Down but not out
Chapter 14 | A magical run for the banner ends in agony
This is Chapter 14 of a Substack series chronicling the 2023-24 Natomas High School of Sacramento boys basketball team. Chapter 15 will publish later in the week.
The bitter end
There is no preparation for heartbreak. No morning shootaround. No game film. No gameplan. It just hits you. And only then will you find out how much it hurts.
Manno Jenkins stormed to the back of the locker room and slammed his hands against the wall, letting out a season’s worth of emotion after Natomas High’s fourth-quarter comeback fell short. Older brother Dereon, who so badly wanted to win a section banner for his family, stared blankly across the room. AP Wilkins, whose semifinal heroics led Natomas to this title game, slumped in his chair, drenched in sweat. Aeron Wallace IV, whose flurry of second-quarter 3s kept the game within reach, draped a towel over his head. Across the room, Kahirre Louis, the college-bound football star who plays basketball mostly for fun, hid his pain underneath his burgundy dreads.
Down the hallway, Venture Academy celebrated a 78-74 victory that capped its long quest for a Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV banner. Two years ago, the Mustangs lost to Liberty Ranch in the section title game. Last year, as the top seed, they were upset in the semifinals by eventual champion Marysville High. This year, a 39-point effort from senior Mario Williams put the Mustangs over the hump. The 6-foot-4 guard held court in the media room with the championship net around his neck.
Brian McKenzie was challenged with turning devastation into motivation. His Nighthawks, who earned an automatic berth into the CIF State Championships by advancing to the section semifinals, would play their first-round game in four days.
“That was a tough one,” began one of the shortest post-game speeches of the season.
The Nighthawks weren’t ready for an inspirational talk.
“Sit up. Sit up. Eyes. Sit up,” McKenzie asked his dejected players, standing in silence for about 15 seconds at the center of the locker room as his team processed its first loss in more than a month. “Yes, that hurts. It stings. But we’re not done. So don’t get too low, because it’s not over.”
Chasing a banner
Two days earlier, under the glow of a television in the Natomas gym, players basked in the highlights from their semifinal win at Union Mine. When AP made his halfcourt heave at the buzzer, two teenagers could be seen hopping up and down amongst a sea of shocked Union Mine fans at the bottom of the NFHS Network broadcast.
“Who are those kids?” one Nighthawks player asked, as teammates and coaches laughed at the spectacle of two white kids, presumably from rural El Dorado County, wildly cheering for a visiting team of Black and Hispanic kids from south Natomas.
When Manno led a second-half surge, NFHS announcers couldn’t help but play off his name. “Manno Jenkins, he is THE MAN!!!” one shouted. When the announcer heaped more praise onto Manno, teammates ribbed the sophomore. “He loves you, Manno!”
McKenzie hadn’t slept in the 20 hours since Natomas advanced to its first section championship game in a decade. After returning from Union Mine, the coach studied video late into the night. Then, in the early morning hours, McKenzie turned his focus to Venture Academy, the top seed in Division IV that had a far easier time in its semifinal game, a 34-point blowout of Ripon High.
“My wife hates me right now,” said the father of two young boys, shaking his head and chuckling while surrounded by his basketball family during a light practice.
Even while teaching his midday math classes, McKenzie couldn’t help but watch on his phone as Sacramento High, where he won a section championship as an assistant coach last season, successfully defended its Division III crown at Golden One Center in downtown Sacramento. In two days, the Nighthawks would play for a section championship of their own at UC Davis.
The Division IV championship game was originally scheduled to be played at Golden One Center, home of the Sacramento Kings and the crown jewel of a booming downtown district. But when pop icon Madonna suffered a bacterial infection over the summer, the Material Girl delayed her American concert tour. Her rescheduled February concert date at Golden One Center pushed the lower division championship games to the Yolo County college campus, a 17-mile trek from Natomas.
A section title would likely earn Natomas a first-round home game in the state tournament. But McKenzie wasn’t thinking about State when setting his season goals. His first goal was a league crown. The Nighthawks accomplished that with seven wins in a row. Second was to win a section title and take home the coveted “blue banner.”
The UC Davis arena, named University Credit Union Center, can seat around 6,000 fans when the second-level bleachers are opened. The venue has hosted Bob Dylan, Drake and NBA preseason games. For this Friday slate of six high school basketball games, headlined by Natomas versus Venture Academy at 8 p.m., only the lower bowl is open to fans from across Northern California. A media table spans one sideline. Courtside seats line the other.
A final flurry
In the early minutes of the game, the Nighthawks maintain their momentum from Union Mine. Manno scored the first four points on a free throw and a contested 3. Dereon hit a floater midway through the quarter to put Natomas ahead by seven.
