Stealing the Game Away

I know you all were ready for the rematch! Brighton has already won a game against them. It just so happened to be at home. But now it was time for New Mission to host. It was the perfect time for them to win. New gym, best team record in the city, ranked in many state polls and they hadn't beaten the Bengals in 3 straight games in 2 years. NM had beaten everyone in the city with the exception of them to this point. This game was not only at their house, but it was held with NO SPECTATORS ALLOWED! It sure didn't feel like no spectators allowed. With staff and students from both schools, various coaches and scouts watching as well, here we go from Hyde Park!

In the first, BR had few buckets and 2 of them were off of steals. NM had had a full court press in which the Bengals couldn't break to save their life. When they did manage to get thru the press, they missed almost every attempted shot. NM's sophomore G Juwan Gooding and senior G Percio Gomez led the push with a combined 13pts.

New Mission 22  Brighton 6

By (7:05) BR's senior PG Malik James had been caught stepping out of bounds twice on his own. After a back and forth struggle, NM called timeout.(5:14) BR then started deferring shot after shot from the outside so that they could drive the lane. It didn't start happening for them til over halfway thru the period. Because BR deferred so many long range shots they continued the turnover show, getting called for numerous last touch out of bounds calls and traveling. They were defeating themselves. In the end of the quarter, both teams had pretty much matched each other. PGs Juwan Gooding and Malik James both scored 4 points. SGs Daivon Edwards and Percio Gomez had 2 3s a piece from their perimeter baseline corner.

New Mission 36  Brighton 22

Not too much notable happened in the 3rd. BR had a timeout (5:31) after NM's senior Point-Forward Nathaniel Anderson was sent to the line twice and James had been caught traveling again. BR's junior F Nick Simpson and NM's Gooding put up 7 points for their respective squads.

New Mission 49  Brighton 30

NM called timeout twice (6:49) and (3:20). But at this point, the Bengals were onto something as they were within 10. NM 51-41 BR hit the bonus.(2:07) At (1:37) NM got a turnover while BR was now within 7. Enters BR's junior G Mark Mojica, who was lackluster from beyond 3 the first 3 quarters. He hit a 3 to put them within 4. NM 52-48 NM then got a turnover leading to BR's Nickerson Succes scoring a bucket.(49.1) BR's Edwards then gets a steal and the assist to Mojica for another 3. He hit. NM timeout.(31.0) BR 53-52 (BUT CAN THEY KEEP IT?!) Out of the timeout, Mojica AGAIN, with the steal which led to Simpson scoring 2. Mojica with another steal led to James getting fouled. From the line he makes both.(6.1)

GAME OVER!

Brighton 57  New Mission 52

Brighton wins after being down 20. They win the regular season matchups 2 years in row. 2 season sweeps. They are on a 9 game win streak after having lost an irrelevant game in holiday play. I say irrelevant because New Mission lost their holiday play games too. So, with the realignment of the divisions, the North will be the only division sending more than one team to the cities. More than likely, both will meet again. Last year, Brighton lost in the first round in near OT to Madison Park. No worries this year i the cities first round, as either English or Dorchester from the Central (teams they beat easily to win the South last year) and Snowden or South Boston are likely to emerge from the South division full of the weakest teams in the last 3 years of conference play. Brighton who returned most of their squad from last year's state title run (where they only lost by 4 and didn't have their start F Simpson) have to be thinking city and state title run. They are the only team to beat New Mission in the city and they did it twice. Bengals, is it gametime or what? Cities in less than 3 weeks . LET ME HEAR IT!!!    

Brighton - 57

Daivon Edwards 13, Malik James 12, Nick Simpson 12, Mark Mojica 10,
J. Jones 6, N. Succes 4

New Mission - 52

Juwan Gooding 21, Percio Gomez 12, F. Rivers 5, N. Anderson 4,
S. Freeman 4, I. Coleman 4, S. Murray 2