SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - When the Bishop Montgomery Knights beat Woodcreek Timberwolves 74-67 to win the Boys Open Division state title Saturday night they used two tools. The first one was to get out to a fast start. The second, close the game out for a win.
Ethan Thompson had 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals for Bishop Montgomery. In the last two minutes of the game, Thompson also made seven of the Knights’ last 12 free throws.
Making the free shots was complementary to Bishop Montgomery’s 17-4 start in the first quarter against the Timberwolves, who were down by 20 points and decided to make a serious comeback. Thompson’s teammate David Singleton made five free throws in that last stretch.
“I just felt like I had to close the game out because the game was still up for grabs,” Thompson said of his free-throw work. “We have a lot of guys who can close for us, but I just stepped up tonight. We all knew what we were capable of doing and we just needed to go out and work hard on every single possession.”
Freshman Jordan Schakel had 20 points, two rebounds, and two assists while David Fletcher added 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots for the Knights (31-2), who won their fourth state title.
Jordan Brown had 35 points and 17 rebounds and Robert Tyrell contributed 15 points, three assists, and two steals for Woodcreek (32-3).
Woodcreek had trouble in the opening of the first quarter and Bishop Montgomery made them pay for it. The Knights ran up a 14-0 score before the Timberwolves could stop the carnage. Woodcreek didn’t get on the scoreboard until Brown made a free throw with 2:18 left in the first quarter.
Woodcreek made 1 of 14 shots in the first eight minutes and started the second quarter trailing 17-4. The Knights led 33-19 at halftime behind Schakel’s 13 points. Despite a shaky start, Brown tallied 12 points and 12 rebounds in the first half.
The Knights built up a 20-point lead, but Woodcreek kept creeping back in the third quarter. Brown dunked on two Bishop Montgomery players with seven seconds left to play in the quarter to make the score 49-39.
With 1:59 to go, Jackson Hughes made a 3-point basket for Woodcreek to cut Bishop Montgomery’s lead to 62-57. From there, Thompson and Singleton switched off shooting free throws on their way to be champions.
“I’m real proud of my team, we stepped it up after halftime, and we did what we could,” Brown said. “We represented NorCal well, but they did knock out the top teams to get here. They are a good team. I’m just looking to get back here and taking this right back over for a title.”
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