SAN FRANCISCO — In their biggest game of the year, Mitty’s starters combined for 12 points.
The Monarchs won anyway.
Arrish Bhandal was, in head coach Tim Kennedy’s words, “a bad man,” scoring 31 off the bench, including the game-winner in the lane in the final seconds as the Monarchs won 61-59 at Riordan to create a three-way tie for first place in the West Catholic Athletic League with two games to go.
“We’ve talked about it, he’s done this in practice and he’s done this in the Sacred Heart games,” Kennedy said. “He’s Bad Man Bhandal when he gets in that mindset. You saw that tonight, it’s almost his alter ego right there. He turns into another gear.”
Bhandal shot an incredible 13-of-15, including the eight-foot shot to win the game off a feed from Nigel Burris. The 6-foot-9 Bhandal and 6-7 Burris didn’t start, but each saw more than 20 minutes. Mitty’s traditional starting lineup has five interchangeable 6-3 players, but Bhandal came in during the first quarter to combat Riordan’s size and hardly ever left the floor. The Crusaders used four different players at 6-7 and up to try to stop him, but none could even slow him down.
“We didn’t do anything to stop him,” Riordan head coach Joey Curtin said. “Bhandal had the game of his life. Credit to him.”
The junior even knocked down a trio of 3-pointers, the last of which tied the game at 52 after an error by the shot clock operator gave fourth-ranked Mitty (18-4, 9-3 WCAL) a new lease on life. Leading 51-46, he Crusaders went for a steal, and while they never gained possession, the shot clock reset in its final seconds, and after the Monarchs secured the ball, Mikey Mitchell fed Bhandal to make it a two-point game
“It was just a read, a pick-and-pop with Mike,” Bhandal said.
After his fourth foul led to a Je’Lani Clark free throw, Bhandal would tie the game with a three far earlier in the shot clock, then get three more the old-fashioned way on the next possession with a putback. After Dominic Wilson made just one of two free throws, Bhandal tipped a rebound to Marcus Greene, who set Mitchell up for an elbow jumper to put the visitors ahead by four. Clark, who scored 20 but shot just 3-for-11 from outside, would answer with a three at the other end, but yet another Bhandal putback would give the Monarchs a 59-56 advantage.
Chan Ngot would put back a Bryce Monroe miss to get Riordan (18-4, 9-3) within one, and Wilson would rebound a failed Mitchell drive and draw a foul with 36.2 seconds left. He’d make the first free throw to tie the game but miss the second, and after Kennedy called timeout with 12 seconds left, Burris would draw a double-team from Ngot, leaving Bhandal open in the lane for the winning basket.
In the aftermath, the shell-shocked Crusaders stayed on the court in disbelief while the Monarchs celebrated after creating a three-way tie for first in the league, joined by Bellarmine atop the standings. Clark and Wilson seemed the most visibly upset, remaining on the floor throughout Mitty’s entire celebration. It was a complete transformation from three weeks earlier, when Riordan won on the Monarchs’ court for the first time since 2002.
“That loss really put a chip on our shoulders,” said Bhandal, who hardly saw the floor when the teams first met.
He and three other reserves combined for 49 of Mitty’s 61 points, and while he deservedly got the lion’s share of the attention, the Monarchs might have been dead by the end of the first quarter if not for James Thomas, who scored all of his five in the period. They burned two of their timeouts in the quarter and trailed top-ranked Riordan 14-5 before a Thomas putback and bank three to close the quarter, cutting the lead to 16-13 as Clark’s deep 3-point try at the buzzer barely rimmed out.
Bhandal, who got Mitty’s first five, added nine more in the second quarter. His putback gave the guests their first lead at 20-19, threes by sophomore Aidan Burke and Burris, he’d hit his first from beyond the arc to make it 35-27 before a deep Monroe three from the Kevin Restani Court logo closed the half.
“I always have that confidence in myself, but I think I owe it to my coaches and my teammates,” Bhandal said of his outside shooting.
Mitty’s original starting five would return to the court for just 81 seconds in the third before Bhandal came back in, with an assist on a Mitchell three for a 38-34 lead and a putback after baskets by Monroe and Mor Seck tied the game. He’d get another putback after Monroe put Riordan up four, but the Crusaders would head into the final quarter up 47-44 on a Monroe three at the buzzer.
With 18 through three quarters, Bhandal turned the fourth into a one-man show on a floor that’s usually home to heroics by Clark and Monroe, who combined for 42 on the night but couldn’t outdo Mitty’s towering junior. A Lee Hubbard steal led to a Clark dunk to put the Crusaders up 49-44, and they’d get a Monroe basket with 4:41 left to restore a five-point lead before Bhandal took over. He knocked down his second 3-pointer with some help from the clock operator, the first of nine consecutive points he’d score for his team.
On a night where Mitchell shot just 3-of-12 and the other four starters combined for a total of four points, everything Bhandal did was vital as the Monarchs pulled out a stunner to create chaos atop the standings with two games left. They’ll host Serra on Friday for Senior Night before finishing the regular season