In one motion, Darrion Trammell won both the tournament MVP and the championship for his St. Ignatius Wildcats.
The 5-foot-8 guard’s three-point play with 15.8 seconds remaining proved to be the difference as the host Wildcats fought off a furious comeback by a young and inspired Loyola team to win the 42nd Leo LaRocca Sand Dune Classic.
The visiting Cubs erased a 15-point deficit to take their first lead of the night with three minutes to go on a Mason Butler three and led 58-56 after Anthony Lucenti found Jared Cox underneath with 40 seconds remaining, but Trammell’s layup and free throw put St. Ignatius (7-3) on top for good.
It was one of those plays where the ball hovered over the rim for what felt like an eternity before finally falling through the hoop. Once Trammell had tied it, there was no question he’d make the free throw for the lead. He shot 29-of-32 from the line over the course of the three-day tournament.
“We knew they were going to go on some runs and we even said they might take the lead,” said head coach Rob Marcaletti. “Guys just stayed laser-focused.”
Loyola (8-3) showed its inexperience with a backcourt violation on the following possession, a rare mistake for a team of juniors that played like seasoned veterans for most of the game rather than a group with minimal varsity exposure prior to the season. Matt Redmond made one of two free throws and a game’tying jumper at the buzzer missed, sealing a tournament title for the Wildcats.
For the visitors from Los Angeles to get back into the game at all took a tremendous effort after St. Ignatius opened up a 15-point lead in the second quarter and led by 10 late in the third. Butler (17 points) finished a 7-0 run to give the Cubs a 54-52 lead, their first advantage of the night, on a 3-pointer that rattled around before finally falling through. Paul Hawkins scored underneath with 1:40 to go to put Loyola back on top, but Matt Redmond answered both Butler and Hawkins’ baskets with drives to the hoop to tie the game.
“I thought the atmosphere got to us early and we played selfishly,” said Loyola coach Jamal Adams when asked about his team’s slow start. “We talked about sharing the ball and mixed up the defenses to slow them down.”
Aside from that run to take the lead, Loyola rarely went on a big run, methodically chipping away at the lead in what turned into a thrilling battle between Jesuit schools. The Cubs scored the final four points of the second quarter to go into the break trailing 32-21 and went on an 8-0 run to bookend the third and fourth quarters, finished by three Butler free throws after he was fouled from beyond the arc.
Though Butler led the Cubs in scoring, it was Khali Clarke who had a profound effect on the Loyola comeback. His steal and layup cut the lead to 46-43 with six and a half minutes remaining, and he trimmed the lead back to three after a pair of Brandon Beckman free throws. After a pair from the charity stripe by Trammell made it 50-45, Clarke found Cox inside to once again get the Cubs within three. His drive to the hoop cut the lead to 52-51 and paved the way for Butler’s 3-pointer to put Loyola ahead for the first time all night.
Ben Syufy’s 3-pointer gave St. Ignatius an 18-10 lead through one quarter on the heels of a 7-0 run. Trammell’s trifecta from the top of the arc, his only 3-pointer of the game and just one of two field goals on the night for the point guard, started an 11-2 run to put the Wildcats ahead by 15, with back-to-back baskets by Redmond stretching the lead to 32-17.
Trammell finished with 16 points on 11-of-13 free-throw shooting. Redmond, who had been cold from the field in the first two games, added 14, with six in the fourth quarter, and Teddy Snyder scored nine of his 11 in the first half as his post play helped the Wildcats race out to what looked at the time to be a comfortable lead.
Depth was key for St. Ignatius, with players like Syufy chipping in throughout the night.
“We hear all this noise, like ‘oh my god, how are you gonna play with three big guys out?’,” said Marcaletti. “Our guys have really stepped up. Aidan Kelly hadn’t gotten playing time in our first seven games, and he played every single game in this tournament.”
Loyola got ten points apiece from Hawkins and Lucenti, while Clarke added six of his eight in the final quarter.
Both teams will return to action next week for their league openers, with St. Ignatius hosting defending WCAL champion Bellarmine on Tuesday while Loyola travels to Crespi on Wednesday.
Mission finishes third with comfortable win
Adrian Otis solved his team’s shooting woes all by himself. A night after a 1-for-12 performance from 3-point range by the Mission Bears, the senior drained a quartet of threes en route to a 21-point night as Mission (5-6) won the third-place game over Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma, 70-56. Ben Knight also finished with 21 points as Mission led by double-digits for most of the second half and by as much as 21 in the final minutes. Jaylen Scott sank five 3-pointers and went 7-of-9 from the line in a 30-point performance for the Lions, while Garrett Horner added 12.
Monte Vista held Encinal to seven first-half points en route to a 49-32 win in the consolation championship. John Giagiari, who missed his junior season after sustaining football injuries, led the Mustangs with 22 points. Fremont won the seventh-place game over Burlingame 53-43. Markell Wooley and Dasani Wilson each scored 13 points for the Tigers while Robert Uhrich did the same for Burlingame.
All-Tournament Team
MVP - Darrion Trammell (St. Ignatius)
Brandon Beckman (St. Ignatius), Kris Bortz (Monte Vista), Mason Butler (Loyola), Khali Clarke (Loyola), Charles Elzie III (Bellarmine Prep), John Giagiari (Monte Vista), Hasani Hockenhull (Encinal), Ben Knight (Mission), Anthony Lucenti (Loyola), Anthony McBride (Mission), Kenden Robinson Jr. (Encinal), Jaylen Scott (Bellarmine Prep), Teddy Snyder (St. Ignatius), Robert Uhrich (Burlingame), Markell Wooley (Fremont)
