Montclair Prep Able to Keep Up With Changing Styles

During Montclair Prep’s State playoff run, the Mounties dealt with widely divergent styles of play.

In a first-round game against Santa Maria Valley Christian, Montclair Prep had no problems defending three-point specialist Chad Bickley.

In the Southern California regional semifinal against Pasadena Poly, Montclair Prep broke down the Panthers’ half-court offense.

And the Mounties survived the full-court press and open-court play of San Diego Horizon Christian to advance to the Division V State final today against University High of San Francisco.

Tip-off is at 4:15 p.m. at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

Like Valley Christian, the Red Devils feature a go-to player, but 6-foot-6 center Mark Mamakos presents a different challenge for Montclair Prep (27-5).

Mamakos averages 23.2 points and 10.9 rebounds for University (28-3), the top-ranked Division V team in the state.

Anwawn Jones, a 6-5 forward and the Mounties’ most-consistent player in the playoffs, will defend against Mamakos.

Jones will get help from 6-6 senior center Carlos Roubicek, who averages three blocked shots a game.

“We don’t know a whole lot about them but we do know they’ve got two solid inside players we need to stop,” Montclair Prep Coach Howard Abrams said.

Duggan Jensen, a 6-4 sophomore, averages 9.9 points and 5.2 rebounds, and senior guard Jabali Sawicki averages 12.1 points for University.

Montclair Prep is in the State tournament for the first time. University has never won the State title but won the Northern California regional in 1991.