The Sweetwater High School boys basketball program, steeped in championship hoops tradition, will be making an appearance in this year’s San Diego Section Division III playoffs as the reigning South Bay League champion.
But it didn’t come as easy as some might have projected at the start of the 2017-18 season.
The Red Devils plowed through the first round of league play with an undefeated 5-0 mark, then started the second round of league play with an 81-57 win over visiting Mar Vista on Feb. 2.
After the win over the Mariners, Sweetwater held a commanding 6-0 league record.
But the remainder of regular season play proved to be a race to the finish.
The Red Devils dropped a 70-47 non-league decision to Mount Miguel in a non-league contest on Feb. 3.
Sweetwater than absorbed a 72-67 league loss at Southwest on Feb. 7 to drop to 6-1 in league play and a game behind Hilltop, which improved to 7-1 following its 52-43 win at Mar Vista on Feb. 7.
The Lancers lost, 55-53, in a rivalry matchup at Chula Vista on Feb. 9 to drop to 7-2 in league play.
The Devils topped Castle Park, 78-53 on Feb. 9 to improve to 7-1 and, in the process, regain sole possession of first place. Sweetwater tacked on a key 76-42 rivalry game victory at Chula Vista on Tuesday (Feb. 13) to improve to 8-2 in league play and retain a one-game lead on Hilltop in the league standings.
The Lancers defeated visiting Southwest, 70-63, on Tuesday to set up a potential co-championship game with a win over visiting Sweetwater on Thursday (Feb. 15). A Hilltop win would tie the teams with 8-2 league records.
As a fitting finale to the regular season, Thursday’s game went into overtime, with the Red Devils pulling out an exciting 86-82 win to claim undisputed rights to the 2018 South Bay League championship.
But it was ever so close.
“We made a huge comeback in the fourth quarter,” SuHi head coach Jesse Aguirre said. “We were down eight points with four minutes left and made some big plays on our press. Freshman Jimmy Mattox had a four-point play on a three and Neilryan Pangilinan took over the overtime.”
The game ended in a 74-74 regulation tie. The visiting Devils out-scored Hilltop 12-8 in the ensuing overtime period.
Free throws came to the rescue this time for the National City squad, which sank 25 of 35 attempts. Pangilinan also displayed a hot hand at the right time, finishing the game with 35 points.
Mattox finished with 22 points while freshman C.J. McMillan had 21 points.
“We were up one point with a minute left when McMillan fouled out,” Aguirre said. “We brought in Patrick Mianak, who had been struggling with his shot the last two weeks, and he hit a huge three-pointer to put us up four points — team effort.”
The Devils finished 9-1 in league play with the OT victory while the Lancers finished 7-3 in league play after a horrendous 2-12 start to the season.
The league championship is the fifth in seven years for Sweetwater – and the third in four years for Pangilinan.
McMillan (19.5), Pangilinan (15.3) and Mattox (8.0) lead the newly-crowned South Bay League champions in season scoring average.
The Red Devils take a somewhat modest 14-11 overall record into the CIF playoffs, ranking ninth among the 23 teams in the division with a .560 winning percentage.
Mount Miguel (26-4) tops the Division III standings with a .867 winning percentage, followed by Valley Center (17-8) with a .680 winning percentage.
Bonita Vista (18-12) has the seventh-best winning percentage in the division at .600. The Barons finished fifth in the Mesa League standings.
The opening round tips off Tuesday (Feb. 20). Mount Miguel takes an 11-game winning streak into postseason play.
“It looks like Bonita Vista or Hoover in the playoffs,” Aguirre said in mapping out his team’s potential first-round playoff foe. “It will be tough on the road but we will be there and prepared.
“I didn’t expect to win so quick with a young team but they have no quit in them at all.”
Hilltop, which will be bidding for a berth in the Division III playoffs, is led in season scoring by Larry Hopkins (9.2 ppg) and Ryan Major (6.9 ppg).
On a Crusade
Mater Dei Catholic defeated visiting Montgomery, 65-36, on Thursday to wrap up an undefeated league campaign at 12-0. The Crusaders carry a 23-6 overall record into the playoffs, including a 10-game winning streak.
The Crusaders have the fifth-best winning percentage at .793 among Division I teams and could make the cutoff of the top eight teams for the Open Division playoffs.
Torrey Pines (27-2) has the top winning percentage (.931) among Division I teams, followed by San Marcos (23-3) with an .885 winning percentage and Mission Bay and Foothills Christian with identical 24-5 records and .828 winning percentages.
Trey Anderson tops Mater Dei Catholic with a 16.4 per game scoring average, followed by Beon Riley (15.6 ppg) and Joshua Tawhiao (14.3 ppg) on the score sheet.
Montgomery finished 10-2 in league play, 22-5 overall, and expects to receive a high seed in this year’s Division II playoff field. The Aztecs own the top winning percentage (.815) in the division.
Kyle Paranada (16.8 ppg), Timothy Crawford (15.8 ppg) and Rahin Williams (11.2 ppg) top Montgomery in season scoring.
Eastlake (14-14) and Otay Ranch (16-10) tied for third place in the Mesa League standings with 6-6 records. Olympian (3-9 in league, 14-14 overall) and San Ysidro (0-12 in league, 7-23 overall) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in league play.
Bonita Vista won its last three league games to make a late climb up the standings. San Ysidro is riding an eight-game losing streak while Olympian – last year’s Division IV runner-up – has lost its last five games.
The Eagles rebounded to go three games deep in the state playoffs to finish an otherwise magical season at 30-4.
Olympian moves up to the Division III ranks for postseason play this season.
Otay Ranch topped east side rival Eastlake, 73-62, in the teams’ regular season finale on Thursday.
Chris Stanek (15.8 ppg) paces Otay Ranch in season scoring, followed by teammate Tariq Deadmon (13.9 ppg).
Isaiah Williams leads Olympian into postseason action as the Eagles top scorer (13.1 ppg).
The section seeding meeting is Saturday (Feb. 17). Visit the website at www.cifsds.org for details.
