One of the best seasons in Santa Monica High boys basketball history has come to an end.
The Vikings fell 64-60 to Los Angeles-Washington Prep in the first round of the CIF Division II state tournament Wednesday night on the road, a bitter finale for a sweet campaign.
It was the first loss in nearly three months for Samohi, which days earlier had won a Southern Section championship in dramatic fashion.
Those accolades were not lost on the players, several of whom took to Twitter after the defeat to reflect on a year in which they posted a 29-3 record, engineered a 24-game winning streak and captured the program's second section title in four seasons.
“No matter what this team will be my family forever,” star senior Jonah Mathews wrote.
“Great season this year boys,” sophomore Rip Economou wrote.
“Forever Champions,” junior Daniel Schrier added.
Heading into the campaign, the Vikings appeared to be in trouble. They knew they would have to move forward without graduated guard New Williams, who has continued his career at Auburn. But they didn't expect to lose Spencer Freedman, who transferred to Santa Ana-Mater Dei after a standout freshman campaign at Samohi. And they didn't envision being without 7-foot center Jayce Johnson, who left to enroll early at Utah.
Emerging as the leader was Mathews, who was a freshman when his older brother, Jordan, guided the Vikings to a section championship in 2013. This year, the younger brother carried the scoring load for the program while rallying teammates on and off the court.
“He wasn't the most vocal guy, but this year he really stepped up,” longtime coach James Hecht said. “When things weren't going our way or we had to weather a storm, he was the calming force, bringing guys together and getting guys re-focused.”
After losing to city neighbor Crossroads and Pasadena-La Salle by a combined four points during nonconference play, Mathews and Samohi seemingly couldn't be stopped. They won their division at the MaxPreps Holiday Classic in late December, topped Gardena-Serra in late January and cruised to an Ocean League title with a 10-0 record.
Samohi then topped Long Beach-Cabrillo, Moreno Valley-Valley View, Palmdale-Highland and Burbank-Burroughs in the CIF-SS Division 1A playoffs to reach the title game March 5 at Honda Center in Anaheim, where it overcame a double-digit halftime deficit to beat Temecula Valley.
“We came up with some big plays, big stops, key rebounds,” Hecht said. “I couldn't be more proud of these guys.”
In the state tournament, the Vikings couldn't muster a comeback down the stretch. Trailing by seven with 1 minute 23 seconds to play, the Vikings used a 7-2 run to pull within 62-60 with about 12 seconds remaining. But their late push wasn't enough.
Washington Prep advanced to face Orange Lutheran in the second round March 12.
Mathews, who will play at USC next year, said after Samohi's victory in Anaheim that Hecht motivated him by posing a question a few years ago: “How do you want to be remembered?”
He and this year's squad wrote their answer on a banner.
jeff@www.smdp.com