Boys basketball: St. John Bosco's big 4th quarter key playoff comeback

St. John Bosco boys basketball coach Matt Du was blunt about his team’s performance through the first three quarters.

“I thought they out-competed us,” Du said.

But that all changed when eight minutes and a five-point deficit were the difference between the Braves going home and keeping their CIF-SS Division 1AA championship hopes alive.

St. John Bosco outscored Knight 24-7 in the fourth quarter, pulling off a gutsy 68-56 victory on its home floor.

“I thought we competed at a high level in the fourth quarter,” Du said. “(Knight) has won 11 games in a row. They’re tough and scrappy, so we knew this was coming.”

Sophomore forward JoJo Bush, who finished with game-highs in points and rebounds with 15 and 10, respectively, said the Braves’ performance over the final eight minutes was as simple as not wanting to lose.

“We didn’t want to be done,” Bush said. “We’re going for a CIF championship. We’re going to win this.”

The Braves (20-9) needed a full team-effort in the scoring column in order to combat the Hawks’ multiple defense looks.

Knight (19-7) started the game in a 2-2-1 zone press, fell back into a 2-3 zone, picked up man-to-man out of timeouts and closed the contest in a 1-2-2 zone trap.

In addition to Bush’s 15, freshman guard Makani Whiteside and sophomore Nikko Hall had 14 points apiece, while junior JJ Watson finished with 11.

“I thought our guys did a nice job of sharing the ball,” Du said. “Everyone needed to score with the way they defended us.”

The Braves will face either Valencia or Sonora in the second round.

‑ Devin Ugland

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