Mateo Trujillo
Rolling Hills Prep, Junior
Mateo Trujillo had a limited role as a backup guard on the Rolling Hills Prep boys basketball team in his sophomore season.
“I had a role off of the bench,” Trujillo recalled. “Coach would put me in expecting me not to turn the ball over and any extra was a positive.”
Things were different for him this season as a junior. His role expanded to scorer, defender, leader and just about anything else the Huskies needed.
“He had a phenomenal year,” RHP coach Harvey Kitani said. “He took over the leadership of the team, he had to learn all of the nuisances of playing point guard and being a leader.
“He led our young group through the ups and downs and turned out to be a great captain for us. The kids like him and they followed him. He played as a sophomore, but this year we didn't take him out. As he has started to understand the game, he sees the game slower and he makes the right read.”
Trujillo averaged 18.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5 assists per game as the Huskies went through a challenging schedule, eventually advancing to the CIF-Southern Section Division 2AA championship game.
“Based off of our fall league, I wouldn't have thought we could have made it to the championship and state playoffs,” Trujillo said. “We had a lot of new guys and not a lot of experience playing together and I think we lost to St. Anthony by 25 points, (and) another team in the Valley that didn't make the playoffs by 15-20 points, and Lynwood by 20 points.
“The biggest change in season was the Damien tournament. We were having a hard time as a team finding roles and we had some struggles that forced us to adapt quickly.”
RHP went 2-2 in The Classic at Damien, which followed a championship game appearance in the Dwan Hurt Holiday Classic. Trujillo earned all-tournament honors at both and was the MVP of the Huntington Park Tournament.
Trujillo put in a lot of work going into this season.
“I wouldn't say I'm in the gym 24/7, but I try to get in the gym every day,” he said. “My older brother (Alex Garcia) goes to Dominguez Hills and when you're playing guys that are better than you, that makes you feel not as special and it makes me more hungry to get better.”
The next step for Trujillo and RHP is make the climb to the Open Division of the CIF-SS playoffs. He believes they're not that far away.
“It will depend on how fast we can improve,” he said. “We showed that we can beat Open teams (RHP defeated JSerra in the state playoffs). Next year, if we play our game, we can make it to the Open.”
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