2021 Holiday Classic Day 1 recap: Coronado's Richard Isaacs headlines top performances in National Division
The first day of the 2021 Holiday Classic presented by SBLive Sports finished with a flurry as Coronado (Nevada) rallied from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to beat San Ysidro 78-70.
Here's a game-by-game recap of all the National Division games played at Torrey Pines High School on Monday, including statistics and top performances:
GAME 1: Mission Hills 49 San Juan Hills 45 (American Division)
Mission Hills jumped out to a 9-4 lead after one quarter and briefly fell behind San Juan Hills in the second half before heading into the break with a 25-18 lead. The two teams battled closely throughout the second half and were tied late before Mission Hills was able to seal the game at the free throw line.
Mission Hills twin senior forwards Jayden and Justin White combined to score 39 of the Grizzlies' 49 points on Monday including all 24 second half points.
GAME 2: Francis Parker vs. Hillcrest (National Division)
The game was cancelled after Francis Parker was forced to withdraw from the tournament on Monday morning due to COVID-19 protocol.
The withdrawal advanced Hillcrest to the second round of the National bracket, but the Trojans were able to play Lincoln of Stockton later in the day in a non-bracketed game.
GAME 3: Archbishop Mitty 53 Mira Costa 46 (National Division)
Archbishop Mitty and Mira Costa played an even first two quarters and found themselves knotted at 25 heading into halftime. The Monarchs took a three-point lead into the third quarter and extended it by four more points in the final quarter to take a 53-46 win.
The Monarchs were led by Derek Sangster's 17 points. The Mustangs got a balanced offensive effort, with Dylan Black and Will Householter each finishing with 12 points.
GAME 4: Lincoln (Stockton) 86 Hillcrest 60 (National Division)
Lincoln held an eight-point halftime lead over Hillcrest and erupted for 31 points in the third quarter to extend the lead to 21 points. Senior guard Miles Byrd played a huge role in the Trojan’s second half dominance, scoring 16 of his game high 24 points in the final two quarters.
“Just confident in myself and knowing the work I’ve put in,” Byrd said postgame. “We’ve got a young team and we like to play fast and compete. When I’m with my guys I’m ready to go.”
Byrd opened the game with an alley-oop dunk and knocked down five three pointers in front of his future college coach, Brian Dutcher of San Diego State.
“It’s the same, he’s seen me play all summer,” Byrd said of playing in front of Dutcher. “Our relationship is great so there’s no pressure added when he’s here to watch, it’s just play my game.”
Freshman guard Anthony Moore chipped in with 13 points for Lincoln, helping the Trojans score 53 of their 86 points in the second half.
GAME 5: Clayton Valley Charter 53 St. Mary's (Arizona) 51 (National Division)
Clayton Valley Charter and St. Mary's was close throughout. The two teams headed into the halftime break knotted at 26 and found themselves seprated by only two points with 5.8 seconds left to play.
St. Mary's, trailing by a basket, imbounded the ball and handed it off to sophomore guard Styles Phipps who dribbled from the wing to the free throw line and launched a jumpshot that hit the back rim and bounced out as the final buzzer sounded, giving Clayton Valley Charter a hard fought 53-51 win.
Clayton Valley Charter senior guard Jeremiah Dargan, who shadowed Phipps on the final play, finished with 12 points in the win.
"We work on rebounding all day at practice so if we could just get a stop and get a rebound, we’d win the game," Dargan said.
The Ugly Eagles had multiple chances in the final minute to close out the game but missed free throws and had to rely on their defense to get it done.
“We just wanted to protect the basket to start, no lobs, no easy buckets," Dargan said. We knew (Styles Phipps) is a good player and that he was gonna come get the ball. Once he got it, just crowd him and make his shot as hard as possible.”
Phipps finished with a game-high 21 points in the loss while senior big man Jeremiah Cherry had 16 points.
GAME 6: Faith Family (Texas) 69 Campolindo 64 (National Division)
Campolindo came out on fire, knocking down four first quarter three pointers and held a 22-20 lead after one. Faith Family roared back in the second quarter to head into the break with a five point lead.
The Cougars fought throughout the second half and briefly tied the game in the final minutes of the fourth quarter but were unable to overcome Faith Family's huge size advantage.
Faith Family knocked down all four free throws in the final minute of the game, staving off Campolindo's last run, to secure the 69-64 victory.
"We just had to get our defense right and come together as a team," Faith Family senior guard TJ Caldwell said postgame.
Caldwell was named the SBLive Sports player of the game after leading the Eagles with 26 points.
St. Mary's-signee Aidan Mahaney led all scorers with 26 points in the loss, snapping Campolindo's 25-game winning streak that dated back to February of 2020.
GAME 7: Bishop Gorman (Nevada) 67 Torrey Pines 49 (National Division)
Torrey Pines jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game and led 24-14 in the second quarter before Bishop Gorman flipped the switch and frustrated the Falcons' offense with continuous pressure.
Bishop Gorman ended the game on a 53-25 run after trailing by ten points and got contributions throughout their deep and talented roster.
Sophomore John Mobley Jr. was named the SBLive Sports player of the game after hitting five three-pointers en route to his game-high 15 points. Senior Darrion Williams added 13 points while sophomore Jace Richardson pitched in ten.
The Gaels had nine different players score and finished with 12 three-pointers as a team.
GAME 8: Coronado (Nevada) 78 San Ysidro 70 (National Division)
Coronado finished the first half strong and went into the break with a 43-36 lead but soon found themselves on the wrong side of a San Ysidro run. The Cougars took over in the third quarter, locking in on both sides of the ball on their way to a 28-8 quarter.
Trailing by 13 points to start the final quarter, Coronado began a run of their own and fought back to take a one-point lead with just over three minutes left to play. Coronado kept adding on, scoring 14 straight and put the game away with a Richard Isaacs to Osiris Grady alley-oop dunk with 50 seconds left to seal it.
"We were on a three-game losing streak and teams have been jumping out to big third quarters on us so the same thing kind of happened," Isaacs said. "We were lackadaisical out there and not doing what we do, being selfish and not defending so we knew if we wanted to stay in the winner’s bracket, we had to come out and defend.”
That's exactly what Coronado did in the final quarter, holding San Ysidro to eight points, while quickly flipping the game back into their favor.
"We didn’t want to come out here for no reason and go straight to the loser’s bracket," Isaacs said of the fourth quarter. "So that’s just the biggest thing, we didn’t want to be embarrassed.”
Isaacs, a Texas Tech-signee, led the Cougars with 20 points. He scored 11 points in the final frame to help facilitate the comeback.
Martin Flores led all scorers with 25 points for San Ysidro.
