SAN FRANCISCO — He may coach in the East Bay now, but Rich Buckner is still awfully comfortable in his hometown.
The former Riordan head coach and Haight-Ashbury native ensured his first season at the helm of the St. Mary’s Panthers would last for at least another 10 days as his side beat Stuart Hall 62-50 in the NCS Division IV Quarterfinals, guaranteeing a state tournament bid with a win at Kezar Pavilion, just miles from their head coach’s childhood home.
As welcoming as the city itself may have been for Buckner, with former players and colleagues in the crowd, the Kezar rims certainly weren’t in the early going. St. Mary’s trailed 13-11 after one and 26-24 at half before erupting for 24 points in the third.
Point guard Darius Jackson started the second half with a go-ahead 3-pointer, and St. Mary’s (16-13) would lead the entire rest of the way. A Jason Roche three made it an 11-0 run over the first 90 seconds of the half, and Stuart Hall (19-11) would only get within eight one time from there.
Though the Knights did score 13 in the third quarter, as they did in the first two, it was defensive improvements that allowed St. Mary’s to take control.
“Miles Amos scored 15 of their 26 in the first half, and we couldn’t let him keep scoring at that pace if we were going to win,” said Buckner. “We had to deny him the ball more.”
Amos did score another 11 in the second half for a game-high 26 points, but those baskets were much tougher to come by. Keeping the ball out of his hands forced turnovers and allowed the Panthers to get in transition, which allowed them to create space for Jackson, Roche and Caleb Dawson, who scored eight of his 13 points in the third.
The only time Stuart Hall was closer than eight was after back-to-back baskets by Tomas Wolber. The sophomore was questionable to play with a back injury and mustered just those four points, but he did manage to impact the game positively with his defense.
St. Mary’s quickly built the lead back to ten with four from Dawson, with a putback and then a transition basket off a block by Robert Wood, who didn’t play in the first half but made his presence in the third with Khalil Chatmon and Dylan Wyatt in foul trouble.
The Panthers also controlled the glass in the second half, with Roche pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds. The sophomore hit a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 57-42 to cap off his 20-point night.
Jackson scored a team-high 22, with six points apiece in three quarters and four in the second.
St. Mary’s will face league opponent and second seed St. Patrick-St. Vincent on Wednesday. The Bruins swept a pair of regular-season meetings, 55-47 and 78-63.
Stuart Hall now sits in limbo, with the possibility of a state tournament berth but no guarantee. Though Amos had a huge night, none of his teammates scored more than six points and the Knights shot 10-of-19 from the line.
“The better team won,” said a visibly irritated head coach Charley Johnson. “I thought they bullied us a bit in the third quarter, and that was the difference in the game.”
