KENTFIELD, CA - Of all of the high school basketball tournaments played around the Bay Area between Christmas and New Year, the Bambauer Classic may be one of the toughest to win. Playing four games in four days isn’t easy. For the Serra Padres, they not only entered the tournament without Jack Wilson and Cade Rees, who won’t be available at all this season, but point guard Parker McDonald was sidelined due to illness.
It didn’t end up having much of a negative effect, as Serra earned the tournament championship with a 57-48 win over previously undefeated University in Saturday night’s finale to cap off the four-day, 16-team tournament at Marin Catholic.
As has been the trademark of the program for years, Serra won the title behind aggressive defense and tremendous composure.
“We know they’re a great perimeter shooting team, so we just tried to crowd the shooters, not give them any space and make them put the ball on the deck,” said head coach Chuck Rapp, back in full capacity after missing the 2016-17 season due to hip surgery.
The Padres took a 12-point lead into halftime and never let University score more than five consecutive points in the second half, and the Red Devils’ biggest run all night was a 7-0 stretch during the second quarter.
Colin McCarthy took home tournament MVP honors with a 20-point, 11-rebound performance on Saturday, headlined by an 8-for-8 performance at the free-throw line. With McDonald out over the past two weeks, McCarthy and Denzel McCollum (16 points, 8 rebounds) have replicated the junior’s all-around game.
“It’s a fun team to coach because it’s a different guy each night,” said Rapp. “Denzel and Colin were big tonight.”
The depth hasn’t just been seen in McCarthy and McCollum’s all-encompassing performances. Paul Besse and Diyar Yuksel, whose roles expanded when Wilson and Rees were ruled out for the season, each scored just two points but made their baskets count. Besse hit a mid-range jumper to stop a 5-0 run for Serra’s first basket of the fourth quarter and Yuksel’s mid-range shot stretched the lead to 51-44 with just over two minutes remaining.
“We all have the same drive, passion and excitement for the game,” said McCarthy. “One man down, the next man’s got to step up.”
While University (12-1) largely struggled from the field, Spencer Spivy was excellent, turning in a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds (seven offensive).
“Spencer is a constant for us,” said head coach Randy Bessolo. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, he gives us points, rebounds, assists, leadership and toughness.”
A 14-1 run gave Serra (8-2) a 14-6 lead with 2:56 left in the first and the Padres led 19-9 late in the first quarter, but University didn’t let things get out of hand.
“Adversity’s a great teacher,” said Bessolo. “Once we realized that we were in a dogfight and weren’t going to get any help, we had to start fighting harder, and that’s what we did.”
A Spivy 3-pointer capped off a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 23-18, and Julian Manyika got the Red Devils within three before Serra went on a 9-0 run over the final three minutes of the half to take a 34-22 lead into the locker room. McCollum had four points during that span, and McCarthy had two points, an assist and two rebounds during the stretch.
In an odd deviation from their normal routines, University took just two and a half minutes in the locker room before returning to the court while Serra took less than six minutes, an oddly short halftime talk for Rapp and his staff.
Masie Mohammadi’s up-and-under layup stretched the lead to 14 early in the third quarter, but University would get to as close as six in the period and, despite trailing 45-34 after 3, the Red Devils got to within five in the fourth quarter when Spivy found Charley Moore in the paint for his only basket of the night.
Even a basket from Moore, a typically hot shooter who couldn’t find his touch for most of the night on Saturday, wouldn’t stop Serra. Yuksel answered with his only points of the game and the Padres closed things out at the free-throw line, where they shot 75 percent, headlined by McCarthy’s perfect showing.
Julian Manyika scored 15 points for the Red Devils to counteract Moore’s struggles and Max Fried’s diminished playing time as the junior spent the entirety of the game in foul trouble and was called for his fifth foul on a questionable charge with 5:51 remaining in the game.
With just eight league games in the five-team BCL West, University doesn’t start league play until January 9. The Red Devils will be back in action on Wednesday with a trip to De Anza.
Serra will try to spoil another perfect record in Tuesday’s WCAL opener at Valley Christian (9-0).
Heritage cruises to third place
A night after a tough semifinal loss to Serra, the Heritage Patriots took out their frustrations on tournament host Marin Catholic with a 68-41 rout in the third-place game. Jonathan Ned led all scorers with 19 points as Heritage (12-2) opened up a 21-11 lead after one quarter and held a 37-17 advantage at the half. Ezra Manjon scored 14 points and was named to the All-Tournament Team, and Jacob Williams added 10 for the Patriots.
Central Catholic finished in fifth place with a 71-63 win over Redwood in a chippy contest that lasted more than two hours and featured 49 fouls. The victorious Raiders went 26-34 at the free-throw line in the second half and shot 42 times from the charity stripe over the course of the night. Joshua Hamilton had a rare off night from the field but made up for it with a 15-for-19 performance at the line to lead Central Catholic (11-2) with 23 points. Justin Traina added 21 on a 4-of-6 performance from 3-point range, and sophomores Nic Sani (14 points) and Dayton Magana (10 points) also finished in double-figures for the Raiders. Miles Squiers led all scorers with 28 points for Redwood (7-4). With all of the fouls, especially late in the game, the teams combined for 50 points in the fourth quarter after combining for just 44 in the prior two periods.
Urban won the consolation championship behind a lockdown defensive performance, allowing just two first-quarter points and holding Lowell (9-5) to 15 through three quarters en route to a 41-28 win. Finn Conway scored nine of his game-high 17 points in the second quarter for Urban (10-6), which had lost a prior meeting with the Cardinals at Lowell’s tournament three weeks prior but exacted revenge on Saturday.
Michael Matsuno sank five 3-pointers en route to a 17-point showing as Mills (8-3) beat Drake 59-35 to claim seventh place. Aaron Chen and Colby Vasquez each scored 12 for the Vikings.
Alex Bray scored 33 points and Kevin Yahampath added 20 as University-Irvine walloped Lincoln 87-50 in the 13th-place game. Miramonte beat Vintage 68-37 for 11th place and Arcata beat Terra Linda 54-48 in the first game of the morning for 15th place.
All-Tournament Team
Nick Brouqua (Mills), Omar Elliot-Diab (Redwood), Ari Gamshad (Urban), Joshua Hamilton (Central Catholic), Henry James (Serra), Dylan Joyce (Marin Catholic), Ezra Manjon (Heritage), Julian Manyika (University), MVP Colin McCarthy (Serra), Masie Mohammadi (Serra), Spencer Spivy (University)
Dick Barteau Team Sportsmanship Award: Lowell
