Red-hot South City wins host Petiti Warrior Classic

As it turned out, Igafo’s squad endured just one game before a quartet of football players rejoined the basketball team. And since the Warriors dropped that shorthanded season opener, the team has gone unbeaten since the arrival of Darren Miller, Thomas Miller, Luke Burton and Derreon Washington.

The Warriors (7-1) rallied for their seventh straight win in style Saturday night, capturing the championship in their host Drew Petiti Warrior Classic tournament with a 71-62 victory over Summit Shasta. It is the first time South City has won the title in the fourth-annual tourney.

“This is huge,” Burton said. “My whole high school career, I’ve been watching them play. This is my first year on varsity. I’ve seen them try their hardest. So, this just means a lot to me.”

While Summit Shasta (7-2) is known for playing a fast and frenzied style of basketball — a style that was the signature of the Black Bears as they advanced to the Central Coast Section Division V finals and the second round of the CIF Northern California Division V regional playoffs last season — South City beat head coach Jorge Chevez’s team at its own game.

The Warriors used pressure defense from wire to wire, prompting Summit Shasta to commit 27 turnovers throughout. While the Black Bears shot 42.6% from the field, their 11 turnovers in the third quarter allowed them to attempt just five shots in the period as the Warriors took a 56-46 lead into the fourth.

Summit Shasta used an 8-0 run to cut it to a one-score game, 56-53. But after the teams traded two free throws apiece, South City junior Isaac Stamper hit a clutch corner 3 to up the lead to 61-55.

“I was just trying to ice the game out,” Stamper said.

It would take a flurry down the stretch to do that. A three-point play by Shasta forward Allan Rayo, followed by a baseline layup by senior Erick Chevez, cut the lead to 62-60. But South City’s Aiden Yang responded with a cutting move to fade a short floater, then got to the line to hit 1 of 2 free throws to push it to 65-60.

Stamper then scored four more points down the stretch en route to totaling a game-high 25 points.

Burton added 14 points, including a cutting layup, soldiering through traffic to finish with an off-balance underhanded finger roll with the shot clock expiring and just under a minute to play in regulation to help seal the win.

“I had one (defender) on my hip, it was a big and I know he was the one that blocked a shot,” Burton said. “So, I scooped it up with my right hand on the inside.”

Yang and Burton shared the team-high with three steals apiece, while Stamper and Darren Miller each totaled two.

“We just locked up,” Stamper said. “Coach told us: ‘Take each matchup personal.’ So, that’s what we did. We just came out with that dawg mentality.”

The Black Bears are off to a hot start as well, winning seven of their first eight. They used wins of 69-26 over Balboa-SF and 66-52 over Leland-San Jose to reach the championship game of the Petiti Classic. Saturday’s loss saw an uncharacteristic lapse of defense, said Jorge Chevez, a graduate of South City.

“Our defense stunk, flat out,” Chevez said. “I went here, and they played like Warriors tonight. I’ve been a part of it on that end, playing and coaching here in the past, and they played with so much pride. And I’m so happy for Isaiah and their players, because he’s done such a good job with what he’s got. And they played their butts off today, and they earned it, flat out.”

Shasta senior AJ Solanoy totaled a team-high 17 points, and while his finishing touch was off the mark at times, he showed off his speed and physicality at taking on tough defensive matchups.

“That’s how he’s going to get treated all year,” Chevez said. “They’re going to put their best player on him, and it’s up to us to get him open looks. But usually when he gets the ball, we trust the ball in his hands. Sometimes they go in, and sometimes they don’t, and you’ve just got to trust he’s going to work through it, and he’ll be fine. And he will be fine. But we’ve got to do a better job of getting him open as well.”

Solanoy totaled six points and two steals in the first quarter as the Black Bears played point for point, and took a 21-20 lead into the second quarter. South City turned the ball over seven times in the opening period, but settled down as the game progressed, finishing with 18 turnovers overall.

The lead seesawed three times in the second quarter, with Shasta sophomore Jayden Orteza scoring a put-back off an offensive board to give his team a 29-28 edge with 3:30 to play in the half. But Washington responded with a dribble-drive into traffic to score a floater to put the Warriors back ahead, sparking an 8-2 run to finish the half. South City would never trail again.

Igafo said part of his pregame message to his team was to not only recount the Black Bears’ strong finish in the 2023-24 postseason, but that they defeated South City’s rival, El Camino, earlier this season.

“So [the message] was more: ‘If we beat this team, it goes to show that we belong with the top-tier teams,’” Igafo said. “I thought we played well, that they executed well.”

South City’s 7-1 start is its best in at least the last 20 years.

Darren Miller finished with 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Warriors. Rayo totaled 12 points and seven rebounds for the Black Bears, while junior Casey Redosendo came off the bench to add 12 points.