While the WCAL will once again take center stage on Friday night, fans all over the Central Coast Section will have an opportunity to start their three-day weekend right with rivalry games all over the board pitting ranked teams from around the section. Highlights include a renewal of what’s become the top rivalry in the PAL, another great battle on Valparaiso Avenue and a jersey retirement of one of the best players the Bay Area has ever seen.
No. 3 Bellarmine (13-1, 3-1 WCAL) @ No. 2 Riordan (12-2, 3-1), 7:30 p.m.
If Prep2Prep’s CCS rankings were re-done after Tuesday night’s game, this would mark the second straight Friday where the Bells were in a clash of 1 vs. 2, but this time, they’d be on top. They dealt a historic 65-14 beatdown to the same Serra team that had handed Riordan a stunning upset loss to open league play, creating a five-team tie atop the WCAL standings through four games. Their showdown at the Crusader Forum will be the only one between two of the teams in the tangle at the top.
It’s a game that should provide an opportunity for redemption for both teams, as Bellarmine is looking to erase a regular season sweep by Riordan last year. The Crusaders have a chip on their shoulders as well, as the Bells got the last laugh with an overtime victory in the CCS Open Division Semifinals, a remarkable victory that was made all the more improbable with the injuries that Bellarmine had to overcome. Josh Wolf-Bloom, who had spent his entire sophomore season on the JV team, was forced into action and scored six in the upset win. He’s now one of many “glue guys” as a junior, putting up a neat and tidy performance of four points, four assists and four rebounds in Tuesday’s lopsided triumph.
Riordan, meanwhile, has relied heavily on the backcourt of Je’Lani Clark and Bryce Monroe, but Monroe’s status is questionable after being held out of the last two games and limited in a third with a hip flexor injury. With Clark running the point, the Crusaders have been much more reliant on their post players, getting 21 points and eight rebounds from power forward Robert Vaihola in Tuesday night’s comfortable win at Valley Christian.
No. 12 St. Ignatius (5-9, 0-4 WCAL) @ No. 4 Mitty (12-2, 3-1), 7:30 p.m.
The action on the court at Fien Gymnasium will be secondary to the halftime festivities on Friday night as Aaron Gordon’s No. 32 jersey is appropriately retired. The only player to date to ever win the WCAL Player of the Year award three times and just one of three to win it even twice, Gordon will return to his own stomping grounds as the Orlando Magic have the night off before a Saturday contest against the Golden State Warriors. One of the other two players to win the award multiple times is his head coach, Tim Kennedy, who hopes to have a comfortable halftime lead to work with so that he can partake in the ceremonies. However, in a year that’s already been marked by stunning upsets, it would only be fitting for the Wildcats to come in on the road and pull off a stunner for the ages, one that would inject much-needed life into a young team going through the struggles of WCAL play.
Gordon was one of the rare players to start in the league as a freshman, blazing a largely uncharted path that SI freshman point guard King-Jhsanni Wilhite is currently traversing. With Gordon in the building, perhaps another phenom with sky-high potential will make an impression.
No. 6 Menlo (11-3, 4-0 WBAL) @ No. 7 Sacred Heart Prep (9-2, 4-0), 7:30 p.m.
The clash of Valparaiso Avenue rivals is always a fun game, but this year’s matchups should carry extra intrigue as the two teams are battling not only for the WBAL lead but also for a shot at a trip to the CCS Open Division. Each team has made it once before (SHP in 2015 and Menlo in 2018), but there’s a shot for both to crack the picture this year instead of towering above the field in Division IV. Last year, the Gators won both meetings, continuing their dominance in the rivalry from the gridiron, with many of the same faces doing the work on the hardwood.
The 2019 meetings included a breakout performance from Charlie Selna, who scored eight off the bench in a road overtime victory for SHP and has continued his ascension from there, becoming one of the premier centers in the section. The Knights will have a chance for some of their football players to find redemption, including Justin Sellers, who had eight points in a Tuesday win at Eastside. Extra contributions from Sellers will be needed as Menlo plays without sophomore Garret Keyhani, sidelined with a bone bruise in his foot.
No. 13 Sequoia (7-8, 3-0 PAL South) @ No. 5 Menlo-Atherton (12-3, 3-0), 7:45 p.m.
