Mere minutes had gone by after a narrow loss to Chino Hills on Jan. 30 and Bishop Montgomery players were already thinking ahead.
The view on the horizon was the possibility of getting one more crack at the nation’s top-ranked team, after Bishop Montgomery had just given Chino Hills as big a scare as anyone had this season.
“We want that very, very badly,” said junior Ethan Thompson of the possibility of facing Chino Hills again, after Bishop Montgomery lost 71-67 at Cerritos College.
Bishop Montgomery (28-2) will get its chance tonight at 8:30 in the CIF State Open Division Division Southern California Regional Final at Long Beach State against Chino Hills (32-0).
The original meeting had all the makings of a state regional final, albeit a little more than two months before the two teams would meet in a game with all that at stake.
The Knights and Huskies entered that game as the state’s top two teams, with Chino Hills in particular blowing out nearly everyone it had played up to that point.
Bishop Montgomery, however, wasn’t having any of it, and pushed Chino Hills to the brink like it hadn’t been before or since.
The Knights led almost the entire second half before a late 7-2 Chino Hills run that allowed the Huskies to pull away.
It was the defensive effort on UCLA-bound star guard Lonzo Ball, however, that was perhaps the story. Led largely by Thompson’s efforts, Bishop Montgomery held Ball to just 2 for 21 shooting — although he did impact the game in other ways, with 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
“I don’t think he’ll shoot as poorly,” Bishop Montgomery coach Doug Mitchell said. “I hope Ethan and our D had a little bit to do with it, but quite honestly I don’t think he’s a guy who just beats you with his scoring, he’s a great player who is going to impact the game no matter what.”
Chino Hills has no shortage of offensive weapons. Even if Lonzo’s scoring is once again neutralized, the Knights still have to contend with his brothers LiAngelo (28 points per game), LaMelo (16.8 PPG), Eli Scott (16.3 PPG) and freshman Onyeka Okongwu, who had 10 points in the first meeting and has come on strong in recent weeks.
“I think you can make the mistake of thinking its just the Ball brothers, but we’ve got to keep their two big guys under better control,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said there’s no doubt the Jan. 30 loss has fueled his team ever since.
“They’re not into moral victories, and the pleasing thing for me was when we went into the locker room after that game, the kids were upset, they were angry,” Mitchell said. “They felt like they should have won that game. You have to believe you’re going to win, or else why show up?”
