Prep boys’ basketball: Britton and ‘Money’ power Elk Grove to NorCal championship game
.JPG "Elk Grove center/forward DaJon Lott Jr. (21) goes up to score as Cosumnes Oaks Brandon Hayward (1), left, and Ja’len Flenory defend during the first period of the high school boys basketball game Feb. 4, 2022, at Elk Grove High School. The Thundering Herd beat the Wolfpack 81-58 on senior night at home in Elk Grove.")
Ameere Britton and DaJon Lott are about the nicest teenagers around, all manners, firm handshakes, kind words and broad smiles.
But in competition, with the season on the line, the Elk Grove High School seniors morph into game-face monsters. They would plow over your sister or beloved aunt to get to the basket or for that loose ball heading out of bounds.
On Saturday night, what stood in their way in this historically great season were the Vanden Vikings of Solano County, a tall and talented bunch inspired by the loss of one of their own. A 6-foot-2 senior guard, Britton scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in a remarkable first-half display. The 6-9 Lott played like the biggest man in the building down the stretch to help hold off Vanden in a tense and tight 42-40 Northern California Division II semifinal in a packed Cartwright Gymnasium.
Britton and Lott have been pals since the fourth grade. They are four-year varsity starters who have talked of these moments for years. The moment has been theirs with more moments to come.
Said Lott of Britton’s first-half scoring outburst, “He was crazy!”
Said Britton of Lott’s defensive prowess in the final, frantic Vanden possessions, where his length and instincts blocked the path to the net, “He’s our defensive anchor. Without ‘Money’, we’re not even here.”
Money is Lott’s nickname. Most everyone calls him Money. He’s not DaJon outside the family household. Where does one get such a cool tag?
“I don’t know,” Lott said with a laugh. “I got it when I was a baby. I love it, though.”
Elk Grove (26-6) figured it had a championship team this season, and the Thundering Herd was pained at not having a postseason a year ago, no thanks to the pandemic. Top-seeded Elk Grove on Tuesday will host No. 2 Branson of Ross of Marin County, located some 11 miles north of San Francisco, for the regional championship.
This isn’t all just a thrill for the Thundering Herd players, or the student rooting section, or the faculty that stop by for a peek, or old-timers who squeezed in, it’s a mega-thrill for the coach, Dustin Monday. He grew up in this town and has spent countless hours in the old gym as a little-kid camper to that of a fan to his years in coaching.
Elk Grove is in a NorCal Regional final for just the second time in the 40-year history of the CIF State Championships. The last time ElK Grove made it this far was in 1995, when the Todd Reiswig-coached Thundering Herd won the school’s first Sac-Joaquin Section championship since the famed Bill Cartwright teams of 1974 and ‘75. Led by star center Myron Richardson, that Herd team reached the NorCal Division I finals in Oakland. A longtime math teacher on campus, Reiswig attended Saturday’s game and loved what he saw.
“I went to those games; I was 9 years old,” Monday said, leaning against a wall outside the locker room to catch his breath. “I was telling our guys the other day to enjoy this. It’s hard to do this. Our kids don’t know what they don’t know, and this is crazy what we’re doing. Fun crazy. We’re one of the few teams left in the state still playing. The gym is packed because our fans and students believe in these guys. It’s just awesome.”
Britton, by any measure, was awesome in the first half. He collected the opening tip from Lott and threw down a thunderous dunk that set his first-half tone. He shook off defenders with drives down the lane. He hit jumpers. He scored his team’s only 12 points in the first quarter and he had 23 of his team’s 27 points at the half. Britton made 11 of 19 shots.
“Unreal,” Monday said of his star, The Bee’s Large School Player of the Year from the shortened spring season.
Lott scored just two points but “Money” doesn’t have to score to impact a game. He has to defend, and he does that well. Lott had 10 rebounds and two blocked shots, and he helped keep Vanden star 6-7 forward Takai Emerson-Hardy scoreless in the second half after hurting Elk Grove with 14 in the first two quarters. .
Vanden won a state football championship in the fall, motivated in part by the spring shooting-death of popular student-athlete Daniel Hughes, whose jersey No. 11 was with the basketball team all season, draped over a chair or on the scorer’s table. The teenager who shot Hughes turned himself into Fairfield police.
“It’s been a great team, overcoming a lot,” Vanden coach Mike Holloway said before the tip.
Elk Grove is star-heavy with Britton and Lott, certainly, but this is a well-rounded bunch. Karlos Zepeda, a three-year varsity performer, had eight points, and key cogs Jordan Hess, Grant Golonka and Isaiah King contributed with passes, screens and defensive effort. The bench includes guys who give it their all in practice and in games as the support crew.
“No one cares who’s scoring,” coach Monday said.. “They’re gracious and humble. There’s no, ‘What’ about me?’”
Monday expects another full house Tuesday, where the winner advances to the state final at Golden 1 Center. He hopes he can be heard come tip-off.
“It was so loud in here, no one could hear me, and I’m the loudest guy in the gym,” Monday said. “It’s just so cool.”