KENTFIELD, Calif. — The Miramonte Matadors don’t make excuses.
They didn’t complain when they headed into a second straight game with seven players. They weren’t bothered when a series of questionable calls put their thin roster in foul trouble, and they didn’t blink when the Serra Padres led by seven with 5:30 left and by four with two minutes remaining.
They simply stayed composed, buckled down and rallied for a 50-48 win, taking the lead for the final time on sophomore Marcus Robinson’s layup with 11.7 seconds left to advance to the semifinals of the 25th Bambauer Classic at Marin Catholic.
“I’ll tell you something, we are a fully connected team,” Miramonte head coach Chris Lavdiotis said of the win, which Robinson sealed by blocking a 3-point attempt in the final seconds before a desperation heave at the buzzer hit the rim. “The kids believe in everything they’re doing. They’ve got grit, Tyler Dutto is a matchup problem for most teams and we’ve got a lot of trust in each other.”
That trust was evident after threes by Ryan Pettis and Miles Klapper put Serra (5-2) up 42-35, and it showed again after Klapper was left open on the perimeter for a three for the last of his game-high 21 points, giving Serra a 48-44 lead. Dutto came right down for a basket, and after a defensive stop, he scored again to tie the game with the last of his team-leading 18 points.
“We scored on every out-of-bounds play,” Lavdiotis said. “We’re really good on special teams and we’re getting better. That was the difference to me, we scored on four of them down the stretch. They know ‘em, they’re simple, they work.”
The winning basket came on one of those simple plays, albeit one that came from taking the ball upcourt, rather than on an inbound. Robinson cut along the baseline, received a Ben Murphy pass in stride and scored what held up as the winning basket.
Until a 20-point fourth quarter, offense was tough to come by for Miramonte (9-1). The Matadors were tied 6-6 after a quarter and took a quick 11-6 lead in the second on a Caden Breznikar drive and James Frye 3-pointer before going into the half up 17-15, with Serra’s Jett Lalic getting the final points of the half.
Klapper scored Serra’s first nine and 11 of the Padres’ 18 in the third to put his team up 33-30, and sophomore Ryan Pettis hit a pair of threes sandwiched around a Murphy and-1 to give Serra a 39-35 advantage.
Klapper’s second 3-pointer of the afternoon looked like Serra had brought the Matadors to their breaking point, but Miramonte quickly got the next seven to tie the game. Frye made one of two free throws, Dutto scored and then fed Breznikar off an inbound pass, and Schwartz scored off the glass to complete the 7-0 run.
Aiden Carleson’s and-1 off a steal put the Padres back on top, and Klapper’s 3-pointer answered a pair of Dutto free throws to make it 48-44 before the Mats launched their final charge.
Breznikar finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Murphy scored nine and Robinson added seven. Pettis finished with nine for Serra, all on 3-pointers, and Garret Keyhani added seven points and 14 rebounds, with nine boards in the first quarter alone.
Marin Catholic 78, Arcata 59
Kyle Winters came out swinging on Tuesday night, and the Marin Catholic Wildcats advanced into the semifinals of their own tournament while simultaneously putting themselves in position to secure the top seed in the NCS Division 4 playoffs come February.
Winters scored 24 of his game-high 30 in the first half, and Marin Catholic enjoyed a double-digit lead for the majority of a 78-59 win over Arcata.
Fifteen of Winters’ points came in a second quarter that Marin Catholic (8-3) closed on a 20-7 run to take a 44-26 halftime lead, including a turnaround shot just before the shot clock expired in the final moments of the first half to cap off the red-hot period.
Arcata (10-2) did go on a 14-5 run to close within 11 with two minutes left in the third quarter on Kai Purcell’s 15-footer from near the baseline, but two baskets from Winters and a Noah Deitch 3-pointer engineered a 7-1 MC run to close the third quarter and put the hosts back in control.
Purcell, who led Arcata with 26 points and seven rebounds, scored his team’s first eight in the fourth quarter to cut it to 62-49, but Deitch, a 6-foot-6 center, hit a pair of 3-pointers to put the game away. He finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Charlie Allen came off the bench to provide nine points and six rebounds for the Wildcats, while point guard Brandon Bento-Jackson finished with 13 points and four assists for Arcata. Isaiah Levy finished with eight for the Tigers, who were without the services of top rebounder Josiah Gomez.
King 69, University 60
Kenny Clayton scored 18 of his game-high 26 points and the King Wolves held on for a 69-60 win over University, leading wire-to-wire despite a few close calls.
