Gahr easily sails through a Monsoon for first CIF
Championship
By Loren Kopff
ANAHEIM-Last Friday, Gahr senior Javonte Sales celebrated his 18th birthday. The next night, he and his Gahr boys basketball squad were celebrating the school’s first California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section divisional championship.
Sales rebounded from a poor semifinal performance to score 11 points and dish out four assists as the Gladiators pulled away from Mayfair in the fourth quarter to capture the Division II-A crown, 63-48, in front of 5,226 fans at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. It marked the first time in three tries that Gahr had won a CIF championship. The seventh ranked Gladiators outscored the fifth ranked Monsoons 23-8 in the fourth quarter when senior Davon Potts contributed eight of his game-high 15 points.
“I’m ecstatic right now,” Sales said. “This is the best birthday gift ever.”
With the score tied 40-40 entering the final quarter, the second place representatives from the San Gabriel Valley League ran off seven straight points. Although the Monsoons cut into that lead and trailed by two points with 3:10 remaining, Gahr put the game away with 14 straight points as four different players scored during that stretch. Eight days earlier against Foothill in the semifinals, the Gladiators rallied from 13 points down in the second half and outscored the Knights 17-12 in the fourth quarter.
“It just seems like every game we find a different way to do it,” said Gahr first-year head coach Richard Roper. “Some games it was the press. Tonight, we pressed a little bit but it was mostly half court, man-to-man.”
The Suburban League champions had their biggest lead of the game (11-5) late in the first quarter but Gahr countered with a 10-0 run. Although the Gladiators led 15-11 after the opening stanza, Potts, their leading scorer, was scoreless in four tries. In fact, he ended the game with only two field goals as he and Sales were in a near role reversal situation from the semifinal game. It was there where Sales was one of nine from the field and Potts missed three field goals en route to a 32-point performance.
But with Potts struggling and Sales holding his own, the Gladiators got big contributions from juniors Michael Alvarez (12 points, nine rebounds) and John Benson (14 rebounds) and sophomores Kyle Benton (eight points, six rebounds) and Brian Nebo (nine points, five rebounds). In fact, Gahr outrebounded Mayfair 51-28.
“I can’t even tell you who scored points for us tonight,” Roper said. “We were just grinding it out the whole game. The main thing for tonight was the rebounding. We’ve said all year long, no rebounding, no reads. [Mayfair] didn’t get too many second chance opportunities.”
“You just have to stay confident and continue to work,” Sales said. “Everybody is going to have an off night.”
Gahr (25-7) led by three points at the half and increased that to seven early in the third quarter following a free throw from Potts. But Dion Wright had a pair of three-point plays and Myles Smith added a trifecta as the Monsoons tied the game at 38-38 with 3:21 left in the third quarter.
But Sales got the fourth quarter ambush started 71 seconds in. Then Alvarez scored on a put back for the last field goal for the next 4:18. With Gahr now leading 49-45, Benson fed a pass to Nebo who threw down a dunk for the third and fourth points of that 14-0 run.
After having been denied in the championship game in 1999 by Dominguez and in 2009 by Harvard-Westlake, the Gladiators went through this season with a lot of adversity. First, the team had to get used to Roper after former head coach Bob Becker was let go after five successful seasons and a 107-46 record. Then a week into the season, Roper had to take a brief absence to be with his wife, who is battling leukemia and was released from the hospital three days before the championship game. Finally, junior Anthony Martinez broke his wrist during the Feb. 2 game and was lost for the season. He was averaging 14 points a game.
“I’m not trying to blow smoke,” Roper said. “I really think no matter who took over, they were going to be in this position. These guys are winners and they’ve won in the past. I just tried to fit in with them and they accepted me. They didn’t have to. I’m grateful for them for that.
“When you’re dealing with life and death every day, there’s no pressure when it comes to basketball,” he added.
“I feel honored to be able to lead the team to this,” Sales said. “I would like to thank coach Becker for everything he has done for me and coach Roper for everything. The feeling is great.”
Gahr would be seeded fourth in the CIF Southern California Division II state playoffs and hosted University this past Tuesday night. Gahr had no problems in an 89-65 victory.
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