Mitty Cruises Past Serra
The Monarchs are tied with Riordan atop the WCAL after just two games.
A few hours after learning one of their players was likely done for the year, the Mitty Monarchs found some much-needed depth.
Hursh Mehta and St. Ignatius transfer Caeden Hutcherson each scored eight points off the bench as the Monarchs beat the Serra Padres 66-52 in San Mateo.
The Monarchs, who learned earlier in the day that Kai Groleau is likely headed for season-ending ankle surgery, sit tied atop the WCAL standings with Riordan after two league games.
“With Kai going down, I think it gave our guys a little bit of motivation,” head coach Tim Kennedy said.
Hutcherson and Mehta came off the bench along with sophomore Danny Ryan to create an eight-man rotation for a team that had previously struggled to find depth production, and Tyler Jones and Gavin Ripp were their usual selves to lead the starting lineup.
Jones scored a game-high 17 points, and it could have easily been more if not for an uncharacteristically shaky 2-for-7 showing at the free throw line. Ripp scored 12, dominated the paint on both ends of the floor and was a key part of multiple passing sequences that led to open baskets.
“I grew up as a point guard, so I’ve always been a passer,” said Ripp, a 6-foot-8 San Diego signee.
Ripp was credited with just two assists, but if secondary assists were counted, like they are in hockey, he’d have been pushing for a double-double.
By halftime, he and Mehta each had eight points, with the 6-foot-6 Mehta knocking down a pair of threes.
“He’s a great shooter,” Kennedy said. “When he’s able to give us those big minutes, that’s huge for us.”
His first 3-pointer gave Mitty (9-3, 2-0 WCAL) a 19-11 lead late in the first quarter, and his second made it 39-25 shortly before halftime.
As for Hutcherson, he hit a 3-pointer that sent the Monarchs into the fourth with a 55-36 advantage, and he sank another with 3:27 left to make it 62-44 and squelch any hopes of a late Padre comeback.
Playing in his first game since both sitting out a transfer period and recovering from a broken hand, Hutcherson did show some signs of rust as he got called for a pair of charges, but he adds another major scoring option and another body off the bench for a team that has been stuck with as small as a six-man rotation at times this season.
Mitty scored 19 points in the first quarter and 22 in the second to take a 14-point halftime lead, then used an 8-0 run early in the third to go up by 20 on a Jones 3-pointer.
“The way we were able to share it and get paint touches was fun to watch,” Kennedy said.
Chuck Rapp’s Serra teams have pulled off more than their share of comebacks at Morton Family Gymnasium, but never got within 14 on Saturday night.
“We kept them out of the paint and off of the line,” Kennedy said. “When they make their comebacks, we’re fouling them. They do such a good job of getting downhill and getting into your bodies, and we limited their second chance points.”
Serra (9-3, 1-1) attempted 15 free throws on the night, making 11 of them, and connected on just five 3-pointers after hitting nine in the first half of Thursday’s win at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
“I’m always worried about the game after a game where you shoot the ball really well,” Rapp said. “To beat Mitty, you have to make some shots.”
Andrew McDowell led the hosts with 12 points and Ryan Pettis added 10.
“We have to get better defensively,” Rapp said. “We’re having trouble controlling the ball. Ripp was having his way, and we had no answer for him off the dribble. The open shots were a result of us getting beat off the dribble.”
Pettis, who missed Tuesday’s win over Acalanes with an injury, made two visits to the locker room with trainer Kevin Attard over the course of the night.
Grayson Jalal rounded out Mitty’s attack with nine points, while Nathan Noronha scored seven in the second half. Serra got six apiece from Angelo Ghattas, Sebastian Margate and Alton Robenalt.
St. Ignatius 83, Valley Christian 81 (OT)
St. Ignatius squandered a six-point lead in the final minute of regulation and had two starters foul out, but Raymond Whitley saved the day with his ability to drive to the hoop as the Wildcats beat the Valley Christian Warriors, 83-81 in overtime.
