Jacob Majok, a 6-foot-7 junior who came to Crean Lutheran from South Sudan two years ago, let loose a scream during the fourth quarter of a Southern Section Division 1 playoff game on Friday night that was so loud it might have been heard in his native country.
“I love the fourth quarter,” he said. “That’s crunch time.”
With teammates telling him to “take over” and his coach repeating the same words, Majok did just that to propel Crean Lutheran past host Brentwood 62-52 in the playoff game. He scored 10 of his 15 points in the quarter, including consecutive threes after the score had been tied 47-47 with 2:39 left.
“Everyone was, ‘Jacob take over,’ ” he said.
Until then, Crean Lutheran found ways to stay close to Gold Coast League champion Brentwood (25-5) thanks to senior Matt Ciftcikara scoring 19 points and the contributions of football quarterback Caden Jones, who had 15 points. Majok also performed well on defense, making Brentwood freshman Shalen Sheppard struggle with his rebounding even though he scored 20 points.
Crean Lutheran (17-11) is on a five-game winning streak and didn’t have its star sophomore guard, Hunter Caplan, because of an injury. The Saints get to face Campbell Hall in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Campbell Hall upset top-seeded Crespi 79-66 behind 43 points from Colorado commit Isaiah Johnson.
Division 1 is looking wide open as far as a potential champion. Windward eliminated Inglewood and standout junior Jason Crowe Jr. 71-69 on the road. A big matchup on Tuesday has Los Alamitos playing Rolling Hills Prep. Mira Costa (27-3) continues to perform well during a 72-54 defeat of St. Pius X-St. Matthias. Eneasi Piuleini had 25 points.
The Open Division remains on a path toward the top two seeds, Harvard-Westlake and Eastvale Roosvelt, winning their pools, but a little uncertainty was injected into the competition after Friday’s results.
No. 7 Redondo Union defeated No. 3 St. John Bosco 77-75 behind 18 points from Brayden Miner. No. 8 JSerra defeated No. 4 Santa Margarita 63-51 behind 21 points from BJ Davis-Ray and 19 points from Brannon Martinsen.
Whether Harvard-Westlake (28-1) or Roosevelt (28-2) is going to stumble might become evident soon. Fresh off their upsets, Redondo plays at Roosevelt while JSerra is at Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday. Both are rematches, so the underdogs know their opponents well.
For fans looking to cheer for teams filled with neighborhood kids, Camarillo (28-2) and Irvine (28-2) continue to have historic seasons. Camarillo, seeded No. 1 in Division 2AA, won 66-62 on the road against Glendora. Jackson Yeates scored 24 points. Irvine, seeded No. 14 in Division 2A, defeated Pasadena 66-57. Cooper Stearns, a golfer headed to Stanford, finished with 22 points and Jalen Yim had 21 points.
