SACRAMENTO — Nick Halic leaned forward, his hand touching the head of senior Charles Eleri while offering a pep talk. His 6-year-old son, Kingston, put his hand on Eleri’s shoulder for additional comfort. On a Birmingham High basketball team with only four seniors and plenty of hope for the future, Halic was making sure to thank Eleri after the Patriots’ 74-64 loss to Antioch Cornerstone Christian in the state Division III championship game on Friday night at Golden 1 Center.
“I’m really proud of this group,” the veteran coach and 2001 Birmingham alumnus said. “This is the furthest any group from Birmingham has gone, boys or girls. Sometimes it takes steps to get where you’re going.”
The Patriots (22-8), with every starter an underclassman, somehow found itself playing for a state championship after losing in the opening round of the City Section playoffs. They regrouped, refocused and won the Division III regional. On Friday, they never stopped battling, falling behind by 21 points in the third quarter before rallying to within seven points with 4:16 left.
Cornerstone Christian (29-8) had too much firepower at the guard position, with Benjamin Lukacs scoring 26 points while making 11 of 14 shots and Amari Woodard making four threes to finish with 12 points. James Perry had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Junior Tekeio Phillips led Birmingham with 17 points and junior X’Zavion McKay contributed 16 points and nine rebounds.
Halic made it clear afterward he’s ready to go all-in with his returning players next season.
“I’m heartbroken for them,” he said. “We can learn from this. We can be either defeated or motivated. I’m going to be motivated to do more. This is a great experience for us. I can’t say enough how proud I am. We’ll be back for sure.”
More to Read
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: latimes.com
