Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Aragon’s Kaleb Brodeth

It’s no wonder why the the transfer senior out of Serra has quickly become Aragon’s go-to guy in the clutch.

“He doesn’t shy away from the moment at all,” Aragon head coach Hosea Patton said. “He’s in essence put his stamp on this season, saying: ‘Coach, I’ve got you.’ Whenever I ask him, he’s got it. So, I trust and believe in him cause his confident is through the roof.”

Brodeth has earned Daily Journal Athlete of the Week honors for his heroics against Independence in the finale of the Fremont-Sunnyvale Holiday Tournament. With Independence taking a 60-59 lead with six seconds to play, the Dons came out of a timeout by inbounding to the 5-10 guard Brodeth, who ran the length of the court to exact a soft floater from just inside the key to score the game-winner as time expired.

The clutch basket isn’t the first time Brodeth has scored a buzzer beater to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat this season. In just his second game with the Dons, and his first win in an organized basketball game in two years, Brodeth capped a 53-52 overtime win over Galileo-SF by grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and putting it back up to bank it in as the buzzer sounded to get Aragon in the win column for the first time in 2025-26.

“It’s happened before,” Brodeth sadi. “Obviously at home against Galileo, we were down with five seconds left, and I had the game-winner there too.”

While the Dons have quickly learned to rely on Brodeth as a playmaker, he was a pleasant surprise when the team began summer workouts. A transfer senior, Brodeth spent three years at Serra, where he played basketball as an underclassman, teaming with current Aragon senior Armando Cajbon, who transferred to Aragon prior to his junior year, with the junior-varsity Padres in 2023-24.

Then, Brodeth stepped away from the court, opting to focus on golf as a junior. This year, though, upon transferring to Aragon, he quickly reached out to the basketball team to inquire about tryouts. From day one, Brodeth impressed.

“It was pretty immediate,” Patton said. “It was over the summer, and I knew I had something special.”

As a point guard, Brodeth prides himself on being a facilitator as much as a shooter.

“I’m able to score, but it’s always fun looking for my teammates,” Brodeth said. “Seeing them hit their shots, everyone getting hyped, I think I’d much rather have that than just scoring all the points.”

He finished Saturday’s win with 13 points and three assists, but was one of four Dons to score in double figures, along with senior center Elias Ausiello (15 points); senior guard Charlie Platz (11 points); and Cajbon (10 points).

“Just the ultimate point guard,” Patton said. “He sees the floor. He finds the open man. He knows when to score. He gives what he has on defense. He rebounds exceptionally well for a little guard. ... He doesn’t quit. He has no quit in him. So, he reaps the benefits because he had that ... determination that we as coaches want our players to have.”

That’s how it came to Brodeth’s number was called during the timeout with six seconds remaining Saturday. It was a huge moment, not just because the game was on the line, but because of what it means to the Dons trajectory heading into Christmas week.

It was one week previous Aragon had dropped two straight to open the Cardinal Classic Tournament at Lowell-SF to fall to 3-3. But the Dons won the tournament finale in the consolation bracket 70-58 over Wallenberg-SF, then headed south for the Fremont-Sunnyvale tournament, where they opened with a 57-44 win over host Fremont and followed with a 64-48 win over Cupertino to match their longest winning streak of the young season.

Four in a row sure is a nice way to head into an off week, and Patton went to work on the wet board drawing up two plays Aragon could run out of the timeout.

“We have a couple plays drawn up,” Patton said. “We didn’t go with our one that we needed because of the way they set up defensively, so we went with the second one. And we knew that ... Kaleb could get the ball up the court and make a play.”

Is six seconds enough to run the length of the court, though? With Brodeth’s foot speed and sense of urgency, the answer is: absolutely.

“No, I felt like I understood the time,” Brodeth said. “I think I knew six seconds is way more than people think.”

Brodeth by no means took a direct path to the basket. He received the inbound pass deeper than he would have liked, running a circular route parallel to the baseline. He then swung wide toward the sideline, wriggled back and forth as he crossed midcourt, then made his cut toward the middle and into the key.

With just a second to go, and a big Independence defender between him and the hoop, Brodoth got airborne off his back foot to take an open look with a floater. With a relaxed shot and a smooth release, you could sense it as soon as it left his hand. Brodeth’s game-winner swished through the cylinder as time expired, leaving the hero to get mobbed by his teammates in the corner of the court.

Brodeth wasn’t done, though, reciprocating his team’s love by tracking down a stash of Christmas cookies provided by the Aragon teacher and Dons scorekeeper Katie Ward — “These boys get all the treats afterward,” Patton said. “They’re spoiled.” — and handing them out to his teammates. Already having two buzzer beater game-winners to his credit, Brodeth surely has his postgame act down.

“Kids live for those moments,” Patton said. “The kid’s got two in one season. Hats off to him.”