CCS Open Division: Riordan Beats Gritty SHP
The Crusaders, despite being the top seed, were playing on the road.
The Sacred Heart Prep Gators slowed Riordan down with zone defense, beat the Crusaders to nearly every 50-50 ball and held them nearly 10 points below their season average.
The top-seeded Crusaders still won, 62-45.
“When you’re playing a team like that, you have to be almost perfect to win,” Gators head coach Tony Martinelli said after his team’s loss in CCS Open Division Pool Play. “There’s not a team that we’re gonna see moving forward that has more talent than Riordan.”
Sheer talent was what gave Riordan (22-4) the edge on Monday night. The Crusaders closed the first quarter on an 11-0 run after absorbing an early blow from fifth-seeded SHP and scored the final seven points of the second quarter to take a 33-21 lead, then gradually pulled away in the fourth.
“When we have five guys locked in on the defensive end, you’re gonna have to make a tough shot,” Riordan head coach Joey Curtin said. “Once we got in that groove defensively, it was tough for them to score besides free throws.”
Sacred Heart Prep (20-6) started the night 4-for-7 from the field, but shot just 7-for-34 the rest of the way and made only three field goals, all 3-pointers, in the second half. Even when the Crusaders subbed 6-foot-10 center Nes Emeneke out, their length across the board kept the Gators from getting to the hoop.
“They’re athletic, they’re long, they’ve got one of the best shot blockers in the state,” Martinelli said. “So you’ve got to do things from the perimeter.”
TJ O’Brien, committed to Division III Chapman, hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points, but nine different players tallied points for the visitors, led by Zion Sensley’s 17 points and Andrew Hilman’s 13.
“It all starts at practice,” Hilman said of his team’s balance. “We’ve been competing at practice, and we know each other now, so it’s easier to pass.”
Hilman, who also had five rebounds and five assists, had easily the two most impressive plays of the night. His and-1 on a finger roll where he showcased his length gave Riordan a 26-16 lead with 3:34 left in the second quarter, and he drove through the lane to throw down a ferocious one-handed dunk with 6:57 left in the third.
Neither of those plays broke the Gators, though. Even after a Dorde Curcic 3-pointer gave Riordan a 43-27 lead, SHP countered with a 7-0 run and trailed by just 10 heading into the fourth quarter, but could get no closer.
“We missed a couple that could have closed the gap a little bit, and when you don’t get ‘em, it’s got that deflating feeling,” Martinelli said.
Sensley, who had been held in check for most of the night, hit threes on consecutive possessions, drawing a four-point play on the latter, to give Riordan a 51-36 lead with 5:53 left.
“For the most part, we let the ball find who’s open,” Curtin said. “He let that happen on the offensive side and made his presence felt on defense.“
Despite being the top seed in the field, Riordan was forced to play its first two games on the road as a carryover from discipline handed down after a fight in last year’s Northern California playoffs. The Crusaders, who also got eight points from Curcic, will get to host Serra (20-6) on Wednesday in a de facto semifinal.
Drew Wagner finished with eight points and JP Kerrigan scored seven for the Gators, who will round out Open Division Pool Play on Wednesday against Bellarmine (10-16).
Serra 53, Bellarmine 50
Despite opening on an 8-0 run and never trailing, the Serra Padres couldn’t exhale until the final buzzer of their 53-50 win over Bellarmine.
The eighth-seeded Bells closed the first half on a 12-2 run to go into the break tied at 27 and trailed just 52-50 after Noah Custodio’s 3-pointer with 25.7 seconds left, but couldn’t get off a clean attempt at the buzzer after Andrew McDowell’s free throw with 18.5 to go put the fourth-seeded Padres up three.
Alex Naber’s pull-up jumper to give Serra (20-6) a 52-45 lead with 3:53 left marked the last time the hosts scored from the field, but they held on thanks to a stout defensive effort. Fordham commit Ryan Pettis led the Padres with 14 points and McDowell scored 13, fueled by his 7-of-9 performance at the free throw line. Angelo Ghattas, wearing a Batman-style mask after suffering a broken nose last week, finished with eight points and 12 rebounds, and Naber also scored eight.
Bellarmine (10-16) got a game-high 19 points from sophomore Will Corbett. Senior center Nick Corbett finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Julian Gospich also scored 11, including seven during the 12-2 run to end the first half.
St. Ignatius 67, Half Moon Bay 48
Steele Labagh hit three 3-pointers in the first four minutes as third-seeded St. Ignatius (20-6) beat the Half Moon Bay Cougars to turn Wednesday’s trip to Mitty into a de facto semifinal. Labagh led the Wildcats with 16 points while Raymond Whitley, who missed Friday’s win over Branham with an illness, scored 11. The hosts also got 10 points from Vince Crisp and nine from Marcus Bast.
Anthony Acosta hit five threes in the fourth quarter to lead seventh-seeded Half Moon Bay (19-7) with 15 points, while Dom Faenzi added 13.
Mitty 73, Branham 56
The Mitty Monarchs had four double-digit scorers for the fourth time this season and opened up a 20-point lead after three quarters to win a crosstown battle with seventh-seeded Branham (22-4). Gavin Ripp scored 19 points, Nathan Noronha had 18 and Caeden Hutcherson and Tyler Jones finished with 11 apiece for Mitty (20-6). The Bruins got a game-high 21 points from Dasan Poston and 11 from Ben Lim.