OCEANSIDE — The wait was worth it.
A year after losing to Carlsbad High School in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division boys championship game, Montgomery High School got standout performances from Xair Mendez and Devin Hamilton and beat the Lancers 53-45 before about 2,800 fans at Frontwave Arena.
“We came up short last year, so this is sweet,” said Hamilton, who led all scorers with 22 points and had eight rebounds. “This was our third trip in a row to the finals and we were determined to get it done.
“Carlsbad is a great team, and they have one of the best players ever in the section (Jake Hall) but it’s just a little sweeter to win it against them.”
Montgomery led 20-19 at the half with Xair Mendez leading the way with eight points.
The Aztecs were hampered when starting forward Xavier Guerreo drew two early fouls, then was called for a third in the second quarter.
Montgomery stretched the advantage to three after three quarters despite Guerrero being called for his fourth foul and JJ Sanchez missing four possessions with a scratch on his neck.The Aztecs pushed their advantage to eight at 39-31 with 5:45 to play on a Devin Hamilton basket, then to 11 on a Mendez 3-pointer and finally to 13 at the end of a 12-2 run on a Hamilton bucket.
Carlsbad cut it to eight with 2:30 to play. The Lancers got it down to six, but could get no closer.
“The crowd was great, really loud,” Mendez said. “There was a lot of pressure. But I like pressure.”
Hamilton finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, seven of his points in the fourth quarter.
“We knew we’d have to dig deep because this was the last 32 minutes of the season,” Hamilton said. “Defense has always been our thing. We knew we’d be in a dogfight tonight.
“We had a good plan and knew what we had to do from the start.”
The top-seeded Aztecs (29-2) won the game despite 2,200-point career scorer JJ Sanchez scoring only four points — all on free throws.’
“Winning with JJ scoring four is a testament to his value to our team,” said Montgomery coach Ed Martin, who won a CIF championship as a player at Montgomery in 1996.
“Most great players when they aren’t scoring, get selfish, force stuff, try and get theirs. JJ did what we needed him to do to win a championship – , defend.”
Said Sanchez: “I wouldn’t care if I scored zero as long as we won.”
Hall, the second-leading scorer in section history with more than 3,000 points, led third-seeded Carlsbad (25-6) with 14 points.
Jordan Garner finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. Hall had six reboiunds and Jett Kenady six.
“”I’m proud of our guys, their effort and execution,” said Carlsbad coach Clark Allard. “But Montgomery is 29-3 for a reason.
“They’ve been making it tough on their opponents all year. They have a great group of seniors who have been there a long time, compete at a high level and know how to win.”
