Miramonte MLK Classic: Archie Williams Wins 2 OT Thriller, Granada Wins 15th Straight
Read up on the action from all six games at Saturday's event.
The host school’s game wasn’t billed as the top item at the 3rd Martin Luther King Jr.-John Lewis Memorial, but it certainly ended up as the most exciting.
The host Miramonte Matadors fell in two overtimes to the Archie Williams Falcons, 67-63, in a game highlighted by Grady Stewart’s 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left to send the game to the fateful second OT period.
Marcus Robinson scored a game-high 29 points, including a deep 3-pointer with 19.8 seconds left in overtime to give Miramonte (13-4) a 61-58 lead, but Stewart’s response forced a second overtime, in which the Falcons ultimately prevailed.
Sophomore Brian Wright, who finished with a double-double, made four free throws in the first minute of the second additional period to give Archie Williams (9-8) the lead for good, and Ephraim Sohn’s basket with 38 seconds left made it a four-point game.
“Junkyard dogs, that’s what our coach likes to call us,” said Sohn, who scored 12 points off the bench, of his team’s mentality.
Sohn, one of six sophomores on head coach Russell Bauer’s roster, scored seven points in a 12-1 third quarter.
Five different Falcons finished in double figures, and each one had their own miniature hot streak. Wright, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds, scored six in the second quarter to get the visitors within four by halftime after facing an early 17-4 deficit. Owen Bugas accompanied Sohn by scoring five of his 13 in the third quarter. Julian Nichol scored five of his 10 in the fourth, including the 3-pointer that put Archie Williams up 50-42 before Robinson led a late 10-2 run to force overtime. Stewart stepped up with a pair of game-tying threes in the first OT, one with 2:20 left to knot it up at 57 and the other just before the buzzer.
Robinson nearly did enough at the other end to win the battle of two of the likely top seeds in NCS Division 3. He was responsible for 11 points as the Matadors jumped out to a 20-7 lead, after his team watched a 13-point lead turn into an eight-point deficit, he led the home side back. His basket with 2:18 left cut it to 50-47, and he tied it on a drive with 15.6 left after freshman Adam Houssami forced a Falcon miss. Nichol had put Archie Williams up by five, but Chris Kaufhold’s and-1 on a putback made it a two-point game with 1:32 remaining.
For Kaufhold to score off a rebound was fitting. He only scored six points on the night, but led all players with 20 rebounds. Robinson was Miramonte’s lone player in double digits; Jack Quinnild was second on the team with eight points, hitting a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter and another in OT.
Granada 68, Menlo-Atherton 55
Teams preparing for the Granada Matadors have always had to figure out how to stop one main weapon, whether that be Kevin Gad, Andrew McKeever or Cortevious Taylor.
The Menlo-Atherton Bears did well enough on Taylor, limiting the Lincoln transfer to 11 points and 10 rebounds, but Granada employed a much more balanced attack than usual to win a 15th straight game, topping the Bears 68-55.
“A lot of our guards from last year’s run got a lot of experience in bench roles,” Matadors head coach Quaran Johnson said after the defending Northern California Division I Champions triumphed in a battle of top teams from the NCS and CCS.
Spencer Langowski led Granada (16-1) with 16 points, NaVaughn Long scored 15 and Marco Wilde scored seven to make sure Taylor wasn’t left carrying the entire team.
Jack Anderson scored a game-high 20 points for Menlo-Atherton (12-2) and sophomore Jerry Williams did an admirable job on Taylor, but Granada closed the first half on an 8-2 run to take a 34-27 lead and used a late 10-1 run to seal the game after Williams had scored off a feed from Anderson to cut it to 56-50.
Sebastian Terrel started the decisive run with a putback and Langowski, who came off the bench alongside fellow starters Lennon Lomba and Wilde on last year’s team, finished it with a three-point play off a steal.
Sophomore Jacob Sutton scored nine of his 11 points in the first quarter for the Bears, who lost starting guard Trevor Cadigan to an ankle injury during Friday night’s win over Burlingame.
San Ramon Valley 78, Inderkum 57
The San Ramon Valley Wolves used a lightning-quick attack to open up an early double-digit lead and rolled to a 78-57 win over the Inderkum Tigers in the nightcap of the 3rd Martin Luther King Jr.-John Lewis Memorial.
Since losing three games in four days in early December, San Ramon Valley (16-3) has won 12 straight.
“After the second night (at Gridley), there was a sense that there was a little hero ball action and we weren’t passing the ball enough,” said head coach Brian Botteen. “Since then, they’ve bought in.”
The Wolves have averaged 68.6 points per game since losing to Clayton Valley on Dec. 8, and the up-tempo passing sequences that have fueled the current 12-game streak were on display throughout Saturday’s win.
SRV recorded assists on 22 of 29 made field goals, with 6-foot-5 forward Seamus Deely dishing out 11 of them. Luke Isaak scored a game-high 27 points, including 10 in the first quarter. Mason Thomas also started strong, scoring seven of his 17 in the opening period.
