Five Takeaways: St. John Bosco vs. Mater Dei
After seven years and 69 straight Trinity League victories, St. John Bosco took down mighty Mater Dei Wednesday night.
The Braves put together a strong all-around scoring and defensive effort to pull off the upset, led by junior guard Chris James who scored 15 points, 14 each from Josh Adoh and Jalen Manson and 13 from Fernando Gomez.
Prep Hoops So-Cal was in attendance at St. John Bosco for the historic win and here are our five takeaways from that game.
Five Takeaways
Josh Adoh is one of the highest motor players in SoCal
The 6-foot-3 junior is one of those new-age, position-less players who has his hand in a little bit of everything on the court. Adoh is averaging around 15 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Braves this season, but what stands out most about him is the energy he brings to both sides of the ball every possession. There’s never a moment where you question whether Adoh is locked in or if he’s giving 100 percent effort as he’s always going full bore at all times.
Devin Askew has the tools to be an elite perimeter defender
Few things stood out about Mater Dei in the loss, but its freshman guard, Devin Askew, displayed some impressive defensive chops in his starting role. Askew has good size and strength for his class at 6-feet-3 and 175 pounds and is buying in to what the Monarchs teach defensively. He’s sitting down in a stance, moving better laterally and sacrificing his body by stepping over and taking help-side charges.
Chris James is rounding into point guard form
The Braves one true point guard, freshman Boogie Evans, comes off the bench for coach Matt Dunn, but James is beginning to morph his game toward that true PG role. The 6-foot-2 junior is averaging better than three assists per game on the year, but that stat doesn’t tell the whole story of the poise and high IQ that he plays with. James rarely turns the basketball over, especially in crunch time, and doesn’t put his teammates in bad spots with his passing.
Fernando Gomez is one of the best spot shooters in SoCal
If you help off of Bosco’s Gomez, be prepared to get burned. The 6-foot-2 junior has connected on 14 3-pointers this season and only one game where hasn’t made at least one from beyond the arc. Gomez is deadly when he’s able to get his feet set, has range as deep as one would like and always seems to save his triples for when the Braves need them most.
Mater Dei is human
The biggest takeaway from Wednesday is that Mater Dei is as human as its been in a very long while. The Monarchs struggled with Bosco’s length and ball pressure on the perimeter. The Braves high-energy defense sped Mater Dei up into making quick decisions, which resulted in turnovers or bad shots. The Monarchs lack of foot speed was exposed, as well, as the Bosco guards were able to get into the paint at will, draw the help defender, and kick it out to open 3-point shooters.