Bambauer Classic First Round: Ygnacio Valley Triumphs, Raiders Fall In OT, Vikings Scare Hosts
A matchup with mammoth NCS Division 4 implications highlighted the tournament's first day.
Ygnacio Valley’s maiden voyage at the Bambauer Classic saw the Wolves fend off the Urban Blues, 65-61, in a game that’ll have massive NCS Division 4 implications come February.
Urban (8-3) drew even three times in the fourth quarter but could never take the lead, and the Wolves went ahead for good on a pair of Todd Tatom Jr. free throws with 2:29 left. Ygnacio Valley (9-2) took a 63-58 lead on Antonio Kellogg Jr.’s 3-pointer with 1:51 to go, and got free throws from Kellogg and Jalan Cody inside the final 25 seconds to ice the game.
Barring any surprises, the Wolves should be one of the top two seeds in Division 4 when brackets are released, alongside Justin-Siena. Urban will be in contention for the third seed.
Ygnacio Valley used a 9-0 run late in the first quarter to take a 22-13 lead, then went on a 9-2 run in the second to go up by 14, but the Blues scored the final six points of the half, with five coming from Jake Rodriguez. The senior point guard led Urban with 17 points.
Tatom hit 3-pointers to bookend a 10-2 run in the third that gave the Wolves a 45-33 advantage, but the Blues fired back with an 8-0 run, fueled by threes from Patrick Holden and Owen Brown. A Mawa Silvestro 3-pointer sent Urban to the fourth down 48-47.
Urban tied the game at 54 on a Holden three with 5:35 left, then got a basket from Oscar Rohde after Loyal Morris had put the Wolves back in front. Morris scored from the elbow with 3:42 to go, but Brown tied it 17 seconds later. After a block by 6-foot-10 center Evan McKnight, Tatom was fouled and made both shots to put his team on top for good.
Rohde’s 3-pointer with 1:29 left cut the lead to two, but the Blues missed a pair of threes in the final 30 seconds.
Kellogg led all players with 21 points, while Morris finished with 15 points, six rebounds and six assists. Tatom scored eight of his nine in the second half, and Terrance Murphy Jr. had eight points off the bench. McKnight added six points and six rebounds.
Brown and Silvestro each scored 12 in the losing effort, while Holden hit a trio of 3-pointers in the second half to finish with nine. Rohde contributed eight points and six assists.
King 62, Central Catholic 59 (OT)
The game with the two teams combining to make the farthest trip proved to be the best one of the first day at the 27th Bambauer Classic, where the King Wolves moved into the winners’ bracket despite failing to make a single field goal in overtime.
The Riverside natives went 0-for-4 from the floor in the extra period but made six of their eight free throws, with 6-foot-7 senior Mathias Tinker making five of six. He made one of two with 2:49 left for the first points of the extra period, then made a pair with 52.3 left.
Freshman James McGee scored for Central Catholic (7-4) with 33.8 left, and the Raiders had a chance to tie the game with 3.6 left when Tyler Wentworth was fouled, but the Clemson baseball commit made just one of two free throws. Tinker made both at the other end with 2.7 left, and the Raiders could never get off an attempt to tie at the buzzer.
Without Wentworth, the Raiders would have never gotten to overtime in the first place. The 6-foot-5 forward struggled to shoot for most of the night with a mask on his face to protect a broken nose, but scored 11 in the fourth quarter as his team rallied from an eight-point deficit.
His drive through traffic gave Central Catholic its first and only lead of the night with 2:02 left in regulation, but Tinker scored to put King (9-9) back ahead with 22 seconds left. James Harrell made one of two free throws with 7.5 left, but Wesley Payne scored off a feed from Wentworth with 2.3 to go to force overtime.
Payne scored a team-high 17 points and racked up 10 rebounds, while Wentworth finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds. McGee scored 15, including seven in the first quarter.
King was bombing away from outside in the first half, as the Wolves scored their first 18 points on threes. In all, they connected 10 times from beyond the arc across the first 16 minutes, leading by as much as 13 in the process. They made just two threes in the second half, and allowed a 7-0 run to Wentworth to start the fourth quarter to get the Raiders within one.
Tinker led the Wolves with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Harrell scored 10. Justin Brayard, Donovan Holloway and Joshua Lin each scored nine, with Lin also collecting seven rebounds off the bench. His putback off a missed free throw gave King a 46-36 lead late in the third. Sophomore Jeremiah Davis had seven points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Marin Catholic 49, Mills 43
The Mills Vikings put a serious scare into the Marin Catholic Wildcats, but Wyoming football commit Charles Williams ensured the hosts wouldn’t lose in the first round of their own tournament for the first time since 2018.
Williams scored eight points during a 12-0 second quarter run to help Marin Catholic (4-8) rally from a 10-point deficit, then scored 12 more in the third to stake his team out to an 11-point advantage. The Wildcats led 46-33 in the fourth after a Jake Ryan putback, but Mills (3-7) countered with a 10-0 run, cutting the lead to three on a Jefriel Bacorro 3-pointer with 17.1 left.
Unsurprisingly, it was Williams who finished the Vikings off.
He made the first of two free throws with 12.7 on the clock to give Marin Catholic a two-possession lead, then stole the rebound and delivered one last layup to ice the win.
Bacorro scored 15 of his team-high 22 in the second half to lead the Vikings. Tyler Ngo battled through foul trouble to score 10, including a layup off a Kareem Mosa assist to give Mills a 21-11 lead in the second quarter. Mosa, a 6-foot-4 center, scored six in the first quarter and picked up nine rebounds.
