SAN JOSE — Three of the first four games at the 2nd Annual Lyn Basa-Merza Classic were decided at the buzzer, while the final three all saw profound statements by top Bay Area teams.
Riordan 55, Modesto Christian 41
Riordan head coach Joey Curtin emerged from the locker room at Valley Christian on Saturday holding a whiteboard that read “40-16,” the margin by which his team outscored Modesto Christian in the second half of the featured game of the 2nd Annual Lyn Basa-Merza Classic to overcome a horrendous opening two quarters and surprisingly inept performance at the free throw line for a 55-41 win.
Playing in the featured game of the Basa-Merza Classic, the Riordan Crusaders turned in their ugliest half of the season and didn’t make matters any better for themselves by demonstrating surprising ineptitude at the free throw line.
No matter. They still turned in a solid second half for a gutsy 55-41 win over Modesto Christian, outscoring their opponents, also named the Crusaders, by the margin on Curtin’s whiteboard over the final two quarters.
“We didn’t really expect them to zone and pack it in like that, so we just had to trust ourselves and trust our shots,” said Bryce Monroe, who scored 23 of his game-high 27 in the second half. “It was a complete team effort tonight.”
Monroe scored 13 in the third quarter, announcing his presence with a 3-pointer on the opening possession of the quarter, then draining another to cut it to 28-23 after Modesto Christian (3-4) had gotten a 3-pointer from Oziyah Sellers. Monroe’s third 3-pointer of the quarter tied it at 30, and he’d even the score up at 36 with a pair of free throws, just two of the four Riordan (9-1) would make on the night.
With the MC zone repeatedly sending the Riordan bigs to the line, the post players were unable to cash in as they shot 4-of-19 on free throws as a team, with Mor Seck and Chan Ngot combining to miss all 12 of their attempts, with a 13 wiped out by a lane violation. Still, both Ngot and Seck made up for their struggles at the charity stripe, with Ngot pulling down five rebounds and Seck collecting a game-high 17. The 7-foot-1 Senegalese sophomore had 10 offensive rebounds alone while no other player had more than seven boards in all. Riordan held a 53-31 advantage on the boards, with 22 offensive rebounds to Modesto Christian’s 10.
Matched up with Cal State Northridge commit Alex Merkviladze, Seck rose to the occasion even without hitting a free throw, though those difficulties did keep him from a double-double. Still, he scored eight on the night, with a one-handed putback jam in the third quarter and an alley-oop from Monroe as part of a 19-1 run that bridged the final two periods. Monroe’s assist on two of Robert Vaihola’s six points started the run, and it was a basket by Monroe at the start of the fourth that put Riordan ahead for the first time since the opening four minutes. Je’Lani Clark, who scored 14 on the night, followed with a three, and Seck’s alley-oop put the San Franciscans up seven. Monroe answered a Michael Pearson free throw with another 3-pointer, then scored on a drive and hit one last three to make it 51-37.
“We’ve had a lot of games like this so far, but we’ve still been able to come out on top,” the Sam Houston State-bound guard said of his team’s ability to overcome slow starts.
Pearson scored 11 for Modesto Christian, but shot 4-of-18 and missed all eight of his 3-point attempts as he tried to play through the flu. Merkviladze was held to six and junior Jaden Phillips had eight points and eight rebounds off the bench.
“We just had a horrible night shooting the basketball,” MC head coach Brice Fantazia said. “Half our team was sick, but no excuse.”
Sharpshooter Baljot Sahi started but played just six minutes. His presence was dearly missed as Modesto Christian went just 3-for-21 from beyond the arc.
St. Joseph Notre Dame 60, Vanden 58
Pressure didn’t seem to bother the St. Joseph Notre Dame Pilots on Saturday.
Facing a Vanden team that pushed the pace was no problem for SJND, and neither was finishing a tight game. After leading for the entire fourth quarter, the Pilots saw their lead vanish as the last of Teiano Hardee’s 27 points and a layup by Jacques Jones with 5.9 seconds left. Unfazed, Jayelen Jones took the inbound pass, drove the entire length of the court and saw his layup fall through after rolling around the rim as time expired to give his Pilots a 60-58 win.
“We’re just trying to win a game. We’ve been struggling, so one like that really helps your confidence,” head coach Don Lippi said. “I told Jayelen, ‘with six seconds on the clock, that’s six dribbles. You don’t need to rush.’ You can go a long way in six seconds.”
Jones scored 11 and was one of four Pilots starters to finish the day in double-figures. Sophomore Aston Korth scored four of his team-high 16 to start a 10-0 run to put St. Joseph Notre Dame (3-3) up 52-48 heading into the fourth quarter, with Jack Stehr pulling down a key offensive rebound and dishing out back-to-back assists in the final minute of the third. Korth missed a pair of free throws with the Pilots down two, but Stehr got the rebound and fed Jones for a three before connecting with Elijah Palmer for one on the next possession. Korth would score again to put the Pilots up six early in the fourth, but Vanden (7-2) would manage to catch up over the next seven minutes. After another Palmer three put SJND up five, the Pilots would be limited to just one Korth free throw over the next six minutes while Hardee, I’saac Henderson and Jones went to work to bring the Vikings back, tying it on the Jones layup after Jaylen Thompson had missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 23.8 seconds left.
