A program rich with history in its 61-year existence – boasting 11 section championships, 3 Northern California regional championships, 58 All-City players, 8 Sacramento Bee Players of the Year, and 1 McDonald's All-American – now has something that was missing from their trophy case: a state championship.
On Saturday, March 15, the Jesuit Marauders won their first state championship after beating Chatsworth Charter of the LA City Section 66-53 in front of a boisterous crowd of Jesuit supporters at Golden 1 Center.
A familiar formula of stout defense, precision offense and an incredible team-effort led the Marauders to the victory.
Coach
Tim Kelly commented "Executing a game plan is these guys' superpower," after the game. "They take what we tell them, taking a scouting report and executing better than any team I've coached."
The team was the focus after the game. No one player standing alone as the group celebrated the school's first title. This was the theme from the beginning of the season, a team that cared more about winning and the team, than individual accolades.
"This is a great example of a great team. I'm really proud and thankful to be their coach," Kelly said following the game.
"We can talk about defense, talk about offense, talk about the weight room. They have to buy in and they did. It takes that to win a state championship."
The path was not an easy one for the Marauders, who previously lost 45-46 to Rocklin, just two weeks prior in the Sac-Joaquin Section Championships in the final 30 seconds of the game.
"We've had some hard moments this season, taking some tough losses, and we got our hearts ripped out [against Rocklin]," continued Kelly. "Those teach you lessons, and you learn to use those lessons, and you can do something special, and these guys have. They just kept getting better."
Following the section championship loss, Jesuit rattled off wins against West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) heavyweights Bellarmine College Prep (64-50), and Archbishop Mitty (63-56), before beating Clovis East 63-60 to reach the Northern California Regional Championship game. In the NorCal championship, the Marauders faced off against Destiny Christian Academy, beating them for the second time in the playoffs, this time 65-55 to claim the Marauder's first Northern California Regional Championship since the 1994 season.
Coach Kelly summed up the season as he and the team beamed with joy during the post-game media session. "The first state championship in our history, and we have great history, this is surpassing my expectations. The names weren't big going in. There were signs along the way, fall ball games where we knew the guys were going to share the ball. We had moments and quarters here and there, and we knew that if we click, we could have something here."
It all clicked. "The power of teamwork!" as the players exclaimed after the game, earned them and the school a state basketball championship.
Game Recap
The game started slowly for the Marauders, scoring just four points in the first five plus minutes of the game. All four points came by way of the free throw from freshman guard
Maison Phillips, who led the team in scoring with 19 points in just his second start as a varsity player.
The Marauders scored their first field goal at the 2:27 mark in the 1st quarter, as junior guard
Brandon Williams hit a cutting senior forward
Amaury McKinney for a layup, making the score 7-6.
The very next offensive possession, after free throws for Chatsworth, senior
Asher Schroeder gave the Marauders their first lead of the game at 9-8 with a corner three-pointer off an assist from Phillips.
The lead was short lived, however, as Chatsworth finished the quarter on a 4-0 run to make the score 13-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Jesuit's offense struggled to get a good rhythm early, shooting just 16.7% in the first quarter. However, "Big Red D," as the Galley Crew calls the Marauders' defense, kept Jesuit in the game, corralling Chatsworth and their McDonalds' All-American Alijah Arenas, who scored a game-high 22 points.
The Jesuit defense held a Chancellors team, who entered the game averaging 71.8 points per game on 54% shooting, to just 53 points on 41.7% shooting in the state championship game.
Coach Kelly and the Marauders were unphased, however, coming out of the media timeout with a McKinney midrange jumpshot, another Phillips three-pointer, and a Phillips putback to run their lead right back to seven points.
Traded baskets by the Chancellors and Marauders and a quarter-ending three by Chatsworth gave Jesuit the 43-40 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Jesuit's offense, which shot 51.2%, including 40% from three on the game, continued to slice and dice the Chatsworth defense with precise execution in the final quarter.
Luke Browne started the Marauders' 23-point fourth quarter with a three-pointer from way behind NBA three-point range, increasing the Jesuit lead to six points.
The two teams then traded baskets for the next five minutes until the Marauders started their final, state championship winning run. It started with a great back cut by Phillips, who finished the layup off the Browne pass. The layup gave Jesuit the 55-47 lead with just two minutes left to play.
After a missed basket, the Chancellors began to foul as they felt like they needed to give themselves a chance to stay in the game. Browne and Schroeder would combine to finish the game going 9-10 on free throws, a Phillips steal and a layup in between the free throws capped off the win and earned the Marauders their first state banner in school history.
Phillips led the Marauders with 19 points, while McKinney (13), Browne (12), and Schroeder (12) all scored in double-digits. Williams and Keplinger led the team with five assists a piece, in a game where Jesuit assisted on all but three field goals. The three non-assisted field goals were a Williams steal and layup, a Phillips steal and layup and a Phillips putback layup.
The Marauders followed their formula, playing stout defense and executing on offense. They allowed 60 or less points in every game this postseason, while shooting an astonishing 48.4% from the field in the playoffs, including 41.5% from three-point range.
Schroeder was huge in the playoffs, averaging 18.0 and 7.3 rebounds a game in nine postseason contests, including 26 against Bellarmine, 23 against Clovis East and 20 against Archbishop Mitty.
McKinney was also an important piece, 10.2 points and 5.0 rebounds a game. The big man poured in a game- and career-high 22 points against Destiny Christian Academy in the NorCal Championship game.
Browne was a calm, cool, collected leader, finishing the playoffs averaging 9.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists a game, all while shooting 50% from three-point range. He also came up clutch time and time again at the free throw line late in games going 20-23.
Phillips had his breakout game in the state championship, scoring a career-high 19 points. Phillips averaged 5 points per game in the regular season as a freshman before getting hot and averaging 8.3 points per game in the playoffs, including an impressive 37.5% from three point range.
Williams was a constant at the point guard position averaging 7.6 points, and an impressive 3.7 assists per game in the playoffs. His five assists in the state championship game was tied for the most on the team.
Keplinger, who shared the lead for assists with Williams in the state championship game, was a steady presence off the bench in the playoffs. The guard averaged 1.9 assists per game, while boasting a 4.25 assist to turnover ratio in the playoffs.
Junior
Sahib Randhawa, who broke his hand in the NorCal semifinal game, but gutted through the injury to log five minutes in the state championship game, shot an impressive 52.6% from three-point range on 19 attempts in the playoff and was a strong defensive presence.
Jesuit finished the season 27-9, their most wins since the 2013-14 season. The Marauders reached the section final for the second time in three years. The NorCal Championship was the school's first regional title since the 1994 season.
