By Mason Byers
Staff Writer
The game between St. Mary’s and Brophy consisted of many lead changes and both teams trying to match each other's physicality.
It was the last game for both teams in the 2025 Nike Tournament of Champions and both squads played like so.
St. Mary’s ended up getting the win Saturday afternoon over Brophy 71-59, but by no means was it an easy win for the Knights. Especially in the first half when both teams kept going back and forth and taking their respective leads.
The game started off strong for the Knights' senior Caspian Jones, who had multiple baskets at the rim and even forced the Brophy Broncos to use their first timeout of the game halfway through the first quarter.
Jones, who had a strong Nike TOC tournament, is looking to build off his strong couple of days played heading into their final stretch of the regular season.
“Going into our region play it's good to have that type of momentum,” Jones said. “So we have a good run going into playoffs.”
Although after using a timeout in the first quarter, Brophy built a rhythm to end the first quarter as they went on a 7-0 run. The run included an offensive rebound and putback layup by senior guard Ayden Madi which would ultimately tie the game at 15 a piece to end the first quarter.
The contest started to get intense in the second quarter as there were four lead changes between the teams.
Brophy would get things going as their junior guard Daylen Sharper got a fastbreak layup to give the Broncos their first lead of the game. The lead didn’t last long though as Jones hit a and-one three-point shot which erupted the Knights crowd.
The second quarter ended with both teams committing multiple fouls but junior guard for St. Mary’s John Fahrendorf hit a three-pointer to round out the first half for the Knights and give them a 32-30 lead.
The head coach for St. Mary’s Damin Lopez was happy with how his team matched the physicality of Brophy’s teams.
“Brophy's very physical too and they do such a good job. They're well-coached, so we knew that coming in we have to hold ourselves,” Lopez said. “I thought today was a good, hard-fought, physical game by both teams.”
In the third quarter, the game kept going at the same pace. St. Mary’s extended their lead to six points. Although, once again Shaper got Brophy going with a steal and layup and took back the lead after another 7-0 run.
That would end up being their last lead of the game though as Jones kept finding his way to the rim with his post moves and gave St. Mary’s an eight-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Jones capped off his last tournament game with 24 points but knows anyone can win any game.
“We were talking about in the locker room don't take anybody for granted,” Jones said. “Just come out, fight, and have a good run going the playoffs.”
The Knights made a statement in the final quarter as they caused multiple turnovers and grabbed numerous offensive rebounds.
In the last few minutes of the game, the Knights ended on a run of their own. It started with junior guard Sebastian Hatsakorzian who had a backdoor cut that led to a dunk. It was then followed by a three-pointer from sophomore guard Noah Ondoua. Then the final dagger is when Ondoua found Jones on a lob-pass dunk.
With a statement victory to end their Nike TOC tournament, Lopez and the Knights are looking to build off of the last few days to help for the rest of their 2024-2025 campaign.
“We have to take it one game at a time and keep playing hard and don't take anything for granted,” Lopez said. “We gotta continue this momentum. We gotta keep getting better every day and keep doing the things we do well and do them right."
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