Mission Prep dominates Roosevelt 80-52, advances to CIF semifinals
Jayden Nozil says sometimes it feels like he can hear his teammates voices telling him to cut.
As time wound down at the end of the third quarter, Nozil dribbled the ball near half court. With 10 seconds remaining, the play went into action. He handed the ball off to the wing before the ball swung to Brody Miller.
Miller drove the ball baseline and beat his defender. As heads turned to the ball, Nozil found a seam in the defense and floated the ball in.
The Miller-to-Nozil pass was one of many Royals’ assists in their 80-52 win over Roosevelt at home on Wednesday night.
“Every player is playing for each other, not just themselves,” said Nozil, who scored 10 points. “Throughout the year, all of our games where we kind of struggled, we played me-ball, and now that we’ve been playing team basketball and playing as a unit, we’ve been doing some special work out there.”
Nozil and three other Royals all finished in double figures. David Kellog and Brody Miller scored 16 points, while Roman Benedetti scored 23.
But it wasn’t just the offense for the Royals that stood out. Their defense stifled Roosevelt throughout the game. They employed a full-court press for early the entire game and didn’t let the Rough Riders find their flow on offense.
“We executed on the defensive side extremely well today, and that’s what I was most proud about,” head coach Terrance Harris said. “But they played with the right energy and the right tenacity.”
Early in the game, the Royals’ shots weren’t falling, but Harris said his team remained poised and was able to get separation after Benedetti hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter.
Benedetti is one of many holdovers from last year’s team that only lost one senior. Everyone else returned after making deep playoff runs in the CIF Central Section and state tournament.
The continuity of the roster shows as well. The Royals found teammates on numerous back cuts that led to layups or open shots.
Many of the players have been on the same team since elementary school.
“We’ve been friends for a long time, and we’ve gotten a lot closer this year, so that off-the-court bond really helps the on-the-court play,” said Benedetti, who’s committed to play basketball next year at Claremont McKenna.
Even on defense, the Royals moved as one unit. On their full-court press, they trapped ball-handlers in the back court and let their back line break up passes.
“We’re at the point where we can just (press) the whole game and not let up,” Benedetti said. “It’s really good for us because it doesn’t give teams a chance to get into their flow.”
Harris credited the smarts of his team, which sports an average GPA of 4.13.
“We were blessed to have a group of really smart kids, and they push each other in practice,” Harris said. “They make sure that each other are working hard and they’re driven, and they’re committed to doing what it takes to be successful.”
Mission Prep, who’s the one seed in the Central Section Division 2 playoffs, moves on to the semifinals against No. 12 seed Frontier and will play at home on Friday.