Inderkum (11-6) closed the first quarter on a 9-2 run after falling behind by 13 and trailed just 23-19 after LJ Chadwick’s putback to open the second quarter, but SRV answered with a 16-2 run to take a commanding 39-21 lead on a pair of Matthew Diekmann free throws. Diekmann, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, scored seven of his 14 in the second quarter.
Elliot Conley added seven off the bench, including five straight points after the Tigers had cut the lead to 49-35 on a Taylen Goodman and-1 with 4:20 left in the third quarter. Diekmann’s 3-pointer a minute into the fourth gave the Wolves their first 20-point lead, and Isaak hit the last of his five threes a minute later to cap off an 11-0 run that put SRV up 69-44.
Jeremiah Butler came off the bench to lead Inderkum with eight points, making six of his eight free throws. Goodman finished with 11 points and eight rebounds and Siincere Hudson scored eight of his 10 in the second half. Tiger reserves scored 31 of the team’s 57 points, led by Butler and Chadwick, who finished with eight.
Monte Vista 67, Marin Catholic 61
6-foot-3 guard Daniel Cojocaru scored a game-high 31 points as the Monte Vista Mustangs bounced back from their first back-to-back losses of the season with a 67-61 win over the Marin Catholic Wildcats.
The senior was remarkably consistent, scoring at least six points in every quarter. His 3-pointer in the final minute of the third gave the Mustangs the lead for good at 45-42 and served as the start of an 8-0 run that helped finally create some separation from a pesky Wildcats squad that had entered the 3rd Martin Luther King Jr.-John Lewis Memorial on a three-game winning streak.
Cojocaru opened the fourth by scoring three the old-fashioned way, and Collin Ellis scored on a drive to put Monte Vista (16-3) up by eight. The Mustangs had lost their first two EBAL games to De La Salle and Dublin after losing just one game across the first six weeks of their season.
Wyoming football commit Charles Williams led Marin Catholic (8-12) with 21 points, including two free throws to trim the lead to 52-47 with 5:16 left, but the Mustangs responded with a Max Nishikawa 3-pointer off an Alex Long offensive rebound and a terrific transition sequence that started with a Cojocaru block and finished with a Jacob Shehata pass to Ellis to take their first double-digit lead of the game.
Cojocaru’s fifth and final 3-pointer made it 64-54, and Ellis’ basket off Long’s fifth and final assist extended the lead to 12 and iced the game.
Ellis scored six of his 11 points in the fourth quarter while Nishikawa, a freshman, finished with 15 despite spending much of the second half in foul trouble. He picked up his second, third and fourth fouls in a 2:10 span early in the third quarter, but never committed a fifth.
Shehata finished with eight points and six assists. Branson transfer Joe Hammond scored eight in his fifth game in a Marin Catholic uniform, while juniors Theo Pontes and Jake Ryan scored 10 apiece.
Northgate 63, California 42
Jake Andjus scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half as the Northgate Broncos cruised to a 63-42 victory over a California squad missing its two top scorers.
The Grizzlies, who trailed just 18-13 in the second quarter before allowing a 16-3 run, were without both Dane Wallace and Arman Martin, who suffered injuries in Friday night’s loss at San Ramon Valley.
Andjus scored 7 of his team’s 10 points to put Northgate (11-6) up 28-13, and after California (10-8) responded with a Brayde Kuykendall three, the Broncos used a David Harris and-1 and Andjus’ third 3-pointer to go up 34-16.
Andjus’ steal and layup midway through the third quarter capped off an 8-2 run, giving the Broncos a 44-23 lead, and Spencer French’s putback early in the fourth gave them their largest lead at 55-29.
Daniel Louie scored eight of his 11 points in the third quarter and Grayson Boustead finished with nine points and five assists in the winning effort.
Sibesh Sankar led the Grizzlies with 13 points, Kuykendall finished with 11 and Macio Budge added nine. Brayden Gijbels finished with seven points and a game-hifh 16 rebounds.
Sacred Heart Prep 58, Lincoln 39
A 16-0 start provided the Sacred Heart Prep Gators all the separation they’d need in a 58-39 win over the Lincoln Mustangs.
JP Kerrigan scored nine of his game-high 20 points during the stretch, and though Lincoln (8-10) managed to get within eight on Dwayne Gaines’ long jumper to start the fourth quarter, the Mustangs saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
Lincoln did an excellent job of muddying the game up after falling into the early double-digit hole to keep things close. Sacred Heart Prep (10-4) committed 13 first-half fouls, with Kerrigan and fellow starter TJ O’Brien each getting called for three.
But aside from an 8-1 run to close the first quarter, the Mustangs could never get on enough of a run to fully climb out of the hole. O’Brien, despite his foul trouble, scored 18, including eight in the fourth quarter to help put the game away. Kerrigan also hit two of his four 3-pointers in the final period. Drew Wagner, the third member of SHP’s guard trio, finished with eight points and eight assists.
With backup forward Alex Straser sidelined by an unspecified injury, Alex Osterloh stepped up with eight points off the bench, including six in the first half. His brother, Erick, led the Gators with seven rebounds.
DaMarco Reed Jr. led Lincoln with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat. Tyrrell Price scored 12, including six in the third quarter.