Thompson, a sophomore with an offer from USC, led the Pilots with 16, including six in a frantic first quarter that saw the Vikings take a 24-20 lead as Hardee drained three of his five 3-pointers. A Montgomery putback for two of his 15 points got Vanden within three at the break, and the Vikings would go on a 13-4 run in the third to take a six-point lead on a three by Omari Davis before the Pilots came roaring back.
Branson 45, Weston Ranch 44
Trailing for the first time all game after their offense screeched to a halt in the fourth quarter, the Branson Bulls maintained their perfect start to the season with a basket from an unlikely source.
Peyton Mullarkey, Lukas Prongos and Miles Keeffe had teamed up to pace Branson (8-0) through three quarters, but scoring completely evaporated in the fourth for the Marin County power as the Weston Ranch Cougars held them to just two points in the first seven minutes of the prior, a bucket by Prongos to restore a 3-point lead. Weston Ranch (2-6) would answer over the next two minutes with a Jordahn Johnson putback, then took the lead for the first time on a Gavin Wilburn bucket with 30 seconds left.
The idea on the following possession was for Mullarkey to come off a screen, but with him blanketed by the Cougar defense, Jack Jacobsen took the initiative and scored in the lane for his only points of the game with 5.6 seconds left to give the Bulls the win.
Mostly getting minutes as a result of Connor Maas’ foul trouble, Jacobsen had only taken one prior shot on the night while the Bulls’ main offensive contributors went to work. Mullarkey scored 14, Keeffe had 11 points and eight rebounds and Prongos scored nine. Keeffe had six of his points in a third quarter where the Bulls opened up a nine-point lead, also getting a trio of free throws from Mullarkey while stifling the Cougars on defense.
Weston Ranch, using a different starting lineup than usual as head coach Chris Teevan looked to shake things up and send a message to his team, got 12 points from Mi’Son Coilton, all in the first half. Donjae’ Lindsey had 11 off the bench and Johnson finished with eight points and 11 rebounds.
St. Francis 62, Central Catholic 52
Scouting the St. Francis Lancers isn’t hard: They’re going to shoot threes.
Stopping them, however, is a much more complicated matter.
The Central Catholic Raiders learned this first-hand on Saturday afternoon as an undersized and sophomore-heavy Lancer team, left even smaller and less experienced than usual with the absence of Ryan Daly, knocked down 12 threes and fought off a 17-0 run in the second half for a 62-52 win.
With Daly, a senior forward who doubled as the school’s quarterback on the gridiron, out for the second straight game after having his wisdom teeth removed, Trevor Leon stood as the most experienced player on the court for St. Francis (5-1) and answered the call with a game-high 25 points. Central Catholic (5-3) got the final 14 points of the third quarter, including a remarkable last-second steal and off-balance shot by point guard Dayton Magana, to cut the Lancer lead to 45-42, and drew even 17 seconds into the fourth quarter on a Nic Sani and-1, but Leon would respond with a clutch play of his own to give his team the lead for good, knocking down a three to kickstart a desperately-needed 14-2 run. Sophomore Isaiah Kerr, frustrated but undeterred after missing three of four free throw attempts earlier in the game, scored off a turnover on the following possession, Leon scored another five points to answer a basket by Dalton Durossette and Kerr scored again to cap off the run as St. Francis never trailed on the afternoon.
“Trevor stepped up. It was that senior leadership that we needed,” head coach Mike Motil said. “The sophomores are growing up and we’re looking forward to the challenge of playing in a physical league. We know there are going to be ups and downs and peaks and valleys and we’re just going to keep fighting hard.”
Threes by Agay Nagarajan and Leon in the first quarter gave the Lancers an early 14-5 lead, and Vince Barringer connected from long range three times in the second quarter for nine of his 13 points on the game. Kyle Rosecrans made all three of his free throws after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt to send St. Francis into the break up 34-21, the only points of the quarter that the Lancers didn’t directly score on a three. In the third, Rosecrans would knock down back-to-back 3-pointers after Barringer scored off an inbound pass, the only basket in the middle two quarters that the Lancers would score from inside the arc. Central Catholic then stormed back with Magana scoring nine of his 23 points in the final 4:30 of the quarter and Sani dropping in an and-1.
Sani scored 11 on the afternoon, while both he and Magana had seven rebounds. Rosecrans had 13 points and eight boards for the Lancers.
Palo Alto 64, Valley Christian 48
It took until their sixth game to show just what they were capable of, but the Palo Alto Vikings are once again among the best teams in the Central Coast Section, even with their third coach in three years.
