Jacob Majok delivers in crunch time during Crean Lutheran victory
'I love the fourth quarter,' he said. 'That's crunch time.'
With teammates telling him to 'take over' and his coach repeating the same words, Majok did just that to propel Crean Lutheran past host Brentwood 62-52 in the playoff game. He scored 10 of his 15 points in the quarter, including consecutive threes after the score had been tied 47-47 with 2:39 left.
'Everyone was, 'Jacob take over,' ' he said.
Until then, Crean Lutheran found ways to stay close to Gold Coast League champion Brentwood (25-5) thanks to senior Matt Ciftcikara scoring 19 points and the contributions of football quarterback Caden Jones, who had 15 points. Majok also performed well on defense, making Brentwood freshman Shalen Sheppard struggle with his rebounding even though he scored 20 points.
Crean Lutheran (17-11) is on a five-game winning streak and didn't have its star sophomore guard, Hunter Caplan, because of an injury. The Saints get to face Campbell Hall in Tuesday's quarterfinals. Campbell Hall upset top-seeded Crespi 79-66 behind 43 points from Colorado commit Isaiah Johnson.
Division 1 is looking wide open as far as a potential champion. Windward eliminated Inglewood and standout junior Jason Crowe Jr. 71-69 on the road. A big matchup on Tuesday has Los Alamitos playing Rolling Hills Prep. Mira Costa (27-3) continues to perform well during a 72-54 defeat of St. Pius X-St. Matthias. Eneasi Piuleini had 25 points.
The Open Division remains on a path toward the top two seeds, Harvard-Westlake and Eastvale Roosvelt, winning their pools, but a little uncertainty was injected into the competition after Friday's results.
No. 7 Redondo Union defeated No. 3 St. John Bosco 77-75 behind 18 points from Brayden Miner. No. 8 JSerra defeated No. 4 Santa Margarita 63-51 behind 21 points from BJ Davis-Ray and 19 points from Brannon Martinsen.
Whether Harvard-Westlake (28-1) or Roosevelt (28-2) is going to stumble might become evident soon. Fresh off their upsets, Redondo plays at Roosevelt while JSerra is at Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday. Both are rematches, so the underdogs know their opponents well.
For fans looking to cheer for teams filled with neighborhood kids, Camarillo (28-2) and Irvine (28-2) continue to have historic seasons. Camarillo, seeded No. 1 in Division 2AA, won 66-62 on the road against Glendora. Jackson Yeates scored 24 points. Irvine, seeded No. 14 in Division 2A, defeated Pasadena 66-57. Cooper Stearns, a golfer headed to Stanford, finished with 22 points and Jalen Yim had 21 points.
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You need to, for some mistake, you cannot change when you make your decision. Maybe it's different if you compare when a striker miss a goal — OK, the next game, not playing because (they) miss a goal. It's true that it's really important when a keeper maybe have not a good action, but I think we really trust in our keepers, and when we made a decision to play (Freese) and give the confidence to him. Advertisement 'I think any keeper can make a mistake. The most important is to make a decision and translate the confidence and trust, and be sure that your decision was a good decision for the team.' It's a message that strongly conveys that Freese will be given an opportunity to see this tournament out. What follows will largely be up to the club form of Freese, Turner and other hopefuls for the World Cup roster like Chris Brady, Patrick Schulte and Zack Steffen. Turner's transfer to Olympique Lyon hit a potential snag before he arrived as the club faces relegation into Ligue 2 (pending their appeal) for financial violations. The step from the Premier League to Ligue 1 is already seen as one down the ladder a bit, but that's far more pronounced dropping into France's second division. Coupled with the fact that Lyon, for now at least, still rosters last year's starter, and it's unclear whether he's in a better position to start regularly and rebuild his case to start in 2026. While that situation resolves beyond his control, Freese is learning valuable lessons in this extended camp and tournament training alongside Turner. 'I mean, Matt is obviously incredibly athletic, a fantastic goalkeeper,' Freese said. 'I think the biggest thing I've picked up from him is how to be a part of a team and and how to create relationships in a national team camp. Obviously, this is newer for me than him, and so he's done a fantastic job. I'm super, super grateful for the support he's shown me, and likewise: he's someone I would always support. We have each other's backs, and the team is what's important at the end of the day.' Only time will tell whether the two Matts will both be on Pochettino's World Cup squad, and how they (and others) will have their starts assigned in the lead-up to next summer. Freese will hope to sustain his strong form with NYCFC, which sits ninth in MLS' Eastern Conference and struggled in his absence this weekend. As Freese said when asked about facing Calvo twice, and if he took cues from the defender's converted attempt in regulation, 'each one is independent from the last.' Each start provides another chance for him to make his case to stay in goal for the USMNT's biggest games. A semifinal against an inspired Guatemala will be another test of his resolve. 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