Ryan scored eight for the Wildcats, while freshman Oliver Myers and sophomore Henry Dibble each dropped in six.
Arcata 93, Lincoln 81
A pair of guards wearing 0 stole the show in the penultimate first round game at the 27th Bambauer Classic, but it was Luke Lemke and the Arcata Tigers who emerged victorious over the Lincoln Mustangs, 93-81.
Sommari Tanner scored a game-high 38 for Lincoln (3-9), but the Mustangs never led outside of the opening two minutes and trailed by double digits for the final 10.
6-foot-3 Luke Moxon scored in the first half 11 for Arcata (6-5), but when he injured his ankle early in the third quarter, Lemke took over. The 6-foot-1 sophomore, who also plays quarterback for the Tigers’ football team, scored 20 of his 31 points in the second half to go along with his 12 rebounds and seven assists.
Lemke also had the benefit of a stronger supporting cast than Tanner. While Lincoln used just six players, Arcata took advantage of a 10-man rotation and got 25 points from Kalani Butor, who went 8-of-10 at the free throw line and was the recipient of four of Lemke’s seven assists. Butor scored six during a 14-5 run that sent the Tigers into the fourth with a 65-49 lead, and Lincoln never trailed by less than 10 in the final quarter.
A pair of Butor free throws with 6:31 to go gave Arcata a 74-55 lead, and the Tigers led 91-75 before five late Tanner points and an Ethan Ong free throw.
Finn Warner added nine for Arcata and Lennon Geider chipped in six. Sophomore Dwayne Gaines, Lincoln’s lone reserve to see the court, scored 14 while Nathan Yip had 12 points and eight rebounds. Ong scored 11 and Kai McCabe had six points and a game-high eight assists.
Miramonte 72, Vintage 49
A year after winning just five games with a young and injury-riddled roster, the Miramonte Matadors have already notched seven wins in their first nine games of the 2023-24 season.
Marcus Robinson hit a trio of 3-pointers inside the first four minutes and Miramonte (7-2) opened the second quarter on a 15-3 run en route to a convincing 72-49 win over the Vintage Crushers.
Robinson scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter, Jack Quinnild scored 12 and Chris Kaufhold had nine points and nine rebounds as the Matadors raced out to a 36-17 lead with 2:43 left in the second quarter and took a 20-point lead into the break after a Blake Bastani 3-pointer and a Kaufhold putback.
Thomas Zwahlen added seven points for the Matadors, who made a splash by beating Las Lomas in DAL play on Dec. 21.
Jace Lopez led Vintage (6-5) with 18 points, scoring 11 in a two-and-a-half minute span late in the third quarter. The Crushers also got eight points in the first half from Nathan Marroquin, seven from Miles Macpherson and six from lacrosse standout Luke Haeuser.
St. Ignatius 82, Archie Williams 56
The St. Ignatius Wildcats entered the 27th Bambauer Classic without 6-foot-8 forward Theo Lamb (ankle), but closed the second quarter on a 17-4 run and beat the Archie Williams Falcons 82-56.
Sophomore Raymond Whitley scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the first half while Vince Crisp had 11 points, eight assists and a pair of dunks. Marcus Bast scored 14 for St. Ignatius (6-1) and dished out six assists while Sebastian Fisher added nine off the bench. Steele Labagh scored seven of his nine in the third quarter and sophomore Shawn Boquiren scored six.
Owen Bugas led Archie Williams (5-6) with 12 points, while 6-foot-3 sophomore Brian Wright scored 11. Marin Catholic transfer Dante Stallone scored nine and Grady Stewart finished with seven. Only 18 of the Falcons’ 56 points were scored by seniors, and their six sophomores combined to score 25.
Montgomery 68, Heritage 46
Three Vikings finished in double figures and Montgomery outscored the Heritage Patriots 18-8 in the third quarter to pull away for a resounding win in the opening game of the 27th Bambauer Classic.
Montgomery (10-1) got 14 points from Caden DeVries and 11 apiece from Will Grafe and Bobby McGovern, plus eight from both 6-foot-8 junior Michael Ule and sophomore Sovonn Eng. Ule also had a team-high seven rebounds.
Nate Grube scored 10 of his game-high 15 in the first quarter for Heritage (4-7). Jace Bernard collected a game-high 11 rebounds for the Patriots and finished a point shy of a double-double.
University 90, Priory 60
The University Red Devils gave the Priory Panthers a rude welcoming to the Bambauer Classic, taking a 24-10 lead after a quarter and winning 90-60.
Cole Boake scored a game-high 19 for University (8-3), while Lucas Lau came off the bench to score 10 of his 13 in the second half. Nine different players scored at least six points for the Red Devils: Henry Brockland had nine points; Jason Morris had nine points and seven rebounds; freshman Beau Millar scored eight and Luke Burton, Jordan Chau, Gus Parsons and Trevor Tarm each added six. Tarm also dished out six assists, one fewer than teammate Gus Fried.
Sophomore Noah Gallon spent much of the day in foul trouble, but still led Priory (4-5) with 16 points and eight rebounds. The Panthers also got 13 points from sophomore Kasten Eggers and a 13-point, seven-rebound performance from 6-foot-5 freshman Teddy Xanthopoulos. Hudson Karnes, one of just three seniors on David Moseley’s roster, had six points and seven rebounds.