Victory Christian faced a tough test in the first of two semifinal games in the American Division of the 35th annual Torrey Pines Holiday Classic.
Facing St. Ignatius College Preparatory of San Francisco, the No. 7 in the state according to MaxPreps.com, the Knights trailed early and lost 77-65 at St. Augustine High School.
“I think once we got down, defensively, we locked in more, but offensively, we sped ourselves up thinking that we had to rush shots. They took away a lot of our easy buckets that we normally get at the rim or layup. We probably missed 15 layups tonight.”
The Knights (9-4) opened the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit down to 14 points, but were unable to continue their run.
The Wildcats (8-0) went on a 19-5 run in the second quarter before Knights coach Will Gray called a timeout with 2:19 left before halftime. St. Ignatius outscored Victory Christian 27-13 in the second quarter.
Jayden Gray, who scored 19 points in the Knights’ opening round game against Riverside Norte Vista, had 13 first-half points before finishing with a team-high 22 points. Sophomore guard Troy Tominna followed for the Knights with 19 points.
“He sparked his offensively,” Gray said of his senior guard. “Obviously, we got multiple guys that on any given night will come out and spark us early. Tonight, it was Jaden who did it. So he got hot early and did a good job.”
Throughout the Holiday Classic, the Knights — ranked No. 5 in The San Diego Union-Tribune’s most recent boys basketball poll — have been a team that forced turnovers with its press, but with the size from St. Ignatius, the Wildcats were too much for the Knights. All five of the Wildcats’ starters were 6-foot-3 or taller, including two players at 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-9 in the frontcourt.
“They were solid,” Gray said. “Their size. They shot better from outside than we expected, even with their bigs. They were tough to cover.”
As a result, St. Ignatius was forcing turnovers with its size from its press defense and turning them into points, especially in the second quarter.
St. Ignatius had four scorers in double figures. Senior guard Andrew Ennis had 15 points. Sophomore guard Alex Moore, who has college interest, scored 14 points, while seniors Raymond Whitley and Shawn Boquiren had 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Will Gray said playing the seventh-ranked team in the state give his team, ranked 60th according to MaxPreps.com, a tough challenge.
“I love it from the fact that it gives us a chance to see what the top programs are like in the state and we get to see where we’re at,” he said.
Victory Christian will play Tuesday in the third-place game, which takes place at St. Augustine High School. Tipoff is 6:35 p.m.
With the win, St. Ignatius moves on to the American Division championship game, which takes place Tuesday at Torrey Pines High School with tipoff slated for 4:55 p.m. The Wildcats will face either 2024 Holiday Classic champion Junipero Serra Catholic or Mission Bay High School.