Taking Flight

By ERIK STORDAHL | SportStars

Jabari Bird grabbed the ball and raced up the floor. 

With nobody between him and the basket, the Salesian-Richmond forward threw down a ferocious dunk.

It’s hard to call anything a breakout performance when one is ranked among the top juniors in the nation, but Bird’s dunk capped off a sizzling 24-point effort that clearly served notice of his arrival. 

One minute later, Salesian captured its second California Interscholastic Federation Division IV state championship as they knocked off Price-Los Angeles 70-56 on March 23. 

The venue was a familiar sight to Bird and the Pride as Power Balance Pavilion hosted Salesian in the 2011 Div. IV state final when they were upset by Windward-Los Angeles 63-57.

With the bitter taste of that defeat still lingering, Salesian exalted in its opportunity to dance at half court when the game ended this time around.

“Last year, when we lost in this game there were definitely some nerves,” Salesian head coach Bill Mellis said. “I think when you play this game the first time it’s a big stage. We felt like this year we scheduled our non-conference schedule a certain way. 

“We went to Florida, we played really good games in front of big crowds down there. And then a couple games down the stretch in our non-league season, Sheldon (of Sacramento, a 63-61 Pride win on Feb. 4), St. Joe’s Notre Dame (an 87-48 Pride win on Feb. 18), we beat two teams that are representing D1 and D5 (respectively).”

The trial-by-fire schedule paid off as Salesian’s only two losses came against Florida powerhouses, Montverde Academy and Blanche Ely-Pompano Beach during the City of Palms Classic in December. That experience sharpened the team and helped spark its impressive run against California teams, which culminated on this Friday afternoon leaving Bird emotional when the buzzer sounded.

“It was a combination of things … last year’s game and winning it all this year,” Bird said of his unabashed emotions right after the final buzzer. “It really means a lot to me and the rest of my teammates.” 

After first quarter jitters wore off, Salesian found itself trailing 16-10 and buckled down as it applied its signature defensive pressure on Price. When all was said and done, the Pride had forced eight steals — including four from junior Mario Dunn — and Price was left with 19 turnovers for the game, several of which created fast break opportunities and easy buckets.

“We felt like we had opportunities to get out and run” Mellis said. “A lot of that had to do with going back to the rebounding thing. If we’re not securing the defensive rebound then we can’t really get out and run.”

Salesian was able to secure those boards thanks in large part to senior big man Freddie Tagaloa. A massive 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds, the Cal-bound offensive lineman inhaled a team-high nine rebounds and limited second-chance opportunities for Price.

He and fellow senior Davion Mize were freshmen on the Pride squad that shocked Bishop Montgomery-Torrance, led by current Cal guard Justin Cobbs, in the 2009 Div. IV state title game on a buzzer-beating layup by Kendall Andrews. How does this championship compare with that one?

“We had a lot of good talents that year like Jabari Brown and Dominic Artis,” Mize said. “And this year I feel like we had something to prove for losing last year.”

After losing in the state final in 2011, Artis, the team’s highly-recruited point guard, transferred to national powerhouse Findlay Prep-Henderson, NV., for his senior season. But the Pride never skipped a beat. In fact, since losing to Blanche Ely on Dec. 20, Salesian reeled off 27 consecutive victories to close out the season. 

That streak included wins over the aforementioned Sheldon and St. Joseph – both of which lost their respective state championship games on March 24 – along with Sacramento at the MLK Classic on Jan. 16. 

The Pride didn’t simply beat its opponents in the North Coast Section playoffs and CIF Northern Regionals, they steamrolled them. Salesian outscored its postseason competition by an average of 38 points per game, which led to Mellis and his players answering questions the whole week wondering if they were battle-tested enough for Price.

“We’ve been hearing all week about how we weren’t battle tested down the stretch of the season,” Mellis said. “We had to answer that question a million times and I respectfully disagree. And I think that was a motivating factor for us. We were reading articles from all over the place. … To say that we weren’t (battle tested), I’m not so sure about that.”

The turning point in the game occurred in the third quarter with Salesian trailing 32-31. The Pride went on a 9-0 run capped by a Bird dunk at the 5:49 mark to give them a lead they would never relinquish. 

In the fourth quarter, Salesian clamped down on defense yet again, drawing three charges in the final eight minutes. Mize drew two of them.

“Rebounds and defense are the most important things for us,” said Mize, who scored four points and grabbed four rebounds in his final high school game. “Our coaches told us to take charges and that’s a good thing most of us do, and that’s a big (momentum) turnaround.”

Since Salesian had both boys and girls teams playing in back-to-back state finals that Friday afternoon, school administrators canceled classes for the day and transported students to Power Balance Pavilion. So even though the game was played at a neutral site, the Pride’s cheering section made it feel like a home game.

“It’s the most our school ever supported us this whole year,” Mize said of the school holiday. “And our football team won the championship this year, so our faculty’s feeling good about us.”

And with little personnel turnover (only Tagaloa and Mize are graduating), there’s no reason to believe Salesian couldn’t end up at Power Balance Pavilion again next year, especially with Bird leading the way.

“(Bird’s) a really good player. We knew that coming in,” Price head coach Michael Lynch said. “We didn’t think that we could stop him, we just wanted to contain him a little bit.”