Mitty Squeaks Out Another Close Win

The Monarchs did just enough to stay in the WCAL race.

The Mitty Monarchs haven’t put together any masterpieces lately.

Yet they managed to eke out yet another close win, overcoming a lackluster first half and rising late for a 58-50 home win over the Serra Padres.

With five games remaining, Mitty (14-5, 8-1 WCAL) remains a game behind first-place Riordan (14-5, 9-0). The teams reconvene at the Crusader Forum on Feb. 6.

“Offensively, I don’t think we’ve been as locked in,” Monarchs head coach Tim Kennedy said. “We don’t have a great rhythm right now.”

Despite averaging just 57 points over their last six games, the Monarchs have lost just once in that span.

With Saturday’s loss, Serra (14-5, 6-3) would now need a miracle to claim even a share of the league title. Padres fans who made the trip to San Jose for Saturday’s game were quick to point to a 26-9 differential in free throws and two technical fouls called against the visitors.

“You gotta talk to the refs about that,” Serra head coach Chuck Rapp said. “It definitely impacted the game, but my whole thing is you worry about the things you need to control. You can’t let one bad call lead to a future play.”

The Padres were charged with a pair of technical fouls in the third quarter. The first went against Andrew McDowell for arguing a no call when he came down with an offensive rebound, and the second was called on Ryan Pettis for what was deemed a taunt when he celebrated drawing a moving screen with 3:39 left in the period.

While Mitty made just one of two free throws each time, the fouls had far broader ramifications. Both served as turnovers, and Pettis’ was also his fourth foul. Instead of Serra having possession with a seven-point lead, Tyler Jones made a free throw to cut it to 36-30 and drew Alex Naber’s fourth foul on the ensuing possession.

Over the following minutes, Mitty ramped up the pressure with both Naber and Pettis on the bench, taking the lead for the first time with 2:42 left in the third on Aaron Biebel’s steal and layup.

“They went into a full-court press when our starting backcourt was on the bench,” Rapp said.

Mitty went to the fourth with a 42-40 lead after a Jones drive and Biebel free throw, and the Monarchs took the lead for good on Nathan Noronha’s pull-up in the lane with 3:32 left in the fourth. Noronha’s drive with 1:55 left gave the hosts their first two-possession lead at 52-47, and Biebel’s 3-pointer with 1:12 remaining stretched the lead to eight.

Sebastian Margate, who scored 14 points to lead the Padres, hit a three with 50.9 seconds left to make it 55-50, but Serra couldn’t turn the Monarchs over and had to foul Noronha with 27.1 left. He made one of two free throws, and Jones scored the last two of his game-high 18 at the line with 8.9 left.

“We just needed to keep attacking to get them in the bonus,” said Jones, who made nine of his 12 free throws.

While the free throw differential was staggering, the Monarchs were dealing with foul trouble of their own. San Diego commit Gavin Ripp picked up his third foul with 2:34 left in the first half, and he committed his fourth on a moving screen on an inbound play with 5:41 left in the third quarter.

Serra led 34-28 at the time, but Mitty outscored the Padres 14-6 for the rest of the quarter behind the smaller lineup. When Ripp came back in, he went right back to controlling the paint, as Serra got just one putback and a pair of free throws inside during the final quarter.

“When we were without him, we tried to space it out a little more and get downhill in the lane,” Kennedy said. “When he came back in, we had an even better flow and rhythm.”

Ripp finished with just seven points, but limited Serra’s forwards to just four.

The Padres led for the entirety of the first half, with an 18-10 advantage after a quarter thanks to four 3-pointers, with two from Margate and one from backup guard Mariano Bermudez. They went into halftime up 29-22 after a long rebound allowed Mikey Ballout to hit a three.

Ballout finished with 12 points, scoring eight in the first half, and a team-high seven rebounds. While fouls limited the combination of Pettis and Naber to just 13 points, Serra’s underclassmen scored 30, led by Ballout and Margate.

“Those guys stepped up and made plays,” Rapp said. “The last time we played these guys, it wasn’t close at all. We’ve improved a lot, but we still have a ways to go.”

Mitty led by as much as 20 when the teams met at Serra on Jan. 6. This time, the Monarchs spent much of the game playing from behind, but Caeden Hutcherson’s eight first-half points kept them afloat.

“We haven’t hit our stride yet, and that’s the good part about us,” said Jones.

St. Ignatius 72, Valley Christian 66

With Raymond Whitley out sick, the St. Ignatius Wildcats got clutch late shooting from Vince Crisp and a big all-around game from Theo Lamb to escape with a road win over the Valley Christian Warriors.

Despite leading wire-to-wire, St. Ignatius (14-5, 5-4 WCAL) could never pull away, thanks in large part to a 16-6 third quarter run by the host Warriors that featured eight of Diego Martinez’s game-high 22 points. Nevertheless, the Wildcats held on, with Crisp and Lamb combining for all 14 of SI’s fourth-quarter points. Crisp scored on a drive after Valley Christian (10-9, 2-7) had gotten within a point on a Martinez bucket with 6:10 left, and Lamb scored off a feed from Crisp with 2:57 to put the visitors up 66-63. Crisp’s 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds left off a kick-out from Marco Cerchiai served as the dagger.

Crisp finished with a team-high 19 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, while Lamb had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. He had five rebounds and four assists in the first quarter, then went on to score 12 in the second half. Sebastian Fisher scored nine for SI off the bench, all in the second quarter, to help his team overcome a 2-for-9 performance on free throws.

Nate Kinsella scored 13 for the hosts, all in the first half, while Trevino finished with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. The Warriors have now lost 11 straight home meetings to the Wildcats, last beating St. Ignatius in San Jose on Jan. 14, 2012.

Bellarmine 62, Sacred Heart Cathedral 44

The Bellarmine Bells dominated in the post to complete a season sweep of the Sacred Heart Cathedral Fightin’ Irish. Nick Corbett scored 21 points, Julian Gospich added 16 and the tandem finished with nine rebounds apiece as Bellarmine (8-11, 3-6 WCAL) won on the road for the first time in WCAL play. The visitors also got 12 points from sophomore Will Corbett.

Fed Pernell scored a game-high 22 points for Sacred Heart Cathedral (9-10, 2-7), and Jack Kennedy added 10.

Riordan 80, St. Francis 42

Even with Saint Mary’s commit Zion Sensley suspended after picking up two technical fouls on Thursday, the Riordan Crusaders rolled to their 12th consecutive league win over the St. Francis Lancers, pulling away with a 28-8 third quarter.

Sophomore point guard Andrew Hilman scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting for Riordan (15-4, 9-0 WCAL), while Dorde Curcic and Jasir Rencher each finished with 11. Nes Emeneke and Jordy McKenzie added eight points apiece.

Evan Lee, another sophomore, led St. Francis (3-16, 1-8) with 15 points and James Jordan added nine. The loss officially ensured the Lancers would finish WCAL play with a losing record, meaning they’ll miss the postseason for the first time since 1987.