With a second-half sprint, Capital Christian earns a rematch with Sheldon for D-I title

Final scores can be deceiving.

Sure, the Capital Christian boys basketball team knocked off Weston Ranch in a Division I semifinal Tuesday night. But the 77-59 win was far from a rout.

Weston Ranch led 47-45 late in the third quarter and the Sac Joaquin semifinal game had the makings of a classic playoff battle. Then Capital Christian hit the gas pedal.

The Cougars reeled off a 12-2 run at the end of the third quarter to take a commanding lead and earn a date with top-seeded Sheldon in Friday’s championship game. When the win over Weston Ranch was over, point guard Caden Flowers shook his head.

“That was rough, that was rough,” he said.

Flowers was a little worn out by the defense he had to play as Capital Christian locked down in the second half. When the Cougars went on their third-quarter run, it started with a 3-pointer by Mekhi Morris. Then Sione Lose nabbed a steal and a big dunk to get the crowd on its feet. Flowers followed with a steal of his own and a layup from Evan Johnson. It was a 7-0 run in 30 seconds.

“We get after it on defense,” Flowers said. “That’s the motor on our team. If we get after it on defense, no team messes with us.”

“Our coach told us we needed to turn up defensively, together as a group, everyone from the bench to the guys playing, we all hung in together,” Lose said.

They had plenty of work to do as Weston Ranch refused to go away for the better part of the first three quarters. Capital Christian worked out to an early 15-7 lead, but Weston Ranch chipped away even without big man Jordahn Johnson getting much playing time due to foul trouble.

“They have a phenomenal coaching staff, completely ready to go, attacked us in the middle, really was a great first half, back and forth,” Capital Christian coach Matt Filer said. “We went to a smaller lineup in the middle of the third and the fourth quarter and that seemed to give them problems.”

That’s the thing about Capital Christian. The 84th-ranked team in the country according to MaxPreps, Capital Christian has plenty of young offensive weapons, with just one senior in the starting lineup.

Darrion Williams had 26 points, Lose had 17 and Flowers scored 11 to lead the dynamic Capital Christian offense.

That it was defense leading the way was no surprise to Lose.

“It’s almost 100 percent of practice,” he said. “Coaches tell us to take pride in defense and everything else will follow.”

What follows now is another date with Sheldon, ranked eighth in the country and fourth in California by MaxPreps. Ask the Capital Christian coaches and players about the upcoming rematch – Sheldon won 88-68 on Jan. 18 – and you’re going to hear about defense. It’s going to be a battle. At least, that’s what Capital Christian is hoping.

“Probably against Sheldon, it’s gonna be the same way against them,” Lose said. “We gotta play as a unit, don’t let that get in our head and play physical ‘cuz that’s how we’ve gotta come out every game.”

They’ve been doing that a lot lately. The Cougars have won 12 straight games. Filer, the Capital Christian coach, said he wants to “keep it rolling” against the big dogs.

“We’re both different teams than we were back then,” Filer said. “We’re gonna be ready. We’re gonna play hard and I’ve got a ton of respect for (coach Joey Rollings) over there on that other side and we’re going to be as prepared as we can, but we’re playing really good basketball right now.”

The Division I section championship game is at 8 p.m. Friday night at Golden 1 Center.

This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 4:00 AM.