goal has been improved shot selection, but overall he was pleased with the level of play.
“I need to pick my shots a little better,” Benedetti said. “I think that’s the main thing. But everyone played really well. We played really well as a team.”
Along with his continued success at Mission Prep playing under longtime coach Terrance Harris, Benedetti said that a connection on his Pasadena club team, BTI Hoops, also helped him to be able to play in college.
“The head coach for my club team was the assistant coach for Claremont,” Benedetti said. “And so I kind of got hooked up that way. He got to see me play a lot.”
Harris said that he was happy to see Benedetti have the opportunity to play at the next level, which “has been the dream.”
“He’s going to a really good school,” Harris said. “I’m really proud of that kid, and I hope a couple more (Royals) will have the opportunity (to play in college) as well.”
Royals wind down regular season
Nozil, like Benedetti, is a four-year varsity player for the Royals. He came into the game having scored 1,061 career points, to go along with 138 rebounds and 46 assists.
Nozil is considering pursuing college sports as well, with basketball and football as potential options.
Nozil, who drained a second-half 3-pointer, drove the lane throughout the game to beat SLO defenders in the paint and create open looks for teammates and himself.
“As long as we keep playing, we just need to keep coming every day to practice ready to work and ready to play defense,” Nozil said. “And our shooters really shoot the ball, so we got to make sure that they’re staying hot. And then if we can keep our shooters hot and our drivers driving, then we’ll make it pretty far (in playoffs).”
Harris said that he is pleased that his team is healthy after facing injuries earlier in the season. The Royals’ defense was a key to the game, he added, and credited SLO for being “a really good team.”
“Both teams were fired up early, making a lot of shots,” Harris said. “I thought we did a good job defensively today, taking away first options. That was that was a focus for us. They’re a really good team. Tonight was a good night for us. That’s a really good team across the street. They’re going to continue to be very relevant in this playoff picture.”
SLO looks to bounce back
Otto, a 5-10 junior guard who made three 3-pointers, said SLO came into the game “as prepared as we could.”
“I feel like we got it going early,” Otto said. “We had a bunch of energy. And then after the half-time, they came out super hot and we weren’t really pushing it fast-paced. We kind of slowed it down. And we couldn’t really combat them.”
Otto said the Tigers have good team chemistry and some of the best talent in the area.
“We have juniors mostly, so next year we should be just as good, if not better,” Otto said.
As for this season, he added: “We have to go hard every day in practice as the season goes on, we have to know we’re playing for and have an end goal.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 10:24 PM.
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