Mission Prep opens with tough, first-round state tourney win: ’We fight back’
Mission Prep’s basketball team knows how to fight through adversity, and they did it yet again.
The CIF Central Section Division 2 champion Royals earned a hard-fought 70-64 win over Venice High in their first-round Division 3 CIF state playoff matchup.
In front of a rocking home crowd that yelled “defense, defense, defense” in the closing minutes to rally its team, the Royals (26-7) celebrated their highest win total under Head Coach Terrance Harris, topping their 25-win mark in 2014-15.
And the Royals had to do in the absence of one of their stars, Jayden Nozil, who sustained a twisted ankle in the opening seconds of the game.
Nozil, who averages nearly 14 points per game, and is the Royals’ primary floor general as the point guard, sat out the rest of the contest.
Enter David “Deuce” Kellogg, a speedy junior guard, who provided the needed spark and more to get the Mission Prep offense going, pouring in a varsity career-high 25 points.
“Jayden was still a big influence, giving us motivation during halftime, telling us what we need to do,” Kellogg said. “He’s a big-time leader. Even though he got hurt, he was still helping us in so many different ways.”
Kellogg said he relied on the trust of his teammates, including seniors Roman Benedetti (averaging 18.1 points per game) and Brody Miller (11 points per game), who both converted key buckets down the stretch. Benedetti, a Claremont McKenna commit, finished with 16 while Miller had 15.
“It was a good game for me, man, but I couldn’t have done it without my team,” Kellogg said. “They’re amazing. ... Roman, oh my gosh, he’s crazy in the clutch. I can always count on him for a three. I can always count on Brody and Stokes (Whalen). If I hit them in the corner, I know it’s going in.”
Comeback win, yet again
Following a pattern of previous playoffs games, the Royals found themselves in a hole, down by as many as nine points early in the third quarter. And for the third straight game, they came back to win.
The Gondoliers (13-17) applied tenacious press defense, picking up the Royals on the in-bound and trapping them wherever and whenever they could with success for much of the first three quarters.
Venice was led by senior guard Rodrigo Trujillo who had 20 points and was a knock-down 3-point shooter for Venice. Lucca Trujillo and Richie Durant each contributed 10 points.
But the Royals pinballed passes across mid-court and found some slivers of gaps in the Gondoliers’ defense.
And then when Mission Prep needed shots to fall in clutch moments, they did.
First a Benedetti 3-pointer about midway through the fourth quarter, then a Kellogg “and-one” bucket to make it 58-54 and a Whalen 3-pointer to give the Royals yet another small cushion.
“It’s such a blessing to coach kids that don’t flinch when adversity strikes,” said Harris, now in his 19th year with a career 362-204 record. “This has been so fun watching these young men grow and develop and just stick together and battle through adversity. ... The beauty of this team is they play as a unit. When we play together, we’re a really, really, really great team.”
Miller called the Venice team “really scrappy” in a game that turned into a battle of wills.
“We knew we were in a battle after halftime,” Miller said. “We came prepared. We fight back. That’s what the coaches just told us. Fight back. That’s what we did.”
Miller added: “We just stayed together and continued what we’ve been doing all year ... so we’re still continuing doing that.”
Lessons for life
Harris said that his Royals squad has learned lessons on the basketball court that will help them in life.
“My motto is that basketball is a game that helps young men become men, and we talk about this being examples of what happens in life all the time,” Harris said. “Life isn’t always easy, and you have to keep fighting through.”
Harris added: “I’m so proud of the young men that I’m watching grow up right before my eyes because their maturity, their fight, their togetherness, tells me that they’re going to be very, very successful citizens and men for our community,” Harris said.
For the third straight year, Harris will return a team to the second round of the CIF state playoffs, this time facing San Gabriel Academy at home at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Harris said the fan support has been amazing, with a packed house and raucous student section electrifying the gym in the opener on Tuesday.
“How about this environment?” Harris said. “To get to play in this environment, on this stage, these guys are going to remember this forever. The community is showing up ... and on a Tuesday night.”
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