DEMONS ENJOY THRILL OF VICTORY
Santa Fe High outslugs crosstown rival Capital to take lead in District 5-5A
Round 3 called for someone unsung, and Jordan Campos came calling.
Adhering to the mantra that Santa Fe High head coach Zack Cole has said countless times to his players, the Demons senior didn’t focus on the number of minutes he got Thursday. He made sure to do something with the ones he earned.
The backup guard found himself in a starring role in the final minutes in a District 5-5A slugfest with the Capital Jaguars in Toby Roybal Memorial Gymnasium. He scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter, including the last five, and collected a crucial steal to help Santa Fe High secure a 53-48 win and take the district lead over its crosstown heavyweight rival in the third matchup between the teams this season.
On a night when the stars rose to the occasion — Demons junior forward Fedonta “JB” White had a steady 20 points, while Capital’s T.J. Sanchez scored 17 and become the program’s all-time leading scorer — the outcome came down to which of the understudies hit their marks and underscored the growing drama.
“It takes everyone to step up and be ready to play Capital,” Campos said.
But even the stars knew how important this moment was for Campos.
“That’s a big man right there,” White said as he passed by Campos in the Demons locker room after he game.
Even Sanchez said the Jaguars were aware of what to expect from Campos — that he can drive to the basket with the best of them — but they forgot about the scouting report at the worst possible time.
“During the walkthrough, we knew to respect his drives and his jumper,” Sanchez said. “We got to respect everything, but I guess everybody just took him lightly.”
The moment of regret began after Capital took a 46-45 lead on Dominic Luna’s 22-foot 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:14 left in the game.
Campos got the ball on the left wing after the Demons (16-3 overall, 4-0 in 5-5A) broke Capital’s press and found himself one-on-one with Jaguars senior forward Seth Arroyos. He got the step on the 6-foot-3 Arroyos and slipped the layup just past the Jaguar’s right hand for 47-46 with 3:03 left.
After White hit a free throw at 2:01 to make it 48-46, Campos swiped the ball away from Arroyos on the Jaguars’ ensuing possession with 1:43 left. Santa Fe High milked the clock before Campos struck again. He dribbled past Capital defender Elias Rodriguez, drove to the paint and hit a layup with Brandon Saiz draped over him for the foul. The free throw made it 51-46, with 51.9 seconds left, and Campos then sealed the win with a pair of free throws in the final 12 seconds.
“A guy like Jordan, he’s hard to keep in front of you,” Cole said. “Our game plan was to space them out and drive on them. Jordan got a couple of matchups where Seth got stuck on him and
Elias got stuck on him. With us, we’re trying to give them confidence to be aggressive, and gosh, he was big down the stretch. We’re proud of him.”
What the Jaguars (17-3, 3-1) missed in this matchup was their own Campos. Chano Herrera was saddled with foul trouble and picked up his fifth and final one with 4:48 left. Angel Parra, who was averaging more than 7 points per game over the last seven games, went scoreless and took an ill-advised 3-pointer to end the third quarter. Arroyos, who recently returned to the court after missing two weeks with an injured ankle, hit a 3 with 6:32 left in the game that tied the score at 39-all, but it was all he scored.
Add a shaky fourth quarter to that equation, and it spelled trouble. At one point, Capital shot 3 pointers in six straight possessions, and made just two as it eschewed head coach Ben Gomez’s preferred style of attacking teams from the inside-out.
“I don’t know, we just decided to start shooting 3s,” Sanchez said. “Sometimes we just … get excited in the moment.”
It was a bittersweet evening for Sanchez, who came into the game needing 12 points to become the school’s top career scorer. He didn’t waste time securing it, as he tied 2002 Capital graduate Terence Mirabal with a corner 3 with 7:09 left in the second quarter, then passed him on an alley-oop layup at the 4:57 mark for his 1,503rd point of his four-year career.
“I feel like, this was hard for us because we kinda doubt ourselves now about playing as hard as we can,” Sanchez said. “I don’t think we brought all our effort or energy today.”
The Demons, though, battled through a rough shooting night from the perimeter, as Cruz Martinez hit all four of their 3s on the night.
They found a way to win by finding an unlikely hero at the right moment.