MODESTO — Sophomore guard Elijah Mobley stood on the edge of the court, battered and bruised. Plastic wrapped around his waist, holding a bag of ice to his lower back. Similar bandages encased both of his knees. He walked across the court with a slight limp, his body exhausted from the fight. Through the course of the game, he hit the deck hard on several occasions, even receiving an elbow to the face.
It’s the intensity expected from the playoffs — the nature of win-or-go-home demands it. The Hawks don’t shy away, rather seeking an even more physical duel.
“We’re battle-tested,” Mobley said. “I got to give props to the Coast-North because, s**t, every team in there is good from top to bottom. So I mean they prepared us for this moment.”
The moment was the third round of the 3C2A NorCal Regional playoffs. The fight stemmed from the opportunity to make history.
The Hawks’ physicality set the tone, eventually leading them to beat the hosting Modesto Pirates 78-67. It’s the effort they must bring to the next chapter of their season. The win punches the Hawks’ ticket to their second-ever 3C2A Basketball State Championship.
The Pirates came in as the four-seed, winning the Big 8 Championship after going undefeated in conference. The loss was their only home defeat of the year.
The Hawks are used to playing fast, aggressive defense throughout the regular season. Going into Modesto, they game-planned to ramp up the energy — turn up the heat until the Pirates ran out of gas.
It’s a mindset they have hung their season on all year long — play a fast, aggressive style of play and live with the result. If they fall short, head coach James Giacomazzi said they can be happy knowing they left everything on the table.
After finding themselves down five at halftime, struggling to clean up their defensive rebounds, the strategy paid off. They outscored the Pirates 39 to 23 in the second half, booking a trip to Los Angeles for the state championship.
“I’m just so happy for the kids,” Giacomazzi said. “They work so hard, and I’m happy for my staff. I have a tremendous staff. Those guys (Anthony Haskett and Ravi Bhambhra) work hard every single day…. It’s a great accomplishment. It’s gonna be a huge challenge. I don’t even know who the hell we play, but I don’t care — we’re going.”
A key figure in the Hawks’ defensive success was freshman guard Richard Banks. Coming off the bench, Banks consistently delivered defensive prowess throughout the season. Arriving in Modesto, Giacomazzi wished to free him up, allowing his instincts to lead his play.
“I trust him,” Giacomazzi said. “He knows I have his back, and he’s gonna make the best play that he can, and he’s always gonna fight to try to help us win. So, I can kind of go down with that, knowing that he’s gonna do the right thing the majority of the time and give all that he has. He’s a menace on defense.”
Bank’s presence made the Hawk’s press effective, causing multiple Pirate turnovers in their own half. It’s a freedom he hopes to continue to take advantage of in the Hawks’ playoff run.
“I’m coming up with every steal in the playoffs, no matter what,” Banks said. “If you give me that leeway, I’m gonna take it. I’m gonna go a thousand miles with it.”
The Hawks didn’t just get defense from their bench, but also an offensive spark from freshman guard Coby Christensen. He tallied a career high 12 points, all coming in the first half, with two made threes.
“It makes them want to play even harder,” Banks said of the bench’s impact. “If I don’t play defense and Coby is not scoring, it puts a lot of pressure on the starters. So if we’re doing our job, then it takes stress off them.”
Sophomore guard Sterling McClanahan began the second-half comeback, scoring the team’s first six points out of halftime. He finished with 20, with 10 made twos and no long-range makes.
With a timeout called on the court with 8:30 remaining and the Hawks up seven, Mobley felt the energy shifting. He knew it was crunch time — where clutch performers take over games to help carry their teams to victory. He sought to encapsulate that energy. To lead his team to a historic result.
He stormed over to the Hawks sideline, looked into the crowd and at his family, and yelled out, “It’s money time.”
“I kind of saw them — they were huffing and puffing,” Mobley said. “You can tell when someone’s tired. What I like to call it, ‘forty minutes of hell.’ We just pressure them for 40 minutes straight.”
He took advantage of the Pirates’ tired legs. He scored 13 second-half points, including five of their last nine. He finished with a team-high 24 points. It earned him a career accolade, reaching 1,000 points as a Hawk.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Hawks’ joy became overbearing. All season long, they have sought records — they wanted to win the most games in a season. They earned the program’s first ever No.1 state ranking. Now, they lead the program to its second-ever state tournament appearance.
But, just like throughout this team’s regular season success, the Hawks are hungry for more. Back in the 2021-22 season, their only other state trip, they lost 77-64 in their Elite Eight matchup against West Los Angeles. This squad wants to make it further than the program ever has.
To do so, they will have to get past another conference champion. The Hawks are set to take on Citrus, the Western-State South champions. They hold a 28-2 record, including a current 22-game winning streak. They beat Cypress 98-84 in the third round of the playoffs.
The Hawks have placed themselves in the battle for the state title. During this time of March, there’s only one rule in college hoops — anything can happen. Only time will tell whether they pull off a Cinderella run.
“We got a huge task at hand, Citrus — they’re really f*****g good,” Mobley said. “No matter if you’re a one-seed or 24-seed, if you make it, you make it. From there, it’s just who wants it? Who wants to be the last one standing? I feel like we got a good group of guys, and we want to be the last one standing.”
TOP PHOTO: Elliot Mobley (No.3) celebrating by the Hawks bench. Their 78-67 win over the hosting Modesto Pirates punched the program’s second-ever trip to the state championship. (Photo by Angelina An/ The Express)
Jakob Arnarsson is the Managing Editor and Sports Editor of The Express. Follow him on X, formally Twitter, @JakobA2004
