Boys Hoops: New Look Mustangs Face Rebels For Div. 5AA Title

Muir’s road to the CIF-Southern Section Division 5AA championship game has been full of twists and turns, highs and lows.

On Feb. 8 the Mustangs for violating team rules. At the time, Hayes led the Mustangs with 18.2 points per game. Then Muir lost the services of junior big man Tevin Polk due to academic ineligibility — blow No. 2 for the Mustangs.

And on top of that, Muir junior guard Dion Nelson has been hampered with a strained right quad throughout the Mustangs’ playoff run.

Separately, each of those set backs is enough to cause a team to drop a couple of games. Combined, a once promising season could easily fall apart.

But against all odds the Mustangs rebuilt their squad, and now they’re in the finals, needing a win over Flintridge Prep (22-6) on Saturday at Mater Dei High School at 6 p.m. to take home the Div. 5AA title.

From the outside, it might seem a little surprising to see the No. 3 Mustangs (18-10) on the brink of a championship. In talking to those within the program, however, you realize it’s anything but.

“No, I’m not surprised,” sophomore forward Jelani Mitchell said. “I really wanted us to do this, and I knew everybody could do it. All we needed to do was be tough and be strong." 

“No, not at all,” Nelson said. “Because we just play hard we play together and that’s all that matters.”

After all of the roster attrition, Muir coach Dr. Gamal Smalley essentially had to reinvent his squad about a week before the start of the postseason.

Players like Mitchell and sophomore Taturs Mayberry switched from being complimentary pieces to leading men.

The Mustangs struggled at first — dropping their final two games of the regular season — but once the playoffs began, they found their groove.

“In a way we had to start all over with our team,” Smalley said. “We had the two sophomores. We’ve started a freshman at times — Brian Carrier, he plays a lot of minutes. It’s like a really young team starting over again.”

After dominating Oxford Academy in the first round, Muir needed a last-second basket from .

The Mustangs then recorded back-to-back four-point wins to advance to the finals against top-seeded Flintridge Prep, whose closest call this postseason is a 14-point win over Mission Prep in the semifinals.

Yet despite the Rebels’ recent dominance (and their 6-foot-8, 260 pound center Kenyatta Smith) the Mustangs aren’t intimidated.

“They’re really loose and they have a confidence — I want to say a quiet confidence — but in our case it’s not,” Smalley said.

Part of what gives the Mustangs their edge is the emergence of Mitchell. In his four playoff games, Mitchell is averaging 16.8 points and 10.8 boards per game.

“Jelani Mitchell is not the same Jelani Mitchell from the start of the season,” Smalley said. “He’s very explosive at times. A lot of people say we don’t matchup well with them because of Kenyatta, I don’t think they matchup well with us either.

“ … What we want to exploit is our quickness. Jelani Mitchell right now on the block is dangerous. How does Kenyatta Smith guard Jelani Mitchell? Answer: he doesn’t. He can’t guard him inside or outside.”

Smalley added: “Jelani Mitchell is a 6-foot-3 guard who can put it on the floor and get to the rack. He can pull up and hit the shot. Right now we think he’s an All-CIF candidate.”

Regardless of what happens Saturday night, though, the Mustangs have shown they should be a team to be reckoned with for the next few years. There are only two seniors on Muir’s roster, and the team’s mentality is that if it doesn’t win a title this year, it’s only a matter of time before they do.

“I think it’s great experience for a young team to get here now,” Smalley said. “I think our future looks bright."