Then and now: this season's success rings a bell

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs have been going on for a few weeks. Samo’s boys basketball team has made a deep run in the postseason as they are now going to be playing in the CIF Championship game on Mar. 5 at Honda Center in Anaheim. The Vikings’ current success harkens back to the 2012-2013 basketball season when the boys basketball team won the CIF Southern Section Championship and lost in the California State Division 1A Finals.This year’s team finished the regular season at 24-2 and 10-0 in Ocean League, while the ’12-’13 team finished 20-6 and 9-1 in league.With Samo once again playing a high caliber of basketball, eerie similarities between the 2012-2013 team and this year’s team have arisen.The Mathews legacy continues on, as guard Jonah Mathews (’16), has led the Vikings in this year’s undefeated league season. Three years ago, his brother, guard Jordan Mathews (’13), who now plays for the University of California-Berkeley, was averaging 24 points and 8.5 rebounds a game in his senior year. However, while both brothers were the leaders of their respective teams, they still differed greatly as they both played different positions and had completely different styles of play. Jordan played at the shooting guard position and was a slasher, meaning he would get the ball along the three point line and make a beeline to the hoop, steamrolling over anyone in his path. On the other hand, Jonah is much more of a finesse player. Standing at 6’3” and 180 pounds, Jonah is used as the primary ball handler for the team. You probably won’t see Jonah barrel over anybody, but he will pick apart defenses with his skillful ball handling ability, and settle for the easy jumper.“One of the things in 2013 [was that] we ran the dribble drive offense which opened up the floor and allowed for more attacking,” assistant coach Brian Part said. “We also preached to the kids that their job was to shoot the open three or to get to the rim. Jordan Mathews was a kid who was in attack mode [always]. It was more of a mind set.”There is a big similarity in the way the two teams played in the post. Mikhail Brown (’16) and Daniel Schreier (’17) have a very similar relationship on the court as Chris Smith (’13) and Spencer Cramer (’13). Smith and Brown acted as the bruisers while Schreier and Cramer were big men who spread the floor. Much of their respective team’s success banked on the rotation of the post. Cramer offered more versatility from a shooting standpoint and forced the opponent’s post players to defend outside the paint. Smith was an undersized five man (center) who many thought would struggle after taking his junior year off from basketball. But it was just the opposite. Smith was dominant in the paint and proved to be the rim protector Samo needed.“They complement each other well, Schreier has a better outside shot then Brown,” Part said. “Brown probably understands the position in the post better than Schreier at the moment. There are skill sets that allow us to play them together. Both are willing passers. These are guys that understand the offensive sides of the ball.”This year Samo has reformed their offense to cater more to the post players, shying away from the guard-heavy offense that we’ve seen in previous years. With players like Trevis Jackson (12’) and Troy Maloney (12’) who were strong attackers of the basket. Now having players like Chailen August (16’) and Rip Economou (17’) who are lethal from three.“This year’s team, when you throw Schreier into the mix with his floor spacing, may be more skilled in terms of shooting,” Part said. “We run more of a motion based offense [now]. What we are getting out of this year’s team is we are dropping the ball into the post more often which leads to the defense collapsing, which opens up the three point shot.”According to Part, chemistry is very important and with the playoffs in full swing, the team is closer than ever.“What this team has that the ’12-’13 team didn't have until we went on our run in the playoffs is that [the ’15-’16 team] genuinely like each other. They hang out off the court,” Part said. “You see sophomores hanging out with seniors. You see juniors hanging out with sophomores.”With all the dynamic scorers on this team, many have overlooked Marcus Gee (’17). Gee is a player who can be relied on to make the right decisions when called upon. Throughout the year he’s been starting on a power house team and it’s only his first year on varsity. This is reminiscent of Troy Maloney (’13). Maloney was a solid player for the ’12-’13 team and while he was more of an outside shooter than Gee, both guys were key assets to their respective teams.“Gee is a guy that not just defensively, but offensively does the right thing,” Part said. “On any good team, you’ve got guys who can just do their job and are very solid doing multiple things. Gee is a kid who’s a good shooter, a good ball handler, he’s a good defender and he’s got a high basketball IQ. He’s not selfish and that is key because if you replaced him with another player that needed to get his shots, that functioned off of scoring all the time, it would throw off the chemistry of our starting five.”Samo has made big some big strides toward being the CIF powerhouse they once were. The team now has four playoff victories under their belt and is continuing to march though the CIF bracket. And if history repeats itself, come March Samo could be competing for a state championship.Update 3/7: Samo defeated Temecula Valley 66-60 to win the championship. They will play at George Washington Prep in the first round of state playoffs on Wednesday, Mar. 9 at 7pm.