Leading up to third-seeded La Jolla’s matchup with the top-seeded Mt. Miguel Matadors for the CIF title in Division III, boys’ basketball coach Kamal Assaf already considered the Viking campaign a success. “We’ve had a phenomenal season,” Assaf said. “This was our third straight trip to the finals. If we’d won it, every one would have said, ‘Wow!’” Unfortunately for La Jolla, it came up just short in suffering a tough 47-46 loss to Mt. Miguel on a free throw with no time left on the clock at the University of San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion on March 6. “We’ve shown we’re a consistent program,” Assaf said. “However, you have to finish games strong.” To their credit, the Matadors showed their strength, jumping out to an early 13-8 lead before four quick points by 6-foot, 2-inch senior Taylor Davis cut the Mt. Miguel cushion to 13-12 at the end of the first quarter. “We were controlling the tempo of the game,” Assaf said. The Vikings started to assume control in the second quarter, outscoring the Matadors 16-8 to take a 28-21 edge into the locker room at halftime. During the second period, Davis led La Jolla with nine points and was followed by 6-5 senior Jack Latta with four points, while 6-2 junior Ryan Mills had three of his own. After the intermission, it was more of the same as the Vikings went on another one of their vaunted runs, this time of the 9-6 variety, to vault ahead 37-27. “At that point, we wanted to slow the game down and make it a grinder,” Assaf said. But, it was Mt. Miguel’s turn to do the grinding on La Jolla as Yuel Hagos hit his first three-point goal of the game to get the Matadors going on a mini 5-2 run to close the third quarter and trim the margin to 39-32. In the fourth quarter, Mt. Miguel continued to get the job done as Hagos hit two more three-pointers, narrowing the gap to 42-40. “Playing in a big gymnasium like this, they (the Matadors) made their three-point shots and free throws to win it,” Assaf said. Down the stretch, Mt. Miguel’s Harry Brazelton hit seven of nine free throws, including the game-winner with no time remaining. With the score all tied up at 46-46, Brazleton put up a shot but was fouled as the buzzer sounded. He was awarded three free throws but sank the first one to seal the 10th straight victory for the Matadors. Davis finished with a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Vikings, followed in the La Jolla scoring column by Latta (10 points), Mills (5 points), 6-1 senior Max Greenberg (2 points, 7 rebounds), 5-11 senior John Walsh (2 points) and 6-6 senior Mike Soumekh (2 points). For Mt. Miguel, Brazelton and Hagos each had a team-high 13 points apiece, while A.J. Stanford added 11. NOTE: La Jolla High was defeated by Huntington Beach Oceanview High 47-62 on Tuesday, March 9 in the first round of state playoffs.