King (12-2) jumped out to an early 15-3 lead but was up just seven after a quarter, and University (7-5) closed to within two midway through the second quarter and trailed just 33-28 at halftime after a pair of Roman Leraris free throws. Two George Alapag free throws gave the Wolves a 43-33 lead with 4:46 left in the third, and it was never closer than a seven-point game the rest of the way.
The Red Devils rode a balanced attack to ensure they never trailed by more than 14, with Cole Boake scoring a team-high 12. Fellow sophomore Trevor Tarm added nine, as did Luke Bradley, while Vinny Brugioni scored 10. Ryan Palaskis added 12 for the Wolves, Jayceon Smith scored 11 and collected eight rebounds and Alapag finished with eight points and seven assists despite battling foul trouble.
Folsom 71, Napa 46
Facing a Napa team that was pulled over from the consolation bracket to replace Heritage, Folsom did as expected and rolled to a 71-46 win to advance into the semifinals of the Bambauer Classic.
Tyson Hazel scored 10 of his 18 in the third quarter to lead the Bulldogs, who closed the period on a 16-4 run to take a 58-32 lead. Brycen Shackelford added 17 for Folsom (10-3) and Jake Thoensen finished with 10.
Sophomore Miles MacPherson scored 20 to lead Napa (2-8), including 18 in the second half. Tyler Oda finished with 10, including seven in the second quarter. The Grizzlies went into halftime trailing 35-20.
Central Catholic 55, Westmoor 51
Even with just one player over six feet, the Westmoor Rams took a Central Catholic team with a pair of 6-foot-5 starters down to the wire before ultimately falling, 55-51.
A pair of Noah Cote threes and the last of Trey Knight’s seven 3-pointers cut Central Catholic’s lead to two, but Armaan Grewal hit Wesley Payne for a mid-range jumper and free throws by Julian Kuper and John Wright closed out the game.
Knight scored a game-high 23 for Westmoor (3-6), with his fifth 3-pointer coming off an inbound pass to put the Rams up 29-26 early in the third. A Tyler Wentworth 3-pointer and Payne putback put the Raiders back in front, spurring an 11-1 run that proved to be decisive.
Payne led Central Catholic (5-4) with 14 points, while Wentworth scored 13. Each collected eight rebounds, while Grewal finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. Kuper had eight rebounds and seven boards, while Cote scored 10 for the Rams and issued three assists.
San Marin 71, San Domenico 58
Justin Guin seems to be adjusting from football mode.
Guin, who ran for 2,359 yards on San Marin’s 5-AA State Championship football team, scored 28 points and secured eight rebounds on Tuesday afternoon to lead the Mustangs to a 71-58 win over San Domenico in the consolation bracket of the 25th Bambauer Classic.
The 5-foot-11 senior scored 10 in the second quarter as San Marin (2-8) overcame an early 14-point deficit to trail just 34-30 at halftime, then scored the go-ahead layup as he chipped in seven more points during a third quarter that saw the Mustangs outscore the Panthers 25-11 to take a double-digit lead of their own.
Lithuanian boarding student Gytis Gervickas scored 15 of his game-high 29 in the first quarter for San Domenico (2-7), and fellow countryman Matas Burniskas added 10. Sophomore Drew Morehouse added eight, but Guin had three teammates in double-figures. Sophomore Nick Cubley finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, Andrew Abell scored 11 and finished a rebound shy of a double-double and Ryan Burke scored 10 while dishing out four assists.
Lincoln 68, Mills 46
A Lincoln Mustangs team that typically sees huge individual scoring efforts changed things up on Tuesday morning, riding a balanced attack to a 68-46 victory over Mills to open the second day of the 25th Bambauer Classic.
Jordan Aquino scored 16 to lead Lincoln (6-3), and the Mustangs had different scorers take over different quarters en route to a comfortable win. Jason Dalong scored all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter and Justin Aquino scored all of his seven in the second, while Andre Irving spread his eight points around. Jonathan Shim scored a game-high 20 for Mills (2-8), and the Vikings also got seven points from Corey Wong.
Wednesday’s schedule
San Domenico (2-7) vs. Westmoor (3-6), 11 a.m.
Mills (2-8) vs. San Marin (2-8), 12:30 p.m.
Lincoln (6-3) vs. Central Catholic (5-4), 2 p.m.
Napa (2-8) vs. Serra (5-2), 3:30 p.m.
University (7-5) vs. Arcata (10-2), 5 p.m.
Folsom (10-3) vs. Miramonte (9-1), 6:30 p.m.
King (12-2) @ Marin Catholic (8-3), 8 p.m.
