SAN FRANCISCO — Before Thursday, the last time the Mission Bears had lost a league game, Jordan Aquino was in sixth grade. His brothers, Jeremyah and Justin, were still in elementary school. The last time the Bears had lost at home, Jordan, now a high school sophomore, was in third grade and his brothers were in second.
All three played an instrumental part Thursday to finally put an end to those streaks and lead the Lincoln Mustangs past the Bears, 90-81. The victory ended a streak of 48 straight league wins for the Bears, as well as 54 consecutive home victories.
“I live for moments like this,” Jeremyah said. “I feel like I was made for this. When the crowd’s loud, I’m loud.”
Jeremyah scored 16 for Lincoln (17-3, 7-0 AAA Lang), announcing his presence with an early and-1 and scoring seven straight in the third as part of a 9-0 run that gave the Mustangs the lead for good. Trailing 52-51 after a pair of Julian Neal free throws, the visitors went back on top with a Nick Galvin steal and reverse layup, then got a Jeremyah bucket off a Justin offensive rebound. He then sank a three off a Jordan assist and capped off the swing with a steal and layup.
“They out-Missioned us today,” Bears head coach Arnold Zelaya said. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
The hosts were quick to answer back, with a thunderous Julian Neal putback dunk cutting the lead to 62-58, but after getting within two on a basket by Noah Lee, a scrap for a loose ball turned physical and led to a technical foul. Justin, who scored 19 on the game, hit both free throws and would score the final basket of the quarter, plus the first one of the fourth to stretch the lead back to eight. Mission (10-10, 6-1) would never get closer than four the rest of the way, with a Neal steal setting up a Maurice Oliver layup to make it 76-72, but the Mustangs would score the next five. One last Neal dunk and a pair of Andre Villarino free throws made it a five-point game with 2:48 left, but a pair of baskets by Galvin, who scored six of his 10 in the fourth quarter, and a Justin 3-pointer all but iced the game.
“Streaks are meant to be broken,” said Zelaya, who was his usual intense self during the game but was calm after the final buzzer. “It was a fun game. This is good for our league; no one should be winning that many games that many times in a row.”
While the three Aquino brothers were instrumental in the win, with Jordan scoring 15 as the trio combined for 50 of Lincoln’s 90, they weren’t alone in their efforts. Junior forward Darrin Lum scored 19 to match Justin and share high honors, with a pair of free throws (he shot 6-for-6 at the line) and a mid-range jumper on consecutive possessions to make it 76-68.
“We have a lot of depth,” Lum said. “A lot of teams don’t know that about us.”
Between Galvin’s big fourth quarter, James Walsh scoring eight of his 10 in the first and Lum scoring 10 in the second, there was always someone to answer the call for the Mustangs, whether it was one of the Aquinos or one of their older teammates. Like Lum, Galvin is also a junior, meaning there will be plenty of opportunities ahead for the group to continue staking their claim for San Francisco supremacy. Still, they’re not overconfident after just one win.
“Playing in a tough place like this, it’s a huge win,” Lincoln head coach Carl Jacobs said. “This is a big win, but it’s just one game. They’re still the champs until somebody dethrones them.”
It was a victory that the Mustangs earned by driving to the rack time and time again, scoring 90 while making just 3-pointers.
“It’s an issue we’ve had all year, keeping the ball in front of us,” Zelaya said. “It’s something we need to keep working on. Those kids are pretty quick.”
While the Bears saw their streaks come to an end, they ironically did so while making 29 of 38 free throws, an area that’s been a glaring weakness for years, even when Mission won a state championship in 2017. Villarino, who scored a game-high 23 points, made 13 of his 14 attempts to lead the way. Neal went 6-of-9, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Matt Cohn had 13 points and eight rebounds, Lee scored 10 and Oliver added eight. Despite trailing by as much as nine in the first half, Mission drew even in the second quarter and would have gone into the half tied if not for a Lum putback at the buzzer.
The rematch will come on the final day of regular-season play, Feb. 18.
“We’re not gonna celebrate too much,” Jordan said after scoring all of his 15 in the second half. “There’s a lot of season left. We’re gonna see them again.”
