Archbishop Mitty has a strong team again this season and might have been otherworldly had it not been for the transfer of junior Sebastian Much to JSerra in San Juan Capistrano
Much transferred into Mitty from Orange County before his sophomore season and aided the Monarchs’ deep post-season run last year with his outside shooting. But then he left for the JSerra after the season due to what was explained as a career change for the player’s father.
That was a tough one for Mitty as Much is averaging 19.8 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists for JSerra this season. He has also made 44 percent of his 3-point attempts (19 of 43) and is sinking 84 percent from the line. The Monarchs could have used that in Tuesday’s 11-point loss to Serra that was closer than the score would indicate.
Meantime, Nick La Bruna (also a star football player) picked up the slack nicely against the Padres with a game-high 24 points, most of them on drives to the hoop by the left-handed forward or follow shots.
Serra knows what it’s like to lose players, as standouts Eddie Stansberry (Archbishop Riordan), Drew Healy (Woodside), Tyler Garlitos (Burlingame) and Taiga Schwarz (Hillsdale) all once wore the Padres' blue and gold, but left the San Mateo school for various reasons.
Not sure how many basketballs they’d need to keep all those guys happy if you added them to Serra's holdover players like Jake Killingsworth, Jeremiah Testa and Lee Jones, but it would be interesting.
ON THE PROWL: Prospect (13-2 overall, 5-0 league) is off to a hot start in the BVAL-Mt. Hamilton. The Panthers have a one-game lead over Piedmont Hills (12-3, 4-1) which it has already defeated and a two-game margin over Oak Grove (10-5, 3-2), and Gunderson (8-7, 3-2).
Prospect’s losses have been to Santa Cruz and Gunn and it narrowly defeated league opponent Willow Glen 72-69. The Rams (5-10, 0-5) are in last place, but obviously have some firepower.
Prospect is paced by senior 6-8 forward Lukas Swidler (17.8 points, 13.7 rebounds per game), senior 6-9 forward Nemanja Rajic (16.7, 7.1) and senior 5-9 point guard Blake Uyehara (11.5 points, 3.9 assists, 4.2 steals). Swidler scored 30 points against Willow Glen.
The Panthers host Gunderson tonight at 7 p.m.
HELP WANTED: Burlingame is winning in an unconventional way with Vinny Ferrari and Garlitos providing most of the scoring.
When things bogged down a bit in a recent win against Mills, Burlingame coach Pete Harames got Ferrari and Garlitos some help by putting sophomore Callum Spurlock on the perimeter to open things up. It helped as Spurlock immediately made a 3- pointer to help spur a Panther comeback. .
Harames played on an undersized, all-for-one team at Capuchino in the early 1960s and he appreciates team-oriented basketball as much as the next coach, but he happens to have some dynamic scorers in 3-point ace Ferrari and Garlitos who can score inside or outside.
“(Ferrari and Garlitos) are our two top rebounders and our two top scorers and our two top defenders and they’re our two top guys who run the floor on the break,” Harames said. “ We’re looking for other guys."
Burlingame will need it when it plays at PAL-South leading Menlo-Atherton Feb 9.
WORTHY CAUSE: Tonight Fremont is at Wilcox (tipoff 7:45 p.m.) and the game will serve in part as a forum to help the Butler family of Santa Clara. As detailed in a Thursday Prep2Prep column, Shantee Butler -- the mother of Wilcox twin sophomore basketball players Franchon and Deshawn Butler -- has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer causing the twins to drop off the Charger team.
A gofundme.com account has been set up to help defray some of the medical costs and Chargers coach Robert Toloy will address the crowd before the game. Pink flyers will be handed out with links to the Prep2Prep story and the gofundme effort. The twins and their mom are expected to attend.
ONE-DAY MADNESS: One-day basketball events are kind of cool, if not the NBA Finals in terms of significance.
On one hand they often bring together some high-powered programs and it’s neat to see top teams and players and high-profile coaches as well as college scouts all in one place. On the other hand these are non-league basketball games.
Half Moon Bay coach Rich Forslund liked the recent Martin Luther King event at Piedmont High because of the competition. His team dominated against Marin Catholic, but the Wildcats are still a step up from some of the teams the Cougars are playing in the PAL-North.
“I like to play in this event because the league is not as strong as we would like,” Forslund said. “It’s great to be challenged more – it really helps us. We’ve had to seek some challenges outside. (Marin Catholic) has a really good team and will be one of the better teams from start to finish in the Marin County League.”
COMB YOUR HAIR, KIDS: Speaking of HMB, the Cougars host rival Terra Nova tonight at 7:45 p.m. in a PAL-North game. Last year TN and star Jared Milch stunned the Cougars in HMB to earn a league co-title. The Tiger and Cougar girls teams play at 6 p.m. and both games will be televised by the Comcast Hometown Network on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. (girls) and 7:30 (boys).
"It will be a fun event and should be an electric atmosphere," Forslund said. "We’re hoping that we have a packed house. Hopefully we won’t be too welcoming to Terra Nova. It’s a great crowd atmosphere; the kids get pumped up for it. It should be quite the experience."
Briefly: Sacred Heart Cathedral star Albert Hollins scored 50 points last week against Valley Christian in a 91-82 Fightin' Irish win … The daughter of former Soquel star and current Harker School girls coach Tomas Thompson, Jordan Thompson, leads the CCS girls' ranks in scoring with 27.7 points per game. ... Guard Mason Randall scored 21 points to help Sacred Heart Prep overcome a 22-point deficit and defeat rival Menlo School 64-60 last week.