With just three returning players who saw significant playing time last year and a new coach in Jeff LaMere, it took a few weeks for things to get going, but in their third game with football standout Jamir Shepard back in the fold, the Vikings became the first public school to beat a WCAL team on the season, posting a convincing and thorough 64-48 win over Basa-Merza Classic hosts Valley Christian.
“I know process is an overplayed word, but we’re talking about micro-goals and getting better every day,” LaMere said.
Palo Alto (4-2) forced an early timeout from the Warriors after jumping out to an immediate 6-0 lead on back-to-back threes by Shepard and Matthew Marzano, led by 10 at the break after a Ryan Purpur putback and held a double-digit advantage for the entire second half in an inspiring response to second-half collapse against Leland the night before.
“Leland played their butts off, and that was a catalyst for this game because our guys saw how hard you need to play each and every game,” LaMere said. “This was our third game in three days, and we played our bench far more than in any prior game. Our bench gave us great minutes.”
The reserves combined for a modest 13 points but most importantly managed to keep the regulars fresh. Marzano scored a game-high 21 and collected eight rebounds in just 25 minutes, Shepard scored 14 and Purpur added 12, establishing himself as one of the better returning post players in the area on an otherwise small team. His dunk served as the exclamation point for Palo Alto (4-2) after outhustling the Warriors on loose balls all night and forcing 16 turnovers. Aidan Rausch’s three for his lone points of the night quelled any momentum Valley Christian (5-1) had built up by settling down on defense and gave the Vikings a 49-32 lead, and a Purpur basket off a Marzano offensive rebound and Conner Lusk assist gave them their largest lead of the night at 56-35 50 seconds into the fourth.
Defensively, the Vikings managed to hold sharpshooter Aleksa Jovanovic to just nine points while freshman Jaiden Paran and sophomore Sam Roush scored eight apiece. Kainoa Mayo led the Warriors with 16.
“Every single team lays an egg at one time or another,” Valley Christian head coach Mark DeLuca said. “We just laid an egg tonight, and I think we got in our own way.”
The Warriors struggled in their first game without freshman Jurrion Dickey, who sprained a ligament in his knee during a Friday night win over Kennedy-Fremont and is expected to miss 2-4 weeks.
Salesian 57, Crespi 42
The Salesian Pride got off to a bit of a slow start this season, and even after Saturday night’s 57-42 win over Crespi, head coach Bill Mellis noted that his team had a long way to go.
“We’re going to have to improve a lot for the next few games,” he said.
If they’re going to improve beyond what they did against the Celts, their ceiling is sky-high. They led by 10 at the break and only saw the lead get to four once in the second half, when Crespi (8-5) got back-to-back threes by Josh Montiano. The Pride answered with a basket by Shane Bell, one of three they’d get off inbound passes in the third quarter, to start a pivotal 7-0 run as they restored control. A basket by Jaden Lazo to open the fourth put Salesian (5-2) up by 11, and the lead would be in double-figures for all but 30 seconds in the fourth quarter. The Celts cut it to 50-41 on a Michael Price floater, but Te’Jon Sawyer, who had a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds, scored on the next possession as his team would pull away over the final four minutes.
In addition to Sawyer’s big game, Tyler Brinkman had 12 points and eight rebounds while Bell scored eight. Montiano led Crespi with 12 and Steven Jamerson II scored 10, but Robert Power was limited to just five points, spending much of the first half on the bench after a hard fall.
“We just wanted to make him always have to put the ball on the floor and not be comfortable with space,” Mellis said of his team’s defense on Power, who made just one 3-pointer on the night.
Brookside Christian 56, Palma 55
Needing a basket in the final moments, there was no question who Brookside Christian would give the ball to.
Geronimo Rubio-De La Rosa drove to the hole and drew a foul with 9.7 seconds left, making one of two free throws in what would prove to be the game-winner as his Knights beat Palma (5-2) in Saturday’s first game, 56-55. He scored a game-high 26, including eight of his team’s 12 in the fourth quarter. He answered a Nate Jean-Pierre 3-pointer with one of his own to put Brookside Christian (6-3) up 49-45, but Palma drew even at 53 as Feras Masarweh split a pair of free throws and Jean-Pierre went coast-to-coast with a steal and a layup. A pair of Rubio-De La Rosa free throws with 1:02 left put the Knights back ahead again before the Chieftains answered on a bucket inside by Aaron Garibay, but Rubio-De La Rosa drew contact on the following possession and Palma’s last-second try missed.
Ronnie Ray scored 16 for the Knights, including the four that Rubio-De La Rosa didn’t score in the fourth, while Jean-Pierre led Palma with 12. Fellow sophomore Joey Finley added 11, as did Garibay, and JT Amaral finished with eight.
Special thanks to statistician Patrick Segurson.
