SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone: Escarcega on Preps: Bonita vs. San Dimas lived up to the hype and more.

SGV fans were the big winners on a night that many didn't want to see end.

Photos by Robert Ketterling

San Dimas cheerleaders in action during Tuesday night’s playoff game against Bonita.

SAN DIMAS – When Bonita boys basketball coach Tim Godley entered the visiting team locker room at San Dimas High School on Tuesday night, after watching his Bearcats team upset the Saints 59-58 in a CIF Southern Section Division 3A quartefinal, he was doused with water by his team, celebrated loudly and jumped and down.

But Godley had a problem. His collared shirt was more than a little wet.

"I have to go out to dinner looking like this," the veteran coach said. "But you know what, I don't care."

And he shouldn't.

What his team did on Tuesday night was more than remarkable - it was beyond belief. When both teams played earlier in the year, the Bearcats came away with an 83-79 win. However, Bonita was not playing with Jake Quintana and Colton Perez. Both were still rehabilitating major injuries that kept them off the court.

Quintana had meniscus surgery on his knee over the summer, and Perez had an ACL injury that kept him off the court for most of the season. However, time heals old wounds and when Bonita made the tournament as a wild-card team, they were given a second life. In poker, they say if you have a chip and chair, you have a chance.

Well, Godley had two chips back in his hand in Quintana and Perez and both are making the most of their second chances. Quintana looked like Reggie Miller on Tuesday night as he continually made jump shots whether he was covered or not. He made four 3-point baskets and finished as one of the top scorers in the game with 20 points.

"After I made my first field goals, I felt that I was in a groove," said Quintana. "I've got my brothers surrounding me and we work hard in practice so that games like this are not that hard. It killed me watching our guys play and not being able to do a thing. But, I thank them for getting us into the playoffs."

As for the 6-foot-4 Perez, the junior scored eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter which also proved to be the difference. "This is the best feeling in my life," Perez said. "For the both of us to come back from an injury and it's all coming together, it's a dream come true."

So maybe the MVP of Tuesday's game should have been the two doctors that helped Quintana and Perez rehab from their injuries. For Bonita fans, they were thankful that both of these players were on the court Tuesday night because they needed every bit of effort from Quintana and Perez.

Tuesday's game was not for the faint at heart.

San Dimas’ Levin Sinclair grabbing a rebound in Tuesday night’s CIF-SS playoff game against Bonita.

Both teams played like it was a 15-round championship boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier. They continually applied the pressure to each other, with every possession taking on a life of its own in a gym that (despite the fact it was a San Dimas home game) was evenly split 50/50.

Neither team could open an advantage of more than five points. When Bonita finally got the score to 41-34 in the third quarter, San Dimas responded by going on a 7-0 run in the final stages that tied the game at 41.

This was our first look at San Dimas and we were impressed by what we saw. While Bonita displayed the flash of today's game with players gunning it from behind the 3-point arc, San Dimas was a chip off the old-school block. When the ball was on the floor, they dived for possessions. They would make the extra pass to find the open player underneath the basket for an easy layup.

Aaron Park, Logan Hodson, and Levin Sinclair are guys that would be more appropriately dressed in jeans and a blue short-sleeve collar shirt with a hard hat on. They are just very good high school basketball players that could be appreciated by guys that tote a lunch bucket, clock in at 9 am, and check out at 5 when the work was done. They do the unspectacular, spectacularly well.

It should be no surprise that Park and Hodson each scored 12 points, and Sinclair grabbed 11 rebounds.

San Dimas coach Jeremy Ketterling talking to his team during a timeout in Tuesday night’s quarterfinal game against Bonita.

And it was Park that would get the final say on this game as Saints coach Jeremy Ketterling set up a play for him to be the guy that would either win the game or send it to overtime. However, Bonita's Josh Kim got his hand onto the dribbling ball, which sent both players to the floor, at halfcourt, in a desperate chase for possession. Park was able to get the ball back, but after drawing some contact from Perez, Park threw up a desperation 3-pointer that was considerably short just as the buzzer sounded, ending the game.

For Bonita, the players hugged one another and jumped up and down like five-year-olds. For San Dimas, all the players could do is squat down to a low thinking position, look across the court at the celebration, and put their heads down, knowing an opportunity to play in a state basketball game had slipped through their fingers.

This was the valley's version of USC vs. UCLA in football in 2022, it was the Rams vs. 49ers in the 2022 NFC championship game at SoFi Stadium. Winning games have meanings, and losing games have ramifications.

Legends are born in games like this. If you are a Bonita fan and you find Jake Quintana at the nearby In N Out, you need to buy him lunch. It took a legendary performance to eliminate a team that more than deserved to continue to play this season.

30 minutes after the game, San Dimas' Ketterling stepped out of the team's locker room and stood by the steps that separate the stands from the floor. He starred at the basketball court much like a chess player would look at a chess board after losing a match to the great Garry Kasparov. One of the fine young minds in the area, Ketterling could only muster up the words, "We lost by one possession."

But that didn't stop the San Dimas faithful that waited until the team made one final appearance from the locker room and gave them a rousing ovation. Area basketball fans should have done the same at the end of Tuesday night's game.

In the view of this writer, it was the greatest basketball game the area has seen in a long time. From the dueling competition between the cheerleaders to the energy exhibited by the student sections to the action on the court, it was a night that no one wanted to see come to an end.

But in sports, we are required to have a winner and a loser. And while the scoreboard said that Bonita won 59-58, the true winners were the fans of the San Gabriel Valley that attended the game. It showed that despite all that is wrong with high school sports today (from the endless battles on league realignment to the transfer portal), there is room for a good ol' fashion backyard brawl between teams that are led by two fine coaches.

I am happy to report that high school sports are alive and well in the SGV and we can thank these two teams for providing some much-needed evidence. The best part about it - you didn't need to go on Twitter Spaces to hear about it.