Cañada closes out title at Kris Kringle Classic

Saturday, Cañada closed out a sweep through the Kris Kringle Holiday Classic to claim the tournament championship at Santa Rosa Junior College. Through three straight wins — topping Napa Valley 73-64; host Santa Rosa in the semifinals 105-101 in overtime; and Los Medanos in the title game 95-81 — the Colts showed a tenacity to finish with consistent flourish.

That flourish comes with a caveat, however. While the Colts are no strangers to success — the team advanced to the postseason three times in the past four years under previous head coach Mike Reynoso — this year’s version of the team seems much less prone to the flashiness that was a cornerstone of previous years.

“Just going in being a first-year head coach, wanting to change the culture of accountability and make sure my players get excited for their teammates’ success before their own, and play defense,” Lee said. “… We’re in mid-December. It’s nice to see that hard work paying off.”

And, boy, have the Colts shown closing power.

In each Friday’s tournament semifinal, and Saturday’s championship game, Cañada was stronger after halftime.

The Colts trailed Santa Rosa by 20 points in the first half of the semis, but rallied back behind a 29-point performance by sophomore center Kaden Bradley, who earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Cañada pushed the game to overtime then outscored the Bear Cubs 16-12 in the extra period.

While Bradley backed that performance up with 11 points and eight rebounds Saturday, the championship game was the Sean Orr show. The sophomore forward totaled 21 points and 10 rebounds, with 18 of those points coming in the second half. Orr also earned all-tournament honors.

“[Orr’s] importance to the team can’t be understated,” Lee said. “I don’t call a single offensive play for Sean. He’s always finding himself in every part of the play … so it’s really just his tenacity, his sense of urgency to be in every play.”

Once again, the Colts hunkered down in the second half. Holding a slight 38-37 lead at the break, Cañada flew out of halftime on an 11-2 run and held a double-digit lead for most of the second half. Los Medanos briefly closed it to 86-78 on a 3-pointer by the red-hot Nnamdi Vixon, who came off the bench to share the game-high of 21 points. But the Colts responded with a 9-0 run to put the title on ice.

Sophomore point guard Lovevele Schackelford added 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Vinny Ferrari came off the bench to add 12 points with a pair of 3s. The Colts shot 52 percent (13 of 25) from beyond the arc. They tempered their long looks after the opening minutes, though, during which with seven of their first 10 shots coming from downtown.

“That’s a stat I almost don’t want to tell my team,” Lee said of the long-range opening. “I think that just came from taking what the defense was giving us.”

The Colts are looking to ride the hot hand into Christmas with two more games to go before the winter break. Cañada travels to Monterey Peninsula Thursday for a 5 p.m. start, then returns home this coming Saturday to host Cabrillo at College of San Mateo at 5 p.m.