Happy to play spoiler
Chapter 5 | An opposing coach's homecoming upends Nighthawks
This is Chapter 5 of a Substack series chronicling the 2023-24 Natomas High School of Sacramento boys basketball team. Chapter 6 of the series will publish January 11.
A holiday homecoming
Considering his basketball team’s 0-7 record, Tarence Mosely is surprisingly upbeat.
The coach studies the banners in the Fairfield High School gymnasium. “They took down my rebounding record,” he notices, too caught up in nostalgia to be truly mad. It’s long been Mosley’s dream to coach in the gymnasium of his youth, where more than 30 years ago he helped a mentor coach capture three league championships.
“I hear they wrote about me in the Daily Republic,” Mosley says of the newspaper that serves this North Bay Area city of around 120,000. “I’ll have to find a copy.”
Mosley’s parents are in the bleachers. He hugs his brother, along with familiar faces from his playing days here. In an hour, his Central Kitsap High School boys basketball team will face Natomas High School to open this three-day holiday tournament.
“I used to change this guy’s diapers,” Mosley tells a few Fairfield High players about their head coach, Eddie Wilson. Wilson laughs and shakes his head — it’s unclear whether the head shake is a denial of events, or out of sheer embarrassment.
Mosley finds the boys basketball banner with league titles from 1986, 1988 and 1989, his senior season. After graduating from Fairfield High, Mosley played one year of basketball at Yuba College. He eventually moved with his wife to a peninsula town on Puget Sound, in a region of Washington surrounded by Navy bases. Moseley became a security specialist at Central Kitsap High and, soon after, the boys basketball coach.
Central Kitsap has four players whose parents are active in the Navy, and is the only out-of-state school in this Ronald D. Thompson Holiday Classic. The tournament is named for the late coach whose nickname, “Coach T,” Tarence Mosely has adopted.
The Cougars have lost by more than 10 points in each game since their season opener, an eight-point loss. Their most recent defeat was by 39 points. Natomas stands 6-4 and is riding a two-game winning streak after a 26-point victory over Kimball High School of Tracy, which is also in this post-Christmas tournament.
“They’re pretty long,” Moseley worries after watching film on Natomas.
Seeking consistency
The tournament is also a homecoming for Aeron Wallace III, the Natomas assistant coach who grew up in Fairfield, about halfway between Oakland and Sacramento. Despite his father owning a house beyond the Fairfield High football field, Wallace attended rival Armijo High School. Wallace introduces his father to the Natomas coaching staff. Soon, a grandfather will watch his son coach his grandson.
Head coach Brian McKenzie is less focused on ceremonious returns, and more concerned about making sure his Nighthawks don’t play down to their opponent’s winless record. Before heading to the locker room, Natomas watched Valley High School of Sacramento, a league rival, take an eventual 52-point thumping at the hands of host Fairfield High. A few weeks ago, the Nighthawks took a similar beating.
“It’s a reminder about the humbling experience of being punched like they are,” McKenzie reminds his players of their 58-point loss to rival Inderkum High School. “The biggest thing we have to do is not play down to the competition.”
After a victory over El Camino High School last week, the Natomas coach was still frustrated by a lack of enthusiasm. A few days later, in the decisive win over Kimball, his players picked up the energy. “Everybody was hype no matter what,” McKenzie reminds them. “That’s the energy we have to feed into and keep building on.
“Winning plays. Box out. 50-50 charges. We have to do that. It has to become DNA,” the coach recites his familiar mantras. “We have to keep that championship mentality. If things aren’t going our way, a little bit of adversity, we don’t sulk. Body language. Stay positive. Head up. Communicate with each other in the right way. Those are the things that will continue to bring us to where we need to be.”
In the first half, McKenzie’s fears are realized.
On offense, his young guards settle for quick 3s, and miss time after time. Dereon Jenkins is the only player creating offense inside the arc, sinking tough layups and getting to the free-throw line. On defense, the Natomas forwards are going for blocked shots instead of positioning for defensive charges.
Central Kitsap leads 20-18 at halftime.
Mosley’s homecoming dream has become a nightmare after Christmas for Natomas.
“Blocks are cute,” McKenzie bellows in the locker room, again reciting his defensive tenets. “Charges are grown men, winning plays. Everything right now is cute.”
In the fourth quarter, Central Kitsap extends its lead to eight points.
Earlier in the night, the hapless Detroit Pistons threatened to snap their own winless streak, holding a 21-point lead over the NBA-best Boston Celtics. Detroit collapsed in its usual fashion, however, and matched the NBA-record with 28 losses in a row.
Desperate to avoid embarrassment of its own, Natomas finds late life.
Harold Beckwith makes a layup. Achilles Terrell converts a lefty basket. A Manno Jenkins steal and layup brings Natomas within two, and with 1:10 to go Manno hits a tying 3. The guard looks to the gym rafters, wondering where that’s been all night.
But with 2.5 seconds left and the game still tied, a questionable foul puts Aidan Moore to the free-throw line for Central Kitsap. While receiving jeers from the crowd, the guard sinks both shots. Natomas inbounds to Dereon, whose final-second heave from well beyond halfcourt bounces off the backboard, the rim, and out.
‘A short memory’
Central Kitsap escapes with its first win. And, in a shocker, Mosley has advanced to face his alma mater, Fairfield High, in the championship bracket semifinals.
“We better have a short memory,” McKenzie tells his Nighthawks, who the next day will again take the hourlong bus ride to Fairfield to face another winless team, Valley High, in the consolation bracket. “We thought we could turn it on whenever.
“At least we fought.”
Natomas players are met by friends in the otherwise deserted Fairfield gym.
One young man sums up the night succinctly: “Y’all just lost to the Pistons.”
The next night, Mosely nearly knocked off his alma mater in the semifinals. Central Kitsap trailed host Fairfield by one point in the final minute before losing 56-50.
“It’s super nostalgic,” Mosley told the Daily Republic after the game. “I get choked up. To have my guys play on the court where I won championships.
“Coach Thompson was very dear to me.”
In the consolation final, Natomas edged Vallejo High School in overtime, 63-59. Manno earned all-tournament honors as the Nighthawks improved to 8-5. That night, Detroit beat the Toronto Raptors to avoid calling the infamous NBA record its own.
Tale of two teams
Through 13 games, McKenzie’s program is a complete enigma.
The Nighthawks have defeated both Division IV section finalists from last season (Marysville High and Calaveras High) and played tough against unbeaten Rocklin High, which is ranked No. 1 by The Sacramento Bee. On the flipside, Natomas was dismantled by Inderkum High and has now suffered perhaps an even more embarrassing defeat to a formerly winless opponent from Washington state.
But perhaps erratic play should be expected from a team that starts two freshmen guards, relies heavily on 3-pointers for offense and, with no starting player taller than 6-foot-3, has matched up poorly with bigger opponents.
On the horizon are three home games to conclude the preseason schedule — first against Wood High of Vacaville, which defeated Natomas by four points last season; and then against two opponents ranked by The Sacramento Bee in Kennedy High and Sacramento High. It was at Sacramento High where McKenzie served as an assistant coach last season, and the Dragons captured the Division III section title.
It’s a stretch that could make or break the Nighthawks’ season.
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.