SAN JOSE — Winning in the West Catholic Athletic League requires more than just having the best basketball players. It takes teams that are willing to put forth maximum effort on defense and scrap for every loose ball.
That’s exactly what the Riordan Crusaders did on Tuesday night, holding Mitty without a field goal for the final 4:39 for a 62-51 win, their first road victory over the Monarchs since 2002.
“We just wanted to keep the same mentality we’ve been having. Try to make it tough on them, and I think that’s what got us over the hump in the second half,” head coach Joey Curtin said after changing his clothes following a postgame shower from his jubilant players. “You saw our defense in the second half. We really locked down. I’ve told the guys, that travels everywhere, and in this league, it’s a necessity to play that way on the defensive end.”
That defense showed up over the final four minutes and change as Riordan (14-2, 5-1 WCAL) constantly withstood gut punches that could have undone a less composed and experienced team. The last of those was a Mason Ryan 3-pointer and Marcus Greene baseline runner to give the Monarchs a 50-47 advantage, and the hosts had a chance to break the game open after a big block by backup center Arrish Bhandal on the next Crusader possession.
Riordan wouldn’t budge, though. Aided by three missed 1-and-1s from Mitty (13-3, 4-2), the Crusaders wouldn’t give up another point until a Ryan free throw with 35.6 seconds left, and by then they had scored 12 straight points to take control. Je’Lani Clark tied the game on an and-1 with 3:38 left, and after an injury delay for trainers to attend to Mitty forward Nigel Burris, who took a hard fall when trying to box out on the free throw that brought the Crusaders even, Riordan got right back to work.
A Lee Hubbard steal and Chan Ngot putback of Hubbard’s missed layup put the visitors up 52-50, and after Mitty missed a third consecutive try from the field, Bryce Monroe rushed to the baseline to save the rebound off his own missed 3-pointer, and Clark slashed to the hoop after seizing the loose ball for a four-point lead.
Rather than shooting the lights out (Riordan went just 3-of-15 from 3-point range), the top-ranked Crusaders knew their best shot at beating a Mitty team that loves to light it up from the outside would be to make hustle plays, such as Monroe’s valiant lunge to save his own miss. He and Clark combined to go just 2-of-14 on threes, but it didn’t stop them from willing their team to a win they had been yearning for since last year’s loss at Mitty, which all but eliminated them from the league title race.
“Nobody can mess with me going to the rack,” Clark said after he scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, making six of his seven second-half shots from inside the 3-point line. “I got out of character (in the first half). It was me doing selfish stuff and not playing as a team player.”
Clark and Monroe were both excellent team players in the second half, putting their own personal performances aside to focus on team success. Monroe made five of his six free throws in the final minute to cap off his game-high 24 points, and Clark made three of four to help ice the game.
“It was big,” Monroe said of the long-awaited win. “One of the things we talked about that we wanted to do this year was knock off Mitty at Mitty.”
It’s a win that leaves the Crusaders and Serra all alone atop the WCAL standings, with the Padres owning a head-to-head win over Riordan, something the purple and gold hope to avenge next Tuesday in San Mateo. Just as Serra had fought for loose balls and defended to beat the Crusaders on the road, Riordan did the same to take down the defending league champion Monarchs on their own floor for the first time in 21 trips, ending a streak that had covered 17 regular season meetings and three playoff contests.
“We wanted to show people we’re a scrappy team,” Clark said.
After getting down by 10 early in the third, the Crusaders did just that, shedding off constant blows that would have destroyed a less mature team. Clark missed an opportunity to throw down an enormous dunk over Ryan, but Hubbard grabbed the ball after it ricocheted to near midcourt and found Monroe for a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one, answering Greene’s shot from the other end. Another basket by Monroe was answered by a Mikey Mitchell 3-pointer, and Mitchell gave the third-ranked Monarchs a 45-43 lead with a finger roll on the final play of the quarter, but Riordan wasn’t bothered.
Clark got the first four points of the fourth, and even with the Ryan three and Greene floater off a turnover, the Crusaders settled in and ensured that those two field goals in a 30-second span would be the only two the Monarchs got in the entire fourth quarter.
“They were the aggressors,” Mitty head coach Tim Kennedy said of his team’s fourth-quarter struggles. They were downhill, they were at the rim, putting a ton of pressure on us, and if they were missing it, they were just a few feet away. They have so much length and size, they were playing volleyball with it almost.”
Riordan grabbed 20 offensive rebounds and held an overall 47-30 advantage on the glass, with six of Mor Seck’s game-high 11 on the offensive glass. The seven-foot sophomore scored seven points, and while Ngot came off the bench to score just three, he had what ultimately proved to be the go-ahead basket to snap a streak that had started before half of Riordan’s team was even born.
Mitchell led Mitty with 16, Greene had 13 and Ryan finished with eight, but the Monarchs shot just 6-of-22 from the field and 4-of-11 from the line in the second half. Hubbard scored just two for Riordan, but his expertise on the defensive end helped tilt the game.
“We knew that they were all shooters so we wanted to play the perimeter and stop them from shooting and getting to their spots,” the diminutive junior guard said. “We wanted to come out with a little bit more energy and really lock in.”
For now, the Crusaders are locked into a tie for first in the WCAL, with St. Francis paying a visit on Friday before a Tuesday trip to Serra in another game that Clark, Monroe and the rest of their teammates have had circled for a full year.
No. 4 Serra 56, No. 7 St. Francis 45
A massive Julius Alcantara dunk highlighted a 15-0 third quarter run as Serra (13-3, 5-1) outscored the St. Francis Lancers 22-9 in the period to take control and win in Mountain View for a third consecutive year. Alcantara had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Padres while Ryan Wilson scored a game-high 19. Antonio Abeyta added nine points and Damon Lewis scored eight off the bench while Trevor Leon led St. Francis (12-4, 4-2) with 18. Sophomore Isaiah Kerr added 10 for the Lancers, who saw their winning streak end at five games.
No. 2 Bellarmine 61, No. 12 St. Ignatius 52
The St. Ignatius Wildcats showed tremendous heart on Tuesday night, leading by seven at half and holding a 43-37 advantage after three quarters before finally succumbing to the heavily favored Bellarmine Bells. Quinn Denker scored a game-high 17 for Bellarmine (14-2, 4-2), winners of nine straight head-to-head meetings with the Wildcats, while junior center Ryan Kiachian added 11 and Ridley Ruth chipped in nine. St. Ignatius (5-11, 0-6) got 11 from GC Toledo Rivera, nine from Daniel Webster and eight apiece from and Malcolm McCray-Hill and King-Jhsanni Wilhite.
No. 11 Sacred Heart Cathedral 81, No. 17 Valley Christian 55
Leading by just one at halftime, the Sacred Heart Cathedral Fightin’ Irish allowed just six points in the third quarter to take control and win at home for the first time since December, 81-55 over the Valley Christian Warriors. Ray John Spears had a game-high 22 points for Sacred Heart Cathedral (7-9, 2-4), Darnay McPherson scored 18 and sophomore Eli McCarthy had 14 points, nine rebounds and six blocks in just his third varsity game. Aleksa Jovanovic led Valley Christian (8-8, 0-6) with 18 points and Pawllos Habtom added 12.