Carlmont may have been the main challenger to the Bears’ throne in the PAL South last year, but the Ravens are back to relevance this year and are looking to unseat the defending league champs at Ayers Gym on Friday. M-A has largely been untested so far in league play, while Sequoia got things started with a 61-57 win over Hillsdale and has followed that up with blowout wins over both Woodside and San Mateo. Of the Bears’ three league wins, two have been by running clock, with Skyler Thomas scoring 20 on 9-of-10 shooting in Wednesday’s 80-37 romp over Capuchino. Nick Tripaldi had 15 points and five steals in that win. In a strange twist, point guard Justin Anderson was the only player not to score for the Bears, but he took just two shots and still managed to pick up a pair of steals with a light workload.
No. 10 Sacred Heart Cathedral (5-8, 1-3 WCAL) @ No. 8 St. Francis (11-3, 3-1), 3 p.m.
A rare WCAL matinee will be played in Mountain View, with the goal of increasing student attendance at the game by tipping off just after classes let out. The Lancers will hope to maintain their stake in the crowded mess at the top of the league standings, searching for an 11th straight win over the Fightin’ Irish. Last year, the streak reached ten as Oscar Pedraza hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer in overtime to ruin SHC’s Senior Night and drop head coach Sean MacKay to 0-6 against his alma mater.
Though the Irish have lost three straight since a Bruce-Mahoney victory, they made Mitty work for an 84-71 victory on Tuesday, finally getting scoring from players other than Ray John Spears in order to keep pace with the Monarchs. Kori McCoy scored a game-high 32 and Darnay McPherson added 18 in a hard-fought shootout.
No. 17 Valley Christian (8-6, 0-4 WCAL) @ No. 1 Serra (11-3, 3-1), 7:30 p.m.
The question will not be if the Padres are going to respond to Tuesday’s humiliating beatdown, but how. Expect Serra to ramp up the intensity and determination to newfound levels with hopes of erasing the embarrassment of Tuesday’s 14-point showing at Bellarmine. The only thing the Padres would want to carry over from that game is Damon Lewis’ hustle, as the three-sport athlete put forth a tireless performance in what was otherwise a lousy 18th birthday.
Jefferson (8-7, 3-0 PAL North) @ No. 14 Half Moon Bay (11-4, 4-0), 7:45 p.m.
Once again, it’s the Grizzlies and Cougars atop the PAL North, and they’ll have their first encounter of 2020 in HMB’s on-campus gym, a cozy building that’ll be easy to fill. Both teams have passed their biggest prior test so far with come-from-behind wins over El Camino, though Half Moon Bay erased an early 10-point deficit by halftime while Jefferson needed OT to down the Colts. Ben McKnight led the Cougars in scoring in Tuesday’s win at El Camino, though Mykola Ediger returned to his usual role on Wednesday in a 59-45 victory over Westmoor, with 22 points and eight rebounds.
Both teams will be playing their third game of the week, and for Jefferson, all three are on the road, but the Grizzlies had tons of success on back-to-back nights in Pacifica, beating Terra Nova by 39 and Oceana by 35. Come Friday night, they’ll head further south down Highway 1, hoping to follow up last year’s league championship by fighting off the perennial contenders.
No. 23 Cupertino (9-7, 2-2 SCVAL De Anza) @ No. 9 Los Altos (14-1, 3-0), 7:45 p.m.
The Eagles have scored at least 51 points in every game this year, a big reason they’ve suffered just one loss, but continuing that clip will be a tough task against a Pioneers team that only allows 44.2 per game and has only allowed one opponent, St. Francis, to get over 60 all year. Cupertino rarely sends opponents to the free throw line, with Craig Ellegood’s teams almost always playing clean defense, but Brock Susko has a great habit of getting to the charity stripe, meaning something will have to give.
Carlmont (6-9, 1-2 PAL South) @ No. 18 Woodside (11-2, 2-1), 7:45 p.m.
Another intriguing matchup of Sequoia District schools will take place on Friday night not far from Interstate 280, and it’ll be a game that has very different meanings for its combatants. The Wildcats are hoping to keep pace in the hunt for the PAL South title and prove that their only blemish was a result of sophomore Isaiah Minor missing last Friday’s game, while Carlmont needs a win to get on track for playoff eligibility.
After posting a losing record in nonleague play, the Scots need six league wins to qualify for the postseason, and with the PAL’s unbalanced schedule, that won’t be an easy task. Facing all three intra-district rivals means two games apiece against Menlo-Atherton, Sequoia and Woodside, and with Wednesday’s loss to Hillsdale, the Scots will need to win at least one of those games in order to reach the playoffs. They did have one encouraging sign in Wednesday’s defeat as point guard Abram Guldbech returned from a groin injury and scored 12 points.
