A night where they struggled to score. MC hoops fall to Sheldon in NorCal title game.
Modesto Christian senior guard Earv Knox walked down the Cosumnes River College hallway with his head down.
It wasn’t the night Knox and the Crusaders had envisioned as they fell to Sheldon, 57-48, in the CIF State Open Division NorCal Regional Final on Tuesday. Sheldon will face Sierra Canyon on Saturday at the Golden 1 Center.
“We didn’t do a bad job executing,” Crusaders coach Brice Fantazia said. “We got our spots and got the plays we wanted .... finishing at the rim was an issue tonight. We missed nine or 10 layups. If we make five of those, we are probably walking out of here happy.”
A capacity crowd of 1,800 filled the seats prior to the game in anticipation of another classic battle between the schools that had just faced off 10 days ago in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title game won by the Huskies.
From the tip, it was all Crusaders as they jumped out to a 9-0 run. Senior forward Aaron Murphy had four early points and Sheldon coach Joey Rollings called a timeout as Murphy and crew ran to the bench with a burst of energy.
That energy and momentum shifted after the timeout as Sheldon answered with a 16-0 run highlighted by six points from senior guard Justin Nguyen.
“They weren’t going to go away and we knew that,” Fantazia said. “Once they made their big run after our big run, we never were really able to gain momentum.”
Sheldon (24-10) led 21-12 after one quarter and didn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
The pro-Huskies crowd caused issues as well for the Crusaders (27-8), who had problems setting plays on offense and communicating on defense, leading to easy Sheldon baskets.
The Crusaders couldn’t cut the Sheldon lead to below seven until early in the fourth when they started the quarter on a little run but missed wide-open shots.
“They did get out in transition and got some layups but for the most part, to hold a team like Sheldon to 57 points, we didn’t do a bad job ... it was more so offensively,” Fantazia said about the Crusaders’ issues. “We have been playing very good basketball and tonight just wasn’t our night.”
Murphy finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds while freshman guard Devin Day had nine points. Ngyuen had 18 for the Huskies while senior guard Kaito Williams added 11.
Sheldon junior forward Marcus Bagley, who was playing in his second game after a bad back forced him to miss the entire section playoffs, had 10 points and four rebounds and Fantazia said the 6-foot-8 brother of Kings rookie Marvin Bagley caused issues in the paint with his length. Marvin Bagley was there to watch his brother.
Fantazia thanked his seniors in the locker room after the game, all of whom will be playing college basketball next year, including Murphy, who is headed to UC Davis.
“I told them to keep their heads up because they have bright futures and we are proud of them,” Fantazia said.
This story was originally published March 5, 2019 at 10:16 PM.
