OAKLAND - Bishop O’Dowd, one of Northern California’s best teams, overwhelmed WACC-Foothill rival Mt. Eden, 89-36, Wednesday night, in a game that was never in doubt.
The Dragons (8-4, 2-0 WACC-Foothill), the reigning North Coast Section champions, have high expectations this season after taking Mater Dei, the No. 2 team in the nation by some rankings, into overtime earlier in the season.
After a quick 5-2 run by the Monarchs to start the game, the Dragons came back quickly with their two bigs, 6-5 Shane Farley and 6-10 Ivan Rabb, leading the way.
Farley, with 14 points on the night and 12 coming in the first half, was unstoppable in the post, while Rabb had a game-high 16 points, including 10 in the first half.
There was no doubt that the Dragons' dominant defense played a key role in the win, as Mt. Eden’s Salafai Osoimolo and Joe Johnson scored half of the Monarchs combined points, both finishing the game with a total of eight points.
In the second half, the Dragons were able to sit their starters, which allowed their strong bench to finish the job.
All 12 players scored for the Dragons, including Jake Crudo, a three-year varsity player who nailed two consecutive 3s to finish with six points.
“That was fun,” Crudo said, “The next few games are big and will give us a chance to improve as we get into full swing for league in preparation for another run at state.”
Big was an understatement, as the Dragons are about to hit a rough part of their schedule. O’Dowd will go against Berkeley (12-0) on Friday and Capital Christian (14-2), the top-ranked team in Northern California, on Monday.
If that isn’t enough, they will face San Leandro (7-7) next Wednesday and Castro Valley (10-3) on Friday.
With a win against Capital Christian on Monday, the Dragons will likely take over the top spot in Northern California. The game will be played at the Haas Pavilion, a neutral site on the Cal campus.
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