WALNUT — Another missed layup by Las Positas led to a breakaway for Citrus College, and perhaps the breaking point for the Hawks.
Owls freshman guard Amiri Meadows bolted down the right side of the court. Hawks sophomore guard Elijah Mobley, the only defender who could thwart the drive, reacted swiftly, sprinting from the left side to the paint. Meadows put his head down and exploded toward the rim. Mobley squared his shoulders, set his feet and lunged toward Meadow’s dribble.
Mobley was out of control as he went for the steal. The two collided just outside the paint as Mobley rammed his shoulder into Meadows’ chest. Both guards crashed to the hardwood. Mobley popped up quickly, whipping his head up in frustration.
He could’ve simply cut off Meadows’ drive and waited for reinforcements. But the scoreboard called for a spark. Desperation had him on tilt. His team needed him to make a play, do something. The results weren’t good. A reckless swipe. A flagrant foul. A 22-point deficit with just under five minutes left in the first half.
With every passing minute in the Hawks’ quarterfinal matchup in the 3C2A Men’s Basketball State Championships, it became clearer Las Positas didn’t stand a chance. Citrus will advance to the second round to face San Francisco, the No. 1 team from the North. The Hawks are done, finishing with a 26-5 record and the school’s second-ever trip to the state tournament. The Hawks still have never won a tournament game.
“We all packed to stay ‘til Sunday because we knew we had the capability to play ‘til Sunday,” sophomore guard Elliot Mobley said. “I think we had the capability to win the whole tournament.”
Turns out, a backpack would have sufficed. Their stay lasted two days.
More than the loss, how it went down for the Hawks was shocking. Getting pummeled, 112-73, and never really competing. Certainly never led. The Owls bullied them from the opening tip.
The Hawks came into the March 13 showdown feeling like they could contend with anyone. Beat any team. It’s how they choreographed this historic season, earning the Hawks’ second-ever state tournament appearance. The Owls were the No. 2 team in California, the highest-scoring team in the state, with a Division I-prospect starting in their backcourt.
But the Hawks had already gone into San Francisco, then ranked No. 1, and beat the Rams in their own house back in January. And it wasn’t close. Las Positas controlled the game in its 81-69 win. Then, to earn a trip to this state tournament, they went into Modesto and upset the Big 8 champions on their own floor.
Citrus was tough. The Hawks, however, loved challenges.
But they left the Exercise Science Wellness Center in Mt. San Antonio College realizing they’d crashed into a ceiling. Citrus made their reality clear. The Hawks were good. But there are levels.
“I was actually in shock that we lost,” sophomore guard Elijah Mobley said.
BEAT DOWN: In his final game with Las Positas, Elijah Mobley finished with 19 points in 31 minutes in the Hawks’ loss to Citrus in the first round of the state championship tournament at Mt. San Antonio College on March 13. He finishes his JUCO career with 1,022 points in 60 games.
The suffocating press of the Owls, along with the bright lights of the state-championship stage, had the Hawks looking unworthy.
The Owls (29-2) caught the Hawks flat-footed with a full-court press. It was a dose of the Hawks’ own medicine as they like to pressure teams. The Citrus press sped up the Hawks’ ball handlers and forced them into mistakes. The Hawks’ offense, which came in ranked No. 6 in the state at 86.3 points per game, failed to get anything going against the Owls. Sophomore guard Elijah Mobley, the Hawks’ leading scorer this season, was the lone bright spot in a tumultuous first half. He scored 15 of the team’s 34 first-half points. He finished with 19. Outside of him, the Hawks got next to nothing on offense.
Las Positas trailed 58-34 at the half. Citrus cooked the Hawks’ defense without its top weapon from the regular season: three-point shooting. In the first half, the Owls made just 1-of-15 attempts from behind the arc. Las Positas, the No. 3-ranked team from the North, still couldn’t match the offensive firepower. Owls guard KJ Perry — the freshman sitting on Division I offers from UC Berkeley, Fresno State, Arizona State and TCU — scored 23 of his game-high 29 points in the first half.
In the second half, the Owls’ deep ball returned to form and ended Las Positas. The Owls made 7-of-14 from deep in the second half. The Hawks trailed by as much as 44 points. Nearly 11 minutes remained when Hawks coach James Giacomazzi waived the white flag and turned to his bench.
