By Austin Turner — Columnist
Mark Jones anxiously paced back-and-forth in his Indianapolis hotel room on Feb. 6. The ESPN NBA commentator was watching a basketball game with far higher personal stakes than the games he calls on television.
Jones wasn’t sitting courtside, like he would be for the following night’s game between the Raptors and Pacers.
He was watching Florida’s 7A District 13 girls basketball championship via FaceTime on his iPhone. His wife video called him in from Weston, Florida, where their daughter and San Jose State commit Sophia Jones held the ball with under 20 seconds left in a tied game.
With 10 seconds remaining, she called for “horns” almost from midcourt. It was her “go-to” play in high school, where two teammates set screens on both sides of her defender. Jones faked left, and went right. Her defender managed to break through the screen and cut Jones off on her way to the wing, so Jones went back to the middle of the court with just five seconds to play.
The four-year varsity starter settled at the top of the key.
Three seconds … two seconds …
And with a pair of defenders in her face, she pulled the trigger on a pull-up triple.
There was zero hesitation. No thoughts of passing. Sophia Jones was going to win that game for Cypress Bay High School.
“I was going to take that shot myself,” she said.
Mark watched Sophia take the potential championship-winning buzzer-beating shot, but suddenly the ball froze in midair.
“She lets [the ball] go, and the damn screen buffers,” Mark said.
Over 1,000 miles away, in the biggest game of his daughter’s life, Mark’s phone decides to stop working. Those few seconds felt like an eternity for him.
“It’s like ‘one Mississippi, two Mississippi,’ and I’m cursing, and I’m getting mad,” he said. “And it finally comes back to live-action, and I see everybody mobbing Sophia and the game’s over.”
Yup, Sophia nailed the shot.
It wrapped up a 43-40 championship game where the SJSU commit had 28 points and 4 assists.
Even with the ball in the air for that long with such high stakes, Mark knew that ball was going in.
“It was something that I’ve seen her work on a million times,” he said. “That’s one thing she’s really gotten much better at this year, is making sure she’s got a final say in the final shot at the end of the game or end of the quarter.”
Jones led the Lightning to the Regional Semifinals of the Florida Class 7A State Tournament. According to MaxPreps, she averaged 25 points per game on her way to becoming the state’s 7A Player of the Year. In the two games after her buzzer-beater, she put together performances of 39 and 30 points.
That’s the type of player the Spartans are getting next season. But she’d be the one to tell you that she isn’t just a scorer.
“I really enjoy being able to just play off of my teammates,” Jones said. “I love being able to set them up for shots … Just to play fast and get a lot of steals and fastbreaks. Just exciting basketball.”
Regarding her basketball influences, she lists three players: Chris Paul, Steph Curry and Diana Taurasi. Paul for his technical greatness and passing ability, Curry for his “loose” and fun style of play, and Taurasi for her “ferocity.”
Sounds like a perfect fit for her new squad.
She comes from what she describes as a “basketball family.” Before starting his 20+ year NBA broadcasting career, her dad played some college hoops himself at York University in Toronto. Sophia has two siblings involved in the college game, with her brother formerly playing at Jacksonville University and her sister currently at Loyola Marymount.
Sophia and her siblings had a unique opportunity growing up. With their father so entrenched in the NBA, they’ve gotten some advice from people most hoopers never get the chance to speak to.
A couple of years ago, Sophia was in the midst of a shooting slump. Mark was in Houston to call a game between the Rockets and Warriors. He wanted to get his morning workout in at the hotel gym when he ran into Steph Curry.
“I told him ‘my daughter’s your biggest fan in Miami, maybe South Florida, maybe even the entire country,’ ” Mark said. “He said ‘well, roll the camera.’ ”
“He did a nice 20-second ‘hey Sophia this is Steph. When you take the court tomorrow I just want you to play confident. Walk out there like you’re the best player on the floor. Make sure you shoot it and never stop.’ ”
“I think that made an impact,” Mark said.
Sophia still has the video on her phone. Now, she’s joining her idol in the Bay Area.
Jones verbally committed to SJSU women’s basketball in July 2019, where she will major in Radio-Television-Film in hopes of broadcasting basketball games like her father.
The Spartans weren’t exactly the team they are now at that point. They had just come off a 6-24 season. But Jones saw the potential in the squad despite the poor record.
“I knew Basallo was out that season and coach [Craighead] was saying [Ayzhiana] would be a really big difference and that I would be able to learn off of her,” Jones said.
Basallo, the 2019 Mountain West Newcomer of the Year, and Jones have a similar skill set.
Both play fast and are dynamic scorers. They can shoot from range, score from the paint and can create shots for others. Jones thinks that Basallo, who will be a junior next season, will be a great influence on her game.
“I love watching her. Whenever we try to pull [the games] up on the computer, my dad’s just like ‘see how she does that? That’s what you need to do.’ ”
SJSU is positioned for another big season in Jones’ freshman year. It lost just one starter after its 19-12 campaign. Jones had the foresight to see the turnaround the program would have, and now it’s her turn to contribute.
“I had faith and I’m glad I was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
Follow Austin on Twitter @AustinTurner_
