Modesto Christian narrowly edges out Downey in Holiday Hoop Classic’s opening day
Modesto Christian coach Brice Fantazia knows that whenever his team steps on the court, they’ll get their opponent’s best shot.
That is just what they got Tuesday night in their first game of the 22nd annual Holiday Hoop Classic against Downey High.
The Knights (11-3), who entered the tournament riding a four-game win streak, fought to stay in the game.
After a close contest that saw Downey take a brief fourth quarter lead, the Crusaders (5-4) hit timely shots late to narrowly avoid an upset, 44-37.
“We knew we were gonna get Downey’s A-game,” Modesto Christian coach Brice Fantazia said. “There’s a reason we wanted to play Downey in the first round. We don’t want a 30 point blowout win.”
Step one of the Knights’ plan against a diminished Crusaders’ roster was to take San Diego State commit BJ Davis out of the game.
Downey ran a diamond and 1 defense with one player covering the 6-foot-1 guard man-to-man and the other four players in a zone defense.
“They came on a diamond in one on BJ and then on defense and it worked, it threw some of our other guys off,” Fantazia said. “I knew Mitch (Evans) was gonna have something in store, I didn’t know it’d be a diamond and one but credit to him, he’s a great young coach and his kids play hard and they believe in him.”
The Crusaders played without University of Arizona commit and four-star guard Jamari Phillips, forward Mana Itete and guard Darius Smith, forcing sophomore Zeke Davis, senior Jalen Brown and freshman Rashod Cotton into more expanded roles early in the season.
“I’m definitely proud of them,” said Davis, who finished with 10 points Tuesday. “It’s a lot to ask of those guys. For them to step up and do their job every night, I’m really proud of those guys and they’re just gonna keep building.”
Brown attacked holes in the Knights’ zone all night, scoring most of his points in the paint. He led the Crusaders with 16.
“I told him that when a team goes diamond and one or box and one on BJ, you got to take it as a little disrespect to you,” Fantazia said of his message to Brown. “He was terrific. He’s too good of a player for a team to go diamond and one on BJ and without him stepping up, we lose that game.”
Two late threes sealed the victory for the Crusaders.
Trailing 37-36 late in the fourth, Cotton drilled a corner three to regain the lead and a pull up from deep from Davis put it out of reach.
“I see real maturity for him,” Davis said of Cotton. “Not getting too high or too low. I just told him to stay level, it’s all gonna pan out. He’s been doing a real good job at that and he is only gonna get better from here.”
Downey is different this year
When the Holiday Hoop opening day bracket was released, third year Downey coach Mitch Evans said it was always a “goal” to have his team in the tournament.
On Tuesday night, the Knights put together a performance that would have made Downey teams from the past proud.
They knew the magnitude of a matchup with the Crusaders. It provided a great opportunity for the team which is in the midst of its best start in more than 20 years.
“I told them this is the biggest game probably of their careers here,” Evans said. “I think they really stepped up to the moment. I told them in the past when MC used to be in our league, a lot of old Downey teams would just go into the game scared and they would expect to lose. The biggest difference between great teams and average teams is you can’t expect to lose or you’re just gonna lose by default.”
The Knights played Modesto Christian tough all game. After trailing 25-19 heading into the half, Downey scored six unanswered points capped by a Jorden Lewis layup to tie the game at 25 apiece in the third quarter.
Two fourth quarter threes from senior Lloyd French tied the game at 35 and another Lewis layup put the Knights ahead 37-35 with just under four minutes left to play.
“We felt like we could win this game,” said French of the team’s attitude when they took the lead in the fourth. “We just kept trying to keep playing. We were down 6-0 to start the game off but that did not matter to us. They’re a good team, they’re going to get buckets, they’re gonna go on runs. That’s what they do. We just came in like no matter what happens no matter what the score is, every quarter we start over 0-0.”
French finished with a game high 20 points, but the Knights ran out of time. Threes from Cotton and Davis ultimately gave the Crusaders just enough separation.
At 11-3, the Knights are building off of a playoff appearance in 2021-22 season. They are using last year’s first round loss to Inderkum as a learning experience.
“There hasn’t been a ton of success in the program over the last 10 to 15 years, so it’s a really big deal and just shows their hard work over the last three years,” Evans said. “It’s a really awesome thing that they get to prove themselves and prove that they belong in a tournament like this.”
French says though they didn’t win, a performance like Tuesday’s is a step in the right direction, “It was a big game for us. Last year, we were the kind of team that would have folded under pressure but we really bounced back this year. It’s great to be able to play in a situation like this and to keep it close, too.”