After the game, once the embarrassment of their demise gave way to perspective, the Hawks were reminded of their worthiness. They sounded determined to not let a rough, rough 40 minutes define them.
They won’t win the school’s first-ever state title. But they still might be the program’s greatest squad.
“They’re forever in history at Las Positas,” head coach James Giacomazzi said. “I mean, they’re one of the best teams that have ever played at Las Positas, and they’ll have another banner going up, and that’ll be there forever. They were a part of something special.”
The “special” led to the emotions as they exited the locker room, the sentiment of the moment worn on every face. In particular, the sophomores. The team leaders who vowed for this season to be different. They formed a culture, created a brotherhood.
And now it’s over.
In the case of the Mobley twins, that reality rings twice as true.
“I’m 90% sure this is our last game playing together,” Elijah said, while Elliot stood next to him, solemnly staring at the ground. “I mean, I’m still in shock that we lost. I’m pretty sure it’ll hit me sooner or later that I’m not going to play with him anymore.”
The Mobley twins’ story is a microcosm of why this defeat hurt. It wasn’t losing that hurt as much as what is ending.
The Hawks’ poor rebounding led to Citrus’ potent offense getting up 15 more shots than LPC in the first half. The Hawks’ ice-cold shooting from deep — they made 4 of their 27 attempts from three-point range, 14.8% — crippled their own offense. The Hawks had to make threes to keep up with Citrus’ offense, which averaged 102.5 points per game coming in. But the Hawks picked the wrong time to go ice cold from three-point range. They shot multiple airballs. Sophomore guard Sterling McClanahan, the team’s most prolific deep scorer, failed to make any of his six attempts and finished with just five points.
But what was most potent was the feeling of leaving the game, and the season, knowing the ride was over. Those sophomores — so crucial to their on-court success and in the forming of the culture that produced it — must leave to start a new chapter.
Yet, the connection they forged is not so easily broken.
“We gave each other so much,” sophomore guard Sterling McClanahan said. “We put in so much for these past two years that I can just say that I know all the sophomores, wherever they go, they’re going to grow and flourish at the next level. And that’s just all I want to see for them. Just greatness.”
MISSING THE MARK: Freshman guard Coby Christensen, left, shoots a three-pointer over Owls guard KJ Perry in his face. Christensen made one of his six three-point attempts, part of the Hawks’ 4-for-27 shooting performance from three-point range. (Photo Ian Kapsalis/ The Express)
They leave Las Positas with quite the resume. The school’s first-ever No.1 ranking. They came one win short of tying the program’s record of 27 wins set in the 2021-22 season — their only other trip to the state championship tournament. Their run with Las Positas will produce two banners back home in The Nest — one for making the Sweet Sixteen, the other for the Elite Eight.
Ending such a historic season with a blowout defeat could have easily soured their accomplishments. But the Hawks found solace within their respect for their opponent.
“You gotta come down here and play hard, be ready for a dog fight, because they’re not going to give it easy,” Elliot said. “Everything’s going to be a dog fight. The 50-50 balls, everything. And I think we did that all season. And tonight, they just did it better than we did. That’s a team I could say plays just as hard, if not harder than us.”
All year long, these Hawks wanted to play hard. They wanted to play together. While the end goal was to become champions, they hung their hat on their aggressive personality and the character they established.
This roster did all that it could. They take off from The Nest with their names etched in the history books. It’ll be up to the returners to carry the torch even further.
“I think we squeezed all that we could out of this team,” said Giacomazzi, who was named NorCal Coach of the Year a day before the game. “I’m proud of our coaches as well because I think we put our players in position to be successful. … We earned it. We deserved to be here. But now it’s like, ‘Okay, we can still do more.’ ”
***
TOP PHOTO: From left to right, freshman Richard Banks, freshman Coby Christensen, sophomore Jorren Edmonds, assistant coach Ravi Bhambhra, and sophomore Sterling McClanahan. The Hawks fell to Citrus College 112-73 in the Elite Eight round of the 3C2A Men’s Basketball State Championship on March 13 at Mt. San Antonio College. (Photo Ian Kapsalis/ The Express)
Jakob Arnarsson is the Managing Editor and Sports Editor of The Express. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @JakobA2004