Whitley scored a team-high 28 points, including nine in the fourth quarter and six of SI’s 11 in the extra period, to fend off a Warriors side that lost two nights earlier to St. Francis.
Whitley’s basket with 1:25 left in overtime put St. Ignatius (10-2, 1-1) up 77-73, and he scored again 11 seconds later off a Shawn Boquiren stretch pass to put his team up six. Valley Christian (8-4, 0-2) cut the lead to two on baskets by Diego Martinez and Tzahari Trevino, but Boquiren made a pair of free throws with 22.1 seconds left and two more with 12.1 to go to ensure the Wildcats would hang on. Trevino scored the last of his 24 points in the dying seconds, but the Warriors were out of timeouts.
Trevino’s basket just before time expired in regulation tied the game at 70. The Wildcats were inbounding under their own basket with eight seconds left, but Trevino grabbed an errant pass at midcourt, drove through the lane and scored to send the game to overtime.
The senior point guard also had nine assists and eight rebounds. Martinez scored a game-high 32 points, including 12 in the third quarter. The Warriors went into halftime down 35-25 but bridged the third and fourth quarters with a 9-0 run to take a 55-51 lead on a Justin Hampton 3-pointer with 6:42 remaining in regulation. SI took a 61-59 lead with 3:17 left on the last of Marco Cerchiai’s five 3-pointers and led 67-61 after a Whitley basket with 1:03 left, but missed a pair of free throws with 49.5 left after Trevino had cut the lead to four.
Boquiren made two free throws with 20 seconds left to extend the lead to 70-67, but Valley Christian had a chance to tie or even take the lead when Nate Kinsella rebounded a missed Trevino free throw with 12.4 left. Martinez traveled with eight seconds left, one of his only blunders on the day, but Trevino’s last-second drive sent the game to an extra period.
Cerchiai, who hadn’t scored more than 12 points in a varsity game before Saturday, finished with 19, while Boquiren and Marcus Bast each scored 10. Boquiren went 7-for-10 at the line across the fourth quarter and overtime, and Bast dished out seven assists. Vince Crisp scored eight before fouling out. Steele Labagh also fouled out, leaving Boquiren, Sebastian Fisher and Na’o Tito, a JV callup playing in just his second varsity game, to fill in.
Bellarmine 65, Sacred Heart Cathedral 55
Brothers Nick and Will Corbett combined for 44 points and 16 rebounds as the Bellarmine Bells led wire-to-wire for their first WCAL win of 2024, beating the Sacred Heart Cathedral Fightin’ Irish 65-55.
Nick, a 6-foot-7 forward, scored 21, while Will, a 6-foot-2 lefty sophomore guard, scored 10 of his game-high 23 in the fourth quarter. Each brother also racked up eight rebounds.
Sacred Heart Cathedral (7-5, 0-2) trailed just 49-46 after Mykel Patton’s 3-pointer with 3:56 left, but Nick scored off a feed from fellow big man Julian Gospich, then fed Will for a 3-pointer with 2:53 left to put Bellarmine (6-6, 1-1) up by eight. Will and Noah Custodio combined to make all six of their free throws in the final 40 seconds to ice the game.
The brothers combined for all of Bellarmine’s points in a 15-7 first quarter and 24 of 27 in a first half where SHC finished on an 8-0 run to get within two at the break, responding to a Cam Razavi 3-pointer with back-to-back Zemaury Erfe threes and a Fed Pernell drive between two defenders.
Pernell, who didn’t score until the final minute of the first half, finished with a team-high 20 points, but his Irish were always playing from behind. Gospich scored nine of his 12 points during a 10-0 Bells run to open the third quarter, and a Will Corbett three with 4:46 left gave Bellarmine a 49-41 lead.
Patton finished with 10 points and six assists while Erfe scored eight, all in the second quarter. The Irish have lost their first two WCAL games by a combined 17 points, but never held a lead in either of them.