Amazin’ Mack: McClymonds’ 32-0 mark remains pinnacle of state’s stellar 2007-08 season

State of Play: Mark Tennis

   Some seasons we cover are like fine wines and only get better with age. Take the 2007-08 California boys basketball season, for example.

   In the next-to-last game of that season, which was the CIF Division III state championship, future Golden State Warrior Klay Thompson put on a show to lead his team from Santa Margarita-Rancho Santa Margarita to a 72-55 victory over Sacramento High.

   Thompson displayed his touch by nailing seven 3-pointers and racking up 37 points for the Eagles. It set a record for most 3-pointers in a CIF state final (the record still stands) and ranks in a tie for second on the all-time state list for points scored in a state final.

   Sacramento countered with a big-time individual effort as well. Chase Tapley, who went on to star at San Diego State, poured in 35 points but he and the Dragons just couldn’t keep up with Thompson.

   Santa Margarita completed a 30-5 season after that win. Two of the losses that Thompson and his teammates suffered were to perennial power Mater Dei-Santa Ana, two were to Dominguez-Compton and the other was to Campbell Hall-North Hollywood. Campbell Hall was led by 2007-08 Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year Jrue Holiday (now starring in the NBA for the New Orleans Pelicans).

   Mater Dei was rolling along with an unbeaten record until it lost to Dominguez 63-60 in the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA championship at the Honda Center. The Monarchs then came back to win the CIF Division II state title (the current Open Division format had not yet begun) with a 65-53 win against Archbishop Mitty-San Jose and ended with a 35-1 record.

   After beating Mater Dei, Dominguez eventually would face M.L. King-Riverside in the CIF Southern California Division I championship. One of M.L. King’s top players was junior Kahwi Leonard, who already has an NBA ring with the San Antonio Spurs. Dominguez won that game 83-74 and advanced to the CIF DivisionI state final.

   Standing in the way of the Dons, however, was one of the most remarkable teams I’ve ever covered in 35 years of following California prep sports. That would be the unbeaten McClymonds Warriors of Oakland. 

   Mack didn’t have a future NBA superstar on its roster, but used superb defense, balanced scoring and outstanding team play to reach the state final. 

   Dominguez fought to an 18-18 tie at the end of the first quarter, but after that the Warriors took over. They polished off the Dons with a 73-54 win and capped a 32-0 season.

   Mack, which topped another very good De La Salle-Concord team (28-3) by 50-37 in the NorCal final, was led by junior guard Will Cherry with 19 points. Damon Powell, a junior known for his incredible leaping ability, had 18 points while Demario Sims had 16 and the team’s inside enforcer, Frank Otis III, had eight points.

   One of the teams in the Oakland Athletic League that the Warriors had to beat twice in order to go unbeaten was an Oakland High squad led by Damien Lillard, who is now tearing up the NBA for the Portland Trailblazers.

   Yes, it was a spectacular year for California talent with Thompson, Holiday, Leonard, Lillard, Compton’s DeMar DeRozan and others, but how that Mack team played was hard to describe. The team’s head coach, Dwight Nathaniel, was an easy choice to be the State Coach of the Year. He retired after that last game and has written a book “Agony to Ecstasy: The Perfect Season.” 

   Nathaniel had to overcome some personal tragedy just before practices for that 32-0 season began when his daughter committed suicide and took a granddaughter with her. Three years earlier, Nathaniel’s wife was killed in an auto accident in which he was the driver.

   This season, memories of that 32-0 epic should be pouring through the current Mack squad. Nathaniel has returned to the bench as an assistant for the new head coach, Demario Sims. That’s the same Sims who had 16 points in that state final and even though that was only seven years ago and Sims has only just graduated from Chico State, it’s seems like a natural choice. 

   Good luck to Sims and Nathaniel in making new memories at one of the nation’s most famous basketball high schools.