Sophomore Sparkles on Senior Night as Dixon Boys End Season in Style

It was a sentimental, often emotional, Senior Night at Dixon High School on Friday.

Sophomore star Jakob Moraes, however, put a spotlight on the future as Rams star Logan Mitchell and his classmates celebrated their careers with a 59-40 Golden Empire League boys basketball win over Marysville.

The Rams finish the season 4-6 in the GEL, 17-10 overall. Marysville ended in last place at 2-8, 12-13 overall.

Moraes scored 15 points, including nine points in a key stretch in the late third and early fourth quarters that iced the victory.

Mitchell, the senior center who led the Rams all season, wound up with 18 points.

The Rams started five seniors and used all of them liberally against a team they had defeated handily in Marysville earlier in the season.

"It was Senior Night and we wanted to win for the seniors," Moraes, the 5-foot-8 son of head coach John Moraes said. "We knew we had handled them pretty easily the last time."

The Rams led throughout, but couldn't extend the lead much past 10 points until Moraes heated up.

He hit a 3-point shot with 1 minute, 24 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Rams a 39-25 lead. Mitchell's free throw followed, but Dixon still led just 40-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

Moraes opened scoring in the final frame with another long 3-pointer to up the lead to 43-31. After Mitchell connected on two more free throws, Moraes drained a pull-up jump shot and Dixon was cruising, 47-33.

"We're happy we won our last two games," the sophomore guard said. "We didn't play like we think we can during the season."

Dixon got off to a fast start heading into their first season in the Golden Empire League, then fizzled.

"We're glad that we didn't finish in last place," the younger Moraes said. "We were playing well and we thought we'd roll through the league. We felt like we'd be playing smaller schools and that they'd be easier to beat. They weren't. It's like, we didn't take league as seriously as we needed to take it. We won't do that next year."

Moraes will return to play for his father -- a bigger challenge for young players than most would expect.

"There's more pressure on me with my dad coaching," the sophomore guard said. "There's just a certain difference for me. I get yelled at a lot more than everybody else. He expects a lot out of me."

The son, however, left no doubt how he feels about his father.

"I love my dad," the guard said. "He's been coaching a longtime and he's an awesome coach."

The elder Moraes appeared to be a genius when he started five seniors and Dixon jumped to an 8-0 lead in just over two minutes.

Angel Lara's 3-point shot got things started, followed by a score in the post by Matt Callahan. Energetic Danny Kitchen drained another 3-pointer forcing Marysville to call a timeout.

"We started the seniors and they played well," the younger Moraes said.

Junior Mike Tomelloso finished with eight points for Dixon. Bryan Hallowell, another junior, scored six.

Kyle Clanton led Marysville with 18 points.