After Santa Clarita Christian boys basketball’s final game of the season on Tuesday night, coach James Mosley said that what he would remember most about this year’s team is its character.
That character was on full display throughout the Cardinals’ 57-42 loss to No. 1 seed Rolling Hills Prep of Los Angeles in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 5AA playoffs.
“Our guys just kept competing, which was our point of emphasis,” Mosley said. “I was really proud of the effort in terms of not giving up and competing.”
MORE: Coaching at SCCS, TMU is a family affair for James Mosley
SCCS (16-5) struggled to find a groove at the start of the game and was outscored 24-8 in the first quarter. It had a burst of energy in the second, but still trailed 37-23 heading into halftime.
“We knew what we wanted to do. We were just in (a daze) earlier,” Mosley said. “A little bit like just not ready and we thought we were. Once we started to do the stuff game plan wise, against the pressure, we were fine.”
One player applying that pressure for the Huskies (22-2) was JT Tan, a 6-foot-6 freshman, according to MaxPreps.
Josh Fehr was tasked with guarding him for the majority of the game.
“It’s definitely tough because he was a lot bigger than me,” Fehr said. “I’m the tallest guy on the team, so throughout the whole year I had to guard the big men, but I tried to battle through it.”
Tan finished the game with 15 points, just one point behind Rolling Hills’ top scorer, Chris Koon.
The Cardinals scored only three points in the third quarter, but capped the game with a 16-point fourth — their most productive quarter of the game.
Justin Collins was the top scorer for SCCS with 17 points. AJ Caldwell had 13.
“We did do a great job pushing the ball,” Fehr said. “That was definitely a good thing, just getting up and down the floor.
“It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but I think we honored the Lord in what we did and we worked together as a team and just bonded. I’m going to love the guys forever.”
