In the semifinals of the Pacific Shores Tournament, upstart Mayfair of Lakewood records its second consecutive quality win with a big upset of state No. 3 and nationally-ranked St. John Bosco of Bellflower. Mayfair will take on host and No. 11 Redondo Union in Saturday’s final.
St. John Bosco came into its semifinal contest against Mayfair of Lakewood with the big-name players and the high national and state ranking — No. 15 in the Student Sports FAB 50 and No. 3 in the state to be exact.
All that meant little to the scrappy Monsoons — who don’t start anyone over 6-foot-5. After easily beating Rolling Hills Prep to open the Pac Shores Tournament at Redondo Union, Mayfair upset state-ranked Compton in the quarterfinals and then used a 17-4 advantage in the third quarter to pull off an even bigger upset with a 60-56 victory over St. John Bosco.
“It was a team effort,” said Mayfair’s Dillon Reise, who finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. “We were the shorter team, so we just have to play together against a team like St. John Bosco.
“We knew we were the underdogs, and we’re not that well respected around here, but we’re never a one-man show.”
Michael Nwabuzor led Mayfair (3-0) in scoring with 18 points. He also chipped in six rebounds. Returning underclass All-State guard Kendall Small, a transfer from Ocean View of Huntington Beach, added 14 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
St. John Bosco (2-1) led 34-23 at halftime and was outscored 17-4 in the third quarter, which was highlighted by a 13-0 stretch to end the quarter. Mayfair, which entered the season as a bubble club in the preseason state top 35, took the lead 39-38 on a basket by Damonique Moses with 40 seconds remaining in the period and never looked back.
St. John Bosco was led by UConn commit Daniel Hamilton with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Tyler Dorsey added 19 points 11 rebounds and seven assists. Billy Preston, a 6-foot-8 freshman, added 12 points and 15 rebounds, but Dorsey and Hamilton committed a combined 14 turnovers.
Mayfair will play host Redondo Union, which stormed back to defeat preseason No. 4 and FAB 50 ranked Westchester in the second semifinal on Friday night.
Ian Fox, one of SoCal’s best unsigned guards, had a huge fourth quarter to lift Redondo (3-0), ranked No. 11 in the preseason, to a 65-64 win. Fox netted 16 points in the final eight minutes, including the game-winning free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining after Westchester (2-1) took a 64-63 lead on a driving basket by Nick Hamilton. Fox finished with 29 points, including three fourth-quarter 3-pointers.