When Williams, the Venture Academy star, was called for his second foul with 1:59 left in the first quarter, coach Eric King elected to keep the 6-foot-4 guard in the game. The decision paid off. The team’s leading scorer didn’t commit his third foul until the fourth quarter and would play all 32 minutes. The Western Oregon commit closed the first quarter with 11 points to tie the score, 19-19.
After making the game’s first basket, Manno couldn’t retain the form that had carried the Nighthawks against tough opponents all season. He airballed a 3 in the second quarter. A baseline floater later hit the top of the backboard. The sophomore guard missed six consecutive shots in the first half. After Williams scored his 16th point early in the second quarter, the Mustangs led by five.
With Manno struggling, Aeron Wallace IV kept Natomas within striking distance. These were the moments the freshman dreamt of as he awaited his first varsity game three months ago. His father, an assistant coach, trusted him to take big shots. And each time Venture Academy began to pull away, Aeron answered with a 3. Near the end of the first half, he dished to Kahirre Louis under the basket for an easy layup.
But Williams closed the half with 18 points and the Mustangs led 37-32. Venture Academy scored the first seven points of the third quarter to cap an 11-0 run and push their advantage to 12. Williams then scored nine consecutive points, reaching 30 on the night, to push the lead to 18 after the third quarter. When the senior converted a three-point play early in the fourth, the Venture Academy lead reached 19 points.
Then, with his team’s section title hopes all but evaporated, Manno came alive. The sophomore hit a 3 for his first made field goal since the opening minutes. He drew a charge, then knocked down another 3 to cut the deficit to 13. After Achilles Terrell converted a three-point play for Natomas, Manno sank his third 3-pointer in under two minutes to cap a 12-0 Natomas run and cut the deficit to seven points, 63-56.
After the teams traded baskets, Manno drilled another 3 to cut the deficit to six. Darius Hemmingway stole an inbounds pass and Achilles made another layup. At this point, Nighthawks fans in the baseline grandstands were in an absolute frenzy.
“This is the loudest that Golden One or UC Davis has been in the two days of these section championships,” said NFHS Network play-by-play announcer Matthew Bessette, who had called the two previous Natomas tournament games. “These Nighthawks, they don’t know what it means to be afraid. They don’t know fear.”
With under two minutes left, Aeron hit his fifth 3 of the night to cut the lead to three points. With 35 seconds remaining, the freshman hit his sixth to cut the lead to two.
But after DaeLeon Neal made two free throws for Venture Academy, Natomas fumbled an inbounds pass out of bounds. Williams capped his memorable night by hitting two free throws to finish with 39 points. As the final buzzer sounded, Aeron hit his seventh 3-pointer of the game to make the final score 78-74. The freshman finished with a season-high 23 points, along with six assists, but the Nighthawks’ 32-point fourth quarter wasn’t enough to upset the tournament’s top seed.
‘We’re not done’
It’s been 22 years since DeAngelo Jenkins lost his chance at winning a section banner, losing to Foothill High in the 2002 championship game at Arco Arena. DeAngelo, now a varsity assistant coach, thought he would return his senior season. Instead, suspensions stemming from an on-court brawl ended that dream.
There won’t be another chance for his oldest son, Dereon, the four-year varsity player who helped turnaround a perennial losing program. For younger son Manno and his promising young teammates, there could be a return trip. But nothing is guaranteed.
For minutes, the Nighthawks sat silently in the locker room. No talk of the state tournament. No “Good game” was exchanged. No chatter about weekend plans.
As EJ Rose walked to the team bus in the darkness of the UC Davis parking lot, the freshman wasn’t thinking about when he dove to the hardwood for a loose ball, putting his body on the line for coaches and teammates he met just months ago.
“I really look up to them,” EJ said earlier in the week of senior forwards Achilles Terrell and Kahirre Louis, whom he’s modeled his work-ethic after. “They’re my leaders.” EJ couldn’t find solace in the grit he displayed for an undersized team that relied on a freshman’s toughness to advance this far. Or how he went from the end of the bench to playing crucial minutes of a section title game in a college arena.
“If I just made my baskets,” EJ lamented.
After a four-point loss, there was no shortage of “ifs.”
What if Williams, whose hot shooting broke open the game, picked up his third foul sooner? What if Natomas didn’t commit 16 turnovers? What if Manno, the leading scorer, found his stroke only a few minutes earlier in the second half?
Of course, after trailing by 19 points, Natomas could have simply folded. And those “what ifs” wouldn’t matter. Instead, the Nighthawks showcased a will that has defined their season — a standard set by a coach who knew they belonged here all along.
“We’ve felt this before,” McKenzie concluded. “But let’s also remember, we’re not done. We’re not. Embrace that feeling and keep that chip, because we are not done.”
Nick Lozito is a freelance sportswriter based in Sacramento. He has 20 years of sports journalism experience, covering high schools and colleges, NBA, WNBA, MLB and NFL. His writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee and KQED.