SAN BERNARDINO >> There was Indian Springs’ Aaron Harris, all bespectacled 5-foot-6 of him, challenging Aquinas’ Nick Hopkins, all 6-foot-5 of him.
There was Harris, driving, spinning, shooting and finally fouling Hopkins so flagrantly, that a near-melee broke out in the waning moments of the CIF-SS Division 4AA quarterfinal between the two San Bernardino schools.
There was Hopkins, taking the measure of Harris, fellow Coyotes guard Tyler Culpepper, center Tony Corley and any other Indian Springs player thrown at him by simply being unplayable for vast swaths of Tuesday night’s game. And there was Hopkins, putting the Falcons on his back with 28 points and 16 rebounds, carrying them to a 71-63 victory over visiting Indian Springs.
The win sends Aquinas (25-5) on the road for Friday’s semifinal against Montclair, which turned aside Oak Hills 59-43 on Tuesday.
For the Falcons and the fans in their standing-room-only gym, the victory came in entertaining fashion until the final 21 seconds, when Harris grabbed Hopkins to foul him. Hopkins, tormented inside all night by packs of Coyotes, angrily grabbed Harris back. A fan rushed the court and was restrained and removed by security and a sheriff’s deputy.
Harris, who gave up nearly a foot and probably 80 pounds to Hopkins, gave no quarter despite picking up two technicals that fouled the freshman guard out of the game. He was the third Indian Springs player to foul out, which incensed Indian Springs coach Brandon Taylor.
“The beautiful thing about being a high school coach is I can talk about the refs all I want (and) I won’t get fined. It was a travesty,” Taylor said. “Three of our starters (were) in foul trouble early. No disrespect to Aquinas; they play aggressively and with a lot of heart. But I don’t understand how the aggressive team ends up with the minimum of fouls.”
Taylor watched helplessly as Hopkins bulldozed, spun, leaped and otherwise imposed his will on the smaller Coyotes. Corley, who is 6-7, imposed his will around the basket enough to wind up with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
“He’s a strong kid. He’s 6-5 and he can put the ball on the floor,” Aquinas coach David Johnson said. “I think the difference was, he decided to play defense tonight.”
That didn’t stop Harris and the 5-7 Culpepper, neither of whom blinked when they drove into the lane on Hopkins, 6-4 Rodorial Abercrombie or 6-2 Sheldon Grant.
Culpepper led Indian Springs (20-9) with 19 points.
Harris plays with a style that – along with his off-the-charts basketball IQ — might make him the best guard in San Bernardino by the time he’s a junior. His nine points included a step-back, 25-foot 3-pointer; in warmups, he drained four of those in a row.
Yet, every time the Coyotes made a run, Hopkins was there to squash it. Aquinas led by as many as 10 in the first half and by nine (50-41) with 6:07 left in the third. Indian Springs went on a 9-0 run to tie it at 50 – only to have Hopkins ignite an 8-0 Falcons’ run. Four Culpepper points cut it back to four (58-54) at the end of the third.
And that was as close as Indian Springs would get. With Aquinas leading 68-61, Hopkins grabbed an offensive rebound, then spiked it off an Indian Springs player as he was falling out of bounds. That essentially snuffed out the Coyotes’ last threat.
“What I was trying to convey to the refs is I get he’s physical. Actually, that kid reminds me of how I played in my beginnings stages of playing ball: very hard-nosed, very tough, very aggressive,” Taylor said. “But when you have a defender that walls up and the aggressor brings his shoulder down and puts it in his chest and he moves, he’s able to get to the basket without any types of calls, he’s getting an advantage.”
