KENTFIELD, CALIF. – Host and North Coast Section Division 4 top-seeded Marin Catholic got all it could handle from No. 9 seed Lick-Wilmerding-San Francisco, but in the end the Wildcats withstood multiple challenges by the Tigers to post a 67-61 Saturday night quarterfinal victory.
With the win Marin Catholic (21-8) moves on to the semifinals next Wednesday with a home game against No. 4 seed Justin-Siena-Napa. The Braves were a 55-38 winner over fifth-seeded McKinleyville in their second round match-up.
Marin Catholic fell behind 11-4 early and 14-7 midway through the first quarter, but that’s when the Wildcats began to assert themselves. Junior guard Caden Maas hit a three-pointer, senior star Kyle Winters had a basket, senior wing Dylan Ryssemus drained a three-pointer, and when Winters scored again Marin Catholic had a 12-0 run and a 19-14 lead that was 19-16 at the end of the quarter.
Winters finished with a game-high 28 points, five assists, four rebounds and a steal, but obviously it was not his efforts alone that turned things around.
“We trust each other and we’ve got guys that can make shots, and more guys than just Kyle that can make plays,” said Marin Catholic head coach Mike Saia about his Wildcats overcoming the sluggish start.
Marin Catholic never trailed after taking the late first quarter lead but they were never really able to put Lick-Wilmerding away. The Wildcats got the first of four eight-point leads at 29-21 on a steal and a basket by junior football star JR Bosch, and the second one at 31-23 on a basket by Winters, but they couldn’t extend the lead and when Winters closed out the first half scoring the teams went to their locker rooms with Marin Catholic holding a 35-28 lead.
Lick-Wilmerding (17-10), under the leadership of veteran head coach Elliot Smith, just would not quit, and after a three-point play by Colly Urdan and a basket by Kevin Guevarra, the score was knotted at 48-48 with seconds left in the third quarter.
With less than 20 seconds to go in the third, Winters was looking to go one-on-one as he had done at the end the first half, but as the clock was ready to expire he kicked it out to Ryssemus who hit a long three-pointer, his fourth of the game, and Marin Catholic led 51-48 entering the final period.
The visiting Tigers got to 53-51 on a three-pointer by senior Jace Borkholder, but from there Marin Catholic had a 10-4 run that culminated in a basket by Winters to give the Wildcats a 63-55 lead. Winters would end up scoring the last six points for Marin Catholic after he followed the basket by converting both ends of two one-on-ones in the game’s final minute.
A big reason Lick-Wilmerding was able to stay in the game was because of Urdan, Borkholder and Guevarra. Urdan finished with 17 points and six rebounds with two assists, and he was hard to stop in the paint. Borkholder nailed four three-pointers and added 14 points, seven rounds, four assists and two steals, and Guevarra had 10 points, all in the second half.
“Number 35 (Udan) was a load but Charlie (Allen) did a great job on him and Caden did a great job on him,” Saia remarked.
Allen, one of the top players on the Marin Catholic CIF state 4-AA Bowl Game champions, gave the Wildcats a huge spark off the bench. He only had four points, but besides his defense he had seven rebounds with one of them leading to a put-back that gave the Wildcats a 61-53 lead. Allen also had two assists.
Even so, after all was said and done, it really still boiled down to Winters. On four occasions when the lead shrank to two, and when it was tied in the third quarter, he either came up with a basket or assisted on one.
“We’ve got Kyle,” Saia said. “We put the ball in his hands and we trust him, and our kids are pretty resilient and they know what it takes to win.”
“We came in knowing they are a really well-coached team with some knockdown shooters, and we knew their big man (Urdan) is real good, a big, strong kid,” Winters said. “We didn’t underestimate them at all.”
The Wildcats may have had their problems down low with Urdan, but when Winters decided to take over it was pretty much lights out.
“That’s my role,” Winters responded when asked if he felt he needed to take things into his own hands down the stretch. “My teammates trust me to take and make those shots and I trust my hard work. I just love to get better as the game goes on and see what the defense gives me and take it.”
Just like Saturday night, the Wednesday semifinal with Justin-Siena will once again be the nightcap of a home doubleheader following the girls NCS D4 semifinal between the Marin Catholic girls and Gateway-San Francisco.
