Behind star 6-foot-8 post Aaron Gordon's 24 points and jaw-dropping athletic play, Archbishop Mitty of San Jose held off a feisty and injury-depleted Sheldon 71-65 in a battle of two nationally ranked high school boys basketball teams tonight at Sheldon High School.
Mitty is the two-time defending CIF state D-II champion and ranked 12th nationally by USA Today and Maxpreps.com.
Still, Sheldon (ranked No. 16 by Maxpreps) played the Monarchs tough despite missing four key players with injuries and another (Washington signee Darin Johnson) waiting to clear transfer eligibility.
Among the injured was returning Bee Player of the Year D'Erryl Williams, out with a bone bruise in his foot.
Sheldon's seniors Dakarai Allen (14 points) and Ryan Manning (12 points) battled foul trouble and struggled with their shooting from the floor (a combined 6 for 26) while guarding Gordon, a national Top-10 recruit, who also missed time in foul trouble.
But 5-9 freshman point guard Devin Greene, Sheldon's next emerging star, dazzled with 20 points, and senior Antonio Lewis added 17 points, including a three-pointer that had the Huskies within three, 68-65, with 23 seconds to play.
But Gordon made three of four foul shots and Allen couldn't connect on two attempts from the floor to close it out.
"We didn't play up to our potential," said Sheldon coach Joey Rollings. "We kept making that run but falling short. Still, I'm proud of my guys. They battled against a good team and a great player in Gordon."
Greene made seven of 10 shots, including three 3-pointers.
Gordon, who has narrowed his recruiting choices to Arizona, Washington and Kentucky, made 9 of 12 shots from the floor and 9 of 11 from the foul line. He had 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Connor Peterson added 16 points for the Monarchs (2-0), who beat Jesuit 64-42 in San Jose on Friday. Sheldon is now 1-1.
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