Fontana Summit Sky Hawks guard, Montigo Alford, drives to the basket during Summit’s, 51-44, victory over San Bernardino Cajon, Saturday, in a non-league game pitting two of Southern California’s highest rated teams against each other.
Photo By BOB OTTO
botto3@verizon.net

FONTANA, CA – If Summit boy’s basketball coach, Steve Hickey, were to quiz his Sky Hawks, he’d probably start by asking, “what part of our game is the most important factor that has led us our 22 wins?”

He’d probably hear a resounding, “defense!”

And it was the Sky Hawks defense that held the CIF Div 1A’s number four rated team to just 18 second half points in rout to a come-from-behind, 51-44, victory over the visiting San Bernardino Cajon Cowboys, Saturday night at Summit High School.

“We have talked to them all year that our defense will carry our offense,” Hickey said. “We realized we had to play defense and let the game come to us and get a feel for the game that way.”

TWO OF THE BEST
Both teams came into a game billed as a showdown of sorts. Summit, the CIF Div. 2AA’s number one-rated team, entered with a 22-2 overall record, 6-0 in the Sunkist League. While Cajon (#4 in Div. 1A) sported a 17-4 record, 6-0 in the San Andreas League.

And this game was also a rematch and an opportunity for Cajon to avenge a 66-63 loss to Summit in the in the championship game of the San Bernardino Kiwanis Tournament on Dec. 30th.

And in the outset if appeared the Cowboys might exact some revenge. Led by the shooting of Tyree Harrison with five points, Cajon held Summit to just four points in a first quarter that found the Cowboys leading 12-4 at the close.

ALEXANDER TO THE RESCUE
Cajon extended that lead to 14 early in the second quarter on Harrison’s (18 points) two free throws. But thanks to Devon Alexander, Summit stayed within striking range. The sophomore guard came off the bench to score all eight of his points in the second quarter, including a pair of three-pointers.

With Alexander keeping the offense afloat, the Sky Hawks started showing signs that the defense was coming to life as well. They held the Cowboys to 8 points over the final 5:40 – with three of those points coming from a long Tony Sanchez three-pointer at the buzzer ending the first half of play.

And at halftime Summit did a bit of refocusing.

“At halftime we talked about needing to bring our defensive intensity back up,” said Kenneth Morgan, who led Summit with 13 points.

And it worked. The Sky Hawks pressed and pressured all over the court forcing the Cowboys into turnovers, bad passes, and some bad shots. When the third quarter ended, Cajon could only muster eight points. And at the close of the fourth, the Sky Hawks had held Cajon to just another 10.

“We made too many mistakes and turnovers,” said Cajon coach, Randy Murray, “and they made us take some tough shots.”

OFFENSE AWAKENS
After Summit’s defense kicked in, the offense came to life as well, scoring 16 points in the third quarter, and 18 in the fourth.

The main catalysts were Morgan with nine second-half points, and Cameron Lewis with eight. With just under four minutes left in the third, Lewis slammed home a dunk, Darrick Arnold sank a pair of free throws, and Alex Reynolds nailed a three-pointer, and suddenly the Sky Hawks had closed out the third quarter trailing by one at 34-33.

And the fourth quarter belonged to Summit. Dorian Cason’s basket underneath tied the game at 37-37, and Kaliin Jackson’s basket at 6:10 gave the Sky Hawks their first lead of the game. A lead they wouldn’t squander by outscoring Cajon, 18-7 down the stretch.

“Once we reversed it and picked up our defensive intensity it carried over to what we were able to do offensively,” Hickey said.

With only three games left in league play, the Sky Hawks will soon turn their attention to post-season play. The game with Cajon and one with Buena Vista of Ventura on Jan. 23rd, that resulted in a Summit, 72-54, win were intended for that purpose, said Hickey.

“We sat down as a staff and tried to get games later on because we needed to see different types and calibers of teams,” he said.

SUMMIT SCORING: Montigo Alford 4, Alexander 8, Morgan 13, Arnold 2, Jackson 2, Reynolds 4, Quinton Lilley 6, Cason 4, and Lewis 8.

CAJON SCORING: Harrison 18, Tony Sanchez 3, Wayne Funn 5, Devin Jones 4, Jamari Simmons 9, Bruce Ford 3, and Miles Poulard 2.