M-A goes out in a blaze of glory

Despite trailing by 17 heading into the final period, the Bears went on a 17-4 run to ignite the home crowd, culminating in a frenzied final three minutes of the season.

“It’s a good memory, but at the end of the day the season’s over,” M-A head coach Craig Carson said. “That takes precedence. It’s just tough because I think if we had played to that energy and that focus in the first three quarters, we probably would have never been in that situation.”

M-A (22-6) closed it to a one-score game on senior Luca Auer’s clutch 3-pointer with 58.6 seconds to play, cutting the Golden Eagles’ advantage to 59-56. But the Bears missed their next two 3-point tries, and Clovis West finished on a 5-1 run to close it out.

“We should have never been in that situation,” Carson said. “The way we played last week (in the Central Coast Section playoffs) was not how we played tonight. ... Our bodies are there and we were making mistakes that seniors should not make, throwing the ball away. Stuff we worked on in practice wasn’t getting done. And then they battled back and played their asses off. It’s very hard to dig out of a 17-point hole in a Nor Cal game.”

M-A unleashed the full-court press over the final three minutes, and got quick results with a flurry of steals. Clovis West committed 15 turnovers in the game, eight of them coming in the fourth quarter.

But on the inbound off Auer’s 3-pointer, when senior point guard Jacob Sutton stripped the ball loose in the corner, it looked as though the Bears might just pull off the comeback.

Sutton scooped up the loose ball, found himself wide open, and squared up for a potential game-tying 3. The already frenzied student section in the southeast corner of the M-A gym had the shot coming right at them and, had it gone, it would have been pandemonium. But Sutton’s shot rimmed out to a collective gasp from the crowd.

“Also, a layup would have been nice in that situation,” Carson said. “But he’s a gutsy player. He does what he does. You’ve got to kind of live with that.”

Clovis West got to the free-throw line at the other end, and senior Gabe Orzco sunk 1 of 2 from the stripe to push the lead to 60-56. M-A pushed the ball up court, and Sutton took another stab at a 3, only to have it draw back iron. Clovis West freshman Jamell Castro and sophomore David Hinton IV combined to go 4 of 4 from the line in the closing seconds to put the game on ice.

Sutton finished with a team-high 17 points, including 11 points and three steals in the fourth quarter. Still, Carson deferred to Sutton’s initial missed 3.

“He’s been a great leader all season,” Carson said. “He’s done an outstanding job. Hindsight’s 20-20. A drive to the basket might have been the better choice, but you live and die with it.”

It might have just been the Eagles’ night from the outset as Castro — who finished with a game-high 19 points — opened the game with a banked 3-pointer. Clovis West went on to shoot 8 of 16 in fast first quarter, and finished at a 51.2% clip from the field overall.

While M-A opened the night working overtime on the offensive glass — senior Will Abdella had two early offensive rebounds, and senior Aiden Atkins had another; all three of which led to scores — the Bears simply had no answer for the Eagles’ forecourt defense.

The Eagles came out face-guarding M-A to the max, and the resulting five first-quarter steals staked them to an early lead. The Bears committed 15 turnovers in the game, including five in each the first and second quarters.

“They had a good game plan,” Carson said. “And we were just on our heels from the beginning.”

With M-A junior Leighton Carpenter coming off the bench to score a cutting layup to cut it to 21-14 early in the second quarter, Clovis West responded with a 9-0 run, sparked by an and-1 from sophomore forward Hunter Bradford, and followed up by a corner 3 from freshman Kannon Green.

The Eagles took a 34-23 lead into the half, then closed the third quarter on a 9-2 run to up it to 51-34.

M-A’s pressure defense down the stretch produced quick results, but Carson said his team simply didn’t have the depth to try it sooner.

“We don’t have the bodies to do it for a full game,” Carson said. “We just don’t have the bodies. ... It’s not something we can do for 32 minutes with the bodies we have right now.”

Three Clovis West players finished in double figures, with senior point guard Jace Kellogg putting on a show with his penetrating drives into traffic to total 17 points. Kellogg was also the most pesky defender on the floor, finishing with four steals. Hinton added 10 for the Eagles. M-A senior Jerry Williams matched Sutton for the team-high of 17 points.

“Awesome season,” Carson said. “I am very proud of these guys. They’re awesome kids to be around. I think just a little too many silly mistakes cost us. We got away with it all season. We got away with it against lesser teams. But in Nor Cals, to make a run, you’ve got to have four really good games. You can’t have three bad quarters and one good quarter.”

Clovis West now advances to Thursday’s Nor Cal semifinal round. The Eagles will travel to No. 5 University-San Francisco for a 7 p.m. tipoff.