Elijah Johnson scored 29 points, and San Marcos was able to control the tempo, keep Miami Beach 7-2 center Zachariah Brown away from the basket and pull out a 70-61 upset win at the National Prep Classic on Friday night at St. Joseph High in Santa Maria.
“Our goal was to try to pick up the big guy early and keep him just a bit further away from the basket than he wanted to be,” San Marcos coach Dave Odell said. “He’s a very good player and still had 19 points and at least five dunks, so we didn’t stop him. We were just successful in limiting the damage he inflicted on us. Both Scott Everman and Kele Mkpado followed the defensive game plan quite well.”
Everman was key in the victory for the Royals. In addition to his defense, the 6-6 center went outside and knocked down four 3-pointers.
Johnson continually burned Miami Beach (11-2) with his scoring.
“Elijah was fantastic again tonight,” Odell said. “I really appreciated his shot selection. He got 29 points on great shots, he didn’t force anything. He let the game come to him and just kept knocking down shots”.
Bryce Ridenour played a solid game with seven points, five rebounds and seven assists. Point guard Christian Widmer also turned in a fine performance, Odell noted. “I thought Christian did a great job shutting down their high-scoring guard, while being a stabilizing force getting us into our offense and controlling possession,” the coach said.
The Royals play host St. Joseph on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
