KENTFIELD, Calif. — In their first 10 games, the Serra Padres have established two things: Anyone can step up and be their leading scorer on any given night, and they wear teams down with their speed and defensive pressure.
Both those things came into focus on Monday night in the championship game of the 24th Bambauer Classic, which they won 66-62 over the host Marin Catholic Wildcats to close nonleague play with an 8-2 record.
Tasked with replacing the efforts of their two biggest offensive contributors from the prior year, Parker McDonald and Cade Rees, the Padres have found their best success comes not when any one player in particular takes charge, but through a well-rounded team effort.
On Monday, the benefactor of that team effort was Dimitri Koutsogeorgas, a scrappy 5-foot-8 junior who finished with 15 points thanks to two major sequences. He scored six within a three-minute stretch in the second quarter, then seven more in the fourth en route to being named tournament MVP.
“Dimitri was unbelievable tonight,” acting head coach Brian Carson said. “Usually he’s known for his on-ball defense, but tonight his offense took over.”
Trailing 53-49 after threes by Nick Greenwood and Kyle Winters, the Padres got a basket in traffic by Antonio Abeyta before the momentum-shifting play of the night, a Koutsogeorgas and-1 for the lead with 4:12 left. He’d score again after Marin Catholic (7-4) briefly retook the lead on a lay-in from AJ Rohosy, but Koutsogeorgas would score, then force a turnover on the ensuing inbound pass and score again to put Serra up three. Abeyta, who scored 15, would pull up from the free throw line to answer a Jack Grenwood bucket, and patient ball movement allowed Ryan Wilson to feed Julius Alcantara for a layup to make it 62-57.
“The ball sharing is great,” Carson said. “We’ve had at least 15 assists every game.”
Serra had 18 assists on Monday, with six from Wilson, who couldn’t seem to hit a shot all tournament and went without a point in the championship game but still made his impact felt. Rather than force up shots to try to snap out of his cold spell, his patience and willingness to pass helped lead the Padres to victory.
“He’s the team favorite,” Carson said. “He’s infectious with his smile, his attitude, his effort. He brings it every day in practice and every game, and I can’t say enough about the kid.”
Wilson’s fifth assist set up the last of Alcantara’s 18 points, tying the high mark on the young season for the senior forward, who was almost exclusively a defensive specialist. He had seven straight points for Serra in the first quarter, an and-1 late in the second quarter and the Padres’ first two baskets in the third.
“Anybody can step up,” he said. “Even on the bench, anyone can put the ball in the basket at any time. It’s really fun.”
Jack Greenwood had 17 to lead the Wildcats, Nick Greenwood added 13, Winters finished with 12 and Rohosy had 10 points and eight rebounds, but he scored just three until the fourth quarter as Serra was focused on denying him the ball.
“Deny everything, full-court pressure,” head coach Mike Saia said. “If we were coming off a bus, they’d pick us up in the parking lot. Those turnovers we had in the last two minutes were a product of them picking up full-court to start the game, and they wore us down.”
Trailing by six in the third, the Wildcats got buckets from Winters and Joey Bailey, followed by a Winters layup after Bailey stole an inbound pass to tie the game at 34. They’d tie it three more times in the quarter, but Serra would retake the lead on each one of those occasions, with Jevon Jesus scoring his lone points of the night to put the Padres up 45-43 heading into the fourth. Marin Catholic would take a 47-45 lead after the Greenwood brothers teamed up, with a Nick block leading to a Jack runner. They’d trim it to 62-59 with 1:13 left on another inside basket from Rohosy, but Wilson’s pass to Luke Bidinost at the end of the following possession would all but end any hopes for the hosts.
“You’re never satisfied, and we’re here to win, but I couldn’t be prouder of the guys and the plays that they made,” Saia said. “When it was time to made a play, they made a play. They’re a fun team to coach and a fun team to watch.”
University 66, Central Catholic 65
Close games have been unkind to the University Red Devils this season, with all five of their losses coming down to the final minute, but they managed to scratch one out in the Third Place Game at the 24th Bambauer Classic, edging Central Catholic 66-65.
After the Raiders trailed for the entire second half, Dayton Magana drained a 3-pointer to tie the game with 2:25 left, and 30 seconds later, Matt Govea connected from the corner to put Central Catholic (8-5) up by one. Unfazed by an overtime loss in their prior outing, the Red Devils got the answer they needed, with a Whitner Reichman drive to the hoop for the lead. After University (8-5) got the ball back, Charlie Kennedy pulled up from 3-point range rather than let the clock run down, and his gutsy decision paid off as the Red Devils went up by four with 39.3 left. They’d hit their free throws down the stretch to render Magana’s final 3-pointer of the night meaningless and secure a one-point victory.
Kennedy led the Red Devils with 19, Zack Beischer scored 13 and Whitner Reichman added 12. Central Catholic got 24 from Magana, 20 from Nic Sani and 14 from Govea.
