Bishop Montgomery (CA) Bounces Back After Chino Hills Loss

Bishop Montgomery bounced back in a strong way on Tuesday night after suffering their first loss of the season on Saturday to Chino Hills (CA), the No. 1 team in the country. The Knights were led by their talented trio of under-classmen in junior guard Ethan Thompson, junior guard Jordan Schakel, and sophomore guard David Singleton, as they took down St. Bernard 77-60 in a home match-up.

6’5” four-star guard Ethan Thompson scored 15 points on a mixture of outside shots and drives to the basket off the dribble. Thompson, the younger brother of Oregon State sophomore guard Stephen Thompson Jr., scored 13 of his points in the first half and finished 4-8 from the field. Throughout the game, Bishop Montgomery used Thompson on all parts of the court. He brought the ball up the court and initiated offense at times and also tried to utilize his height advantage in the post. Playing calm and collected, Thompson found the open manner when faced with a double and attacked the basket off the bounce usually utilizing a right to left spin move. On his outside shots, Thompson hit both three’s from the left wing, with the first one coming at the first quarter buzzer resulting in an and-one. The only three he missed was from NBA distance and even that one went in and out. Thompson is currently receiving a bevy of PAC-12 interest from schools such as Oregon State, Cal, Stanford, and UCLA.

Sophomore guard David Singleton was the team high scorer finishing with 22 points. As the quickest player on the court, Singleton used his quickness to get a step on his defender and finished with soft shots in the paint. The sophomore guard also knew how to free himself for an outside shot. Given an inch of space, Singleton wouldn’t hesitate to let a three fly using his lightning quick release. While his style is a bit unorthodox as he shoots from just above his right shoulder, the result is usually the same. He hit two three-pointers on the game with both finding the bottom of the net without touching any part of the rim. In the second half, Singleton went to the line eight times and went a perfect 8-8. Once again, the shots did not touch any part of the rim.

Q: What was the team’s mentality after the loss to Chino Hills?

A: We weren’t discouraged at all. We were actually encouraged and fired up. It was more of a wake-up call for us as we were so we were getting so used to winning and starting to get kind of complacent. It was a wake-up call to show there is still room for improvement.

Q: How did you try to attack St. Bernard?

A: From the beginning we were just trying to take advantage of our size. Get post touches, look for easy cutters, and lay-ups.

Q: On your free throws and outside shots, none of your makes ever touched the rim. What do you focus on when working on your shot?

A: Just repetition. I focus on my form in great detail, because that’s all that matters is detail. Right now, shooting and attacking the basket are my strengths and I’m trying to work on everything.

Q: Recruiting is in the early stages for you, but who are some of the schools showing interest and what is their pitch?

A: Lately I’ve been to UCLA and USC games so far. UCLA is coming out with a new gym (Mo Ostin Basketball Center) and also getting to play with the Ball brothers is their pitch. USC is playing in their new gym. The schedule is going to be getting competitive as well.