Tribune names SLO County Player of Year, all-stars in boys basketball. See roster
Roman Benedetti has been through the ringer during the course of his Mission Prep high school basketball career.
Over his four-year varsity basketball journey, the 6-foot-5-inch senior had to battle through a broken leg, sprained ankles, knee pain and a severe toe ailment. This year, he played a complete, healthy senior season and shined.
Benedetti was a leader on a Royals team that posted a 26-8 record and earned a CIF-Central Section Division 2 title, the first section championship in 19-year head coach Terrance Harris’ Mission Prep career after five previous runner-up finishes.
Benedetti averaged 18 points per game and 6.8 rebounds on 52% shooting from the floor and 40% from 3-point range.
Benedetti is The Tribune’s 2024-25 San Luis Obispo County boys basketball player of the year. For a full list of Tribune all-stars, see below.
“Roman has poured so much into the game, and what you see in terms of results are a part of his continued work and effort to be ready for those type of big game moments,” Harris said. “There were times when he would take over a game. The CIF championship is one of them. He had one of the biggest threes in our program history.”
A four-year varsity Royals player, Benedetti scored nearly 1,000 points in his high school career (finishing with 996), despite having to sit out significant portions of past seasons to recover from injuries.
Benedetti, who’s committed to play basketball at Claremont McKenna College, had 21 points and nine rebounds in the CIF section championship at Fresno’s Selland Arena, a 63-59 double overtime win over Central High, of Fresno.
In crunch time of the title contest, Benedetti converted on a turnaround, two-pointer near the free-throw line with about a minute left in the first overtime to make it 55-55. He then followed with a clutch 3-pointer with 47 seconds remaining in the second overtime to put the Royals up 61-59.
“I knew that if we came down and hit another three, it would be really, really big,” Benedetti said. “My thought process was that I noticed how their rotation was kind of messed up on Stokes (Wahlen), so I decided to pop out to the 3-point line. My idea was to kick it back to the corner to Stokes. But that guy never really closed out to me. So, I just shot it.”
Benedetti added: “That championship game, it was pretty magical. It felt like it was supposed to happen and it felt like everything that I’ve been working for came together with that team. And was really cool to be a part of something like that.”
Other standout offensive performances by Benedetti included pouring in a career-high 37 points in a 74-55 win over Rio Mesa (17-12), of Oxnard, and 26 points in a 75-65 win over Oxnard (21-8). The lanky senior scored at least 20 points in 11 games during the season.
‘The team came first,’ head coach says of player’s performance
Harris described Benedetti as a “very smart kid, and I think that intelligence is something that plays out in a number of ways.”
“The team came first,” Harris said. “Roman was not afraid to just play the game the right way. But he also had a knack for knowing when to when to step in and just make big plays.”
Mission Prep’s team consisted of hard-working, experienced seniors including standouts Jayden Nozil, The Tribune’s defensive player of the year who also scored 1,177 career points; sharp-shooters in Brody Miller and Wahlen, defensive specialist Brayden Mott, and Ethan Orozco, a feisty role player.
“I don’t know if a lot of teams are like this, but our whole team sat together at lunch and we’re all each other’s best friends and it’s been that way for a really long time,” Benedetti said. “So getting to be on the court with your teammates and your best friends at the same time, it was really, really special and you really wanted to see each other succeed. In a heartbeat, all of us would pass up an open shot for a better shot for the team.”
Mission Prep finished second in Mountain League behind juggernaut St. Joseph (31-2), of Santa Maria, the No. 7-ranked team in California, according to MaxPreps.com, the CIF-Central Section Division 1 champion led by McDonald’s All-American and Baylor-bound Tounde Yessoufou.
The Royals beat Venice in the first round of the Division 3 CIF state tournament. Other notable regular season wins included beating Roosevelt (19-11), of Fresno; Fresno Christian (30-7) and South (19-11) of Bakersfield.
“The style that we played allowed multiple people to shine,” Harris said. “That trust that they had in each other, and the trust that they had to put in each other in big moments, against tough opposition, I think was really important for this team. That doesn’t always manifest, but this year, it all just kind of came together in the right ways.”
How Mission Prep basketball player finished season strong
Each year of his school career, a natural shooter, Benedetti showed improvement, while learning how to stay as healthy as possible.
“This year, I really focused on staying healthy and consistent, stretching and doing all the right things every day to make sure that I don’t get injured,” Benedetti said. “And even though I rolled my ankle in the playoffs, toward the end of the playoffs, I was healthy for most of the season, which was good.”
He improved his long-range shooting consistency and refined his turnaround jumper — a go-to move in big moments of games.
“That turnaround that’s always been my shot, going over my left shoulder,” Benedetti said. “That’s just always really been a strong shot for me because they’re just not expecting it, especially if teams are playing a zone. If I’m in the middle, I can get that up pretty much every time.”
Benedetti said that his club basketball experience with BTI Hoops in Pasadena was a growing experience as well. His former Royals teammate, Luke Jacobson, now playing at Marquette, played on the BTI club team previously and recommended it to teammates.
Offensive player of the year
Shea Buckley — Atascadero
Defensive player of the year
Jayden Nozil — Mission Prep
First Team
Logan Missler — San Luis Obispo
Omaree Daniloff — Paso Robles
Brody Miller — Mission Prep
Damon Mitchell — Atascadero
Brayden Mott — Mission Prep
Second Team
Beau Crew — San Luis Obispo
Jake Falat — Morro Bay
David Kellogg — Mission Prep
Spencer Sanders — Templeton
Grant Fordyce — Arroyo Grande
Honorable Mention
Vaughn Otto (SLO); Stokes Wahlen (Mission Prep); Isaiah Rodriguez (Atascadero); Charlie Kline (Templeton); Zayne Ellison (Arroyo Grande); Gage Hawley (Templeton); Hayden Brandow (SLO); Iven Gonzalez (Arroyo Grande); Sands Dougherty (Morro Bay); Damon Garcia (Nipomo); Adane Siegrist (Paso Robles); Jack Boyer (Arroyo Grande); Kason Niko (Atascadero); Jace Gomes (SLO).
This story was originally published April 3, 2025 at 10:47 AM.
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