After a loss to the Palisades Dolphins, the Legacy Lions completed back-to-back wins, including a narrow 61-60 road victory over the Loyola Cubs of Los Angeles Tuesday night.
“Just was super proud of the team. It was a real team effort from top to bottom,” Legacy Christian head coach James Mosley said. “You know, you don’t always know how these games are going to play out and who their primary guys are. But I was just really proud and can thank all the guys that made an impact.”
In the first quarter, the Lions (16-9) outscored the Cubs (14-6, 6-2) 18-9 with the game looking to be a big victory for Mosley and the team.
But in the second and third quarters, the Cubs outscored the Lions, 36-32, and forced the pressure on Legacy.
In the fourth quarter, Mosley added that’s when he asked his team to play lockdown defense for the Lions to pull out for the victory as they looked to hold on for the lead.
“We knew they were going to make a run,” he said. “We had pretty much been able to have the lead most of the game. But it was in between the range of 3 and 8 points back and forth. And so, we were really trying to make adjustments. They were turning things up and really trying to pressure even more.”
Sophomore guard JR Mosley and Xzavier Miller led the Lions in the defensive efforts as not only did they execute on their assignments but also contributed to the offensive side of the ball.
“JR Mosley, he had to show a lot of maturity in terms of just being able to score, but also making the right pass and rebounding,” coach Mosley said. “And Miller in the fourth quarter, he was showing his aggressiveness trying to get down and was rebounding.”
JR Mosley tallied 22 points in the win and led the Lions in scoring as he also had an all-around performance with seven rebounds and five assists.
Miller scored 14 points and recorded eight rebounds.
Sophomore guard Matthew Burton also contributed heavily to the offense as he had 17 points along with three assists.
The Lions completed the victory over the 47th ranked team in the Southern Section, according to Wednesday’s computer rankings provided by High School on SI that determines where teams will be seeded in the CIF-SS playoffs.
As of Wednesday, the Lions are 93rd and are the highest-ranked team in the Santa Clarita Valley in boys’ basketball.
The Lions play next Saturday against the Crescenta Valley Falcons, another premier matchup that the Lions hope will boost their resume come playoff time.
Despite the implications surrounding the game, Mosley is keeping his team grounded and will aims to have the Lions ready to finish the season strong.
“Our goal is to keep getting better and to keep really improving in our roles,” he said. “We’re definitely excited for our Saturday game against Crescenta. They’re a very goodteam, but we’re just excited, like, hey, let’s see how much we can improve. Let’s see how much we can rise to the challenge and what we can accomplish as a unit.”
