Modesto Christian holds off Sheldon in OT, moves to NorCal final

Modesto Christian used a 22-0 run over the third and fourth quarters to erase a 14-point, deficit and held on for 61-49 victory to advance to the CIF Northern California title game for a second consecutive season.

Tuesday’s semifinal marked the second time in 13 days that the Crusaders (32-1) and Huskies (23-6) squared off. The two met on March 2 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinals at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena, with MC pulling out a 74-67 victory.

“They’re a tough matchup for us, they’re a tough matchup for anyone,” said MC coach Richard Midgley, who is is 62-5 in his two seasons as the Crusaders head coach with back-to-back trips to the NorCal Open final. “You can probably make an argument they’re one of the top two or three teams in Northern California.”

Up next for second-seeded Modesto Christian is No. 1 De La Salle (Concord), one of those two or three teams Midgley mentioned. Though placed ahead of MC for the NorCal playoffs, Cal-Hi Sports has the teams flip-flopped in its NorCal poll.

Down 33-19 with about three minutes to play in the third quarter, Darrian Grays helped ignite the comeback with a pair of three-pointers as the Crusaders clawed to within 33-29 heading into the fourth. Grays, along with Nico Rojas Rojas, who had a crowd-pleasing dunk during the surge, were key for the Crusaders all night.

“I’ve been saying this this whole playoff run,” said Midgley. “A couple of our guys get a lot of attention, but it is a full, team effort. With certain matchups, teams really load up on Christian (Ellis) and Robinson (Idehen) and every game it’s been a different guy stepping up.”

Rojas Rojas stepped up to the tune of 16 points and seven rebounds while Grays totaled 12 points and six boards.

“I just told Nico ... without him we wouldn’t have won that game,” said Midgley, whose team has won 32 consecutive games. “He played the best game of his life. Darrian hit big shots in the third quarter when were were down; great effort by them two to keep us in it.”

Rojas Rojas entered the game for the foul-plagued Idehen, who picked up his second foul with 3 minutes, 25 seconds to play in the first quarter, then was whistled for his third foul 75 seconds into the third quarter.

“My teammates helped me, gave me the opportunity to show what I can do,” said Rojas Rojas, a native of Bogota, Colombia. “Now, I just hope I keep playing like this.”

After scoring the first 12 points of the fourth quarter for a 41-33 advantage, it looked like the Crusaders would cruise over the final four and half minutes. But Sheldon took advantage of some sloppy play by the Crusaders and took a 46-45 lead on two-footer by Drew Cobb off a nice across the lane from Elishja Duplechan.

“I’m just really proud of the guys,” said Midgley. “We didn’t play our best game, we’re not playing well, we stick together, we grind it out, we make defensive stops, we get ourselves back in it and, ultimately, win it.”

After going ahead, Duplechan made a costly mistake when he was whistled for a technical foul, sending Jay Chen to the line with a chance to put MC ahead with a minute to play.

“I missed the first one, so on the second one I was like, ‘I have to make it … I have to make it,’” said Chen. “We’d been practicing all week for the free throws.”

Chen calmly sank the second, tying the game at 46.

Jordan Hollins-Buckner missed a jumper with 35 seconds to play and the Huskies could nothing with their final possession of regulation.

“We just didn’t make any shots,” said Sheldon coach Joey Rollings. “We had the game won twice and couldn’t finish. We fought to the end, but we just didn’t make enough plays.”

In the overtime, MC went up 48-46 on a put-back by Idehen then stretched the lead to four when Ellis charged the lane for another lay-in.

In the final minute, Chen was 7 of 8 from the stripe – making the last seven in a row – to clinch the victory.

“He’s been our guy at the end of games to knock down free throws,” said Midgley, who helped MC to a D-I state championship during his junior season in 2001. “And again today we were trying to get the ball to him. Credit to the guys for getting him open and him knocking down the free throws to kinda make the end a little comfortable.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 2:08 AM with the headline "Modesto Christian holds off Sheldon in OT, moves to NorCal final."