SAN JOSE — When Sacred Heart Cathedral lost nine of 10 games between January 8 and February 6, it would have been hard to fathom they’d win a CCS Open Division Semifinal two weeks later.
That’s exactly what they did, with tremendous effort from their seniors and key contributions from underclassmen to beat Menlo-Atherton, 72-65, at neutral-site Independence HS.
Menlo-Atherton (24-4) had won 20 straight games and become just the second public school to win an Open Division quarterfinal behind an undersized team that defended the post well, but SHC’s bigs were able to break the game open in the second half. After the Bears closed to 57-51 early in the fourth, Oisin McCormack scored on back-to-back putbacks to give the eighth-seeded Fightin’ Irish a 59-51 lead, and Oscar Cheng had four huge points in the quarter to make it 67-54 with 2:50 left.
“Oscar and I have a good bond together,” McCormack said. “We always joke around about who can get the most rebounds.”
McCormack was the one dominating the statistical categories on Wednesday, with 11 points and 16 boards, but both were key in a second half where Sacred Heart Cathedral (12-14) never trailed. Cheng scored all nine of his points after the break.
“They were more physical and focused,” M-A head coach Mike Molieri said. “We struggled stopping penetration and nobody dropped into the post.”
Penetration came not only from SHC’s bigs, but from the guard positions as well. Drive-and-kick action got Cedric Reed Jr. a pair of threes early in the third as part of a 10-0 run after a Justin Anderson layup cut it to 38-36, and Kori McCoy attacked the lane all night en route to scoring a game-high 19 points.
“We’ve come together as a team,” McCoy said. “We went through that rough patch in January and were kind of discombobulated from top to bottom.”
That rough patch included losses of 20, 44 and 28 points, but things started to turn after an 82-54 home loss to Mitty. The Irish held a team meeting, and though they lost their next four, all of those games were competitive, including two that came down to the last possession.
“We’ve all paid our dues,” McCormack said. “The difference from last year’s team is we all love each other and we all mold well together.”
On a team where everyone seems to have a remarkable story, McCormack’s is one of the best. The 6-foot-4 wing played soccer as a freshman, was cut from the JV team as a sophomore and didn’t play at all as a junior after hip injuries.
“This team’s not as talented as last year or the first year, but it’s really the guys that have bought in to the coaching and do whatever it takes to win,” third-year head coach Sean MacKay said. “It’s wonderful as a coach to see kids that work so hard. They’re great kids and they’re coachable.”
In MacKay’s first two years, the Irish bowed out early in the Division III tournament and missed the state tournament as a result. On Friday, they’ll be playing in their first Open Division title game in program history.
While they’ve got a few key seniors, such as Reed, who scored 18, they’ve also got some fresh faces who have made a major impact over the recent stretch. McCoy, who transferred from El Cerrito, found his role after an adjustment period, and freshman Ray John Jackson has improved tremendously since getting called up from the JV team in late December. He had missed half of the month injured, but impressed the coaches enough to earn the call.
“The WCAL grind for them is new, so it’s taken them longer than teams that have veterans,” MacKay said.
After struggling through most of January, Jackson has started to find his own, and he scored seven points in the second quarter on Tuesday.
“The seniors were vouching for me to play more,” Jackson said. “Their confidence is helping me succeed.”
It was that second quarter in which the Irish took the lead for good, with Reed Jr. scoring eight in a 12-3 run to go up 29-21. Jackson capped off the first half with a huge three-point play with just a second to go, ending a 10-2 run for the fourth-seeded Bears and giving his team a 38-34 lead at the break.
The Irish also clamped down in the second half, allowing just eight points in the third quarter and only three 3-pointers, including one in the final moments after the outcome had been decided. M-A had connected from beyond the arc seven times in the first half. Nick Tripaldi scored 12 of his 14 before the break, Will Beasley had nine of his 11 in the first half and all nine of Trevor Wargo’s points were on threes in the first half. James Beckwith carried the torch offensively for the Bears in the second half, where he scored all of his team-high 18 points.
