On Friday, Redondo boys basketball coach Reggie Morris Jr. showered some high praise on Bishop Montgomery.
“They shoot the ball well very well,” he said. “They’re like the high school version of the Golden State Warriors.”
The Knights proved how worthy they are of such praise on Saturday night.
Bishop Montgomery shot 50 percent from the field and played some stout defense and ran away with a 71-58 victory against the Sea Hawks in a battle of the South Bay’s two best teams at the Take Flight Challenge at the Jordan Hangar.
The Knights (11-1) entered the game on a hot streak, having won the Southern California Christmas Classic earlier in the week.
“We’re in good shape,” Bishop Montgomery coach Doug Mitchell said. “We just have to keep getting better, we can’t be satisfied with where we’re at. But we’re in a good place, I’ll take where we are.”
Stephen Thompson Jr. was named the MVP of the Christmas Classic, and he followed that up by earning MVP honors against Redondo (11-4). He scored 26 points, dished out four assists and grabbed three rebounds.
The Knights’ ball movement led to a number of good looks and kept the Redondo’s defense out of sorts. Bishop Montgomery knocked down eight 3-pointers.
“That’s what we try to do, we have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball,” Mitchell said. “We have different guys do it every night. When you have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball, it makes us tough to guard.”
Jordan Schakel scored 17 points for the Knights, who led by double digits from about midway through the second quarter on.
Freshman David Singleton made three 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the third quarter.
Bishop Montgomery created a lot of problems with its defense, too. Redondo was held to just 8-of-30 shooting in the first half, and the Knights blocked five of shots.
Redondo (11-4) welcomed Billy Preston and Elijah Nesbit back into the lineup after the two had to sit out in the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic National Division final for getting involved in a melee against St. Patrick School of New Jersey in the previous contest.
Nesbit scored 10 points in his return, while Preston posted solid numbers with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Leland Green had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Sea Hawks.
Redondo was listed as the No. 3 team in the state in MaxPreps’ most updated rankings, while Bishop Montgomery was No. 9.
The Sea Hawks won last season’s meeting with Bishop Montgomery, 63-56. The Knights took the meeting preceding that, 60-58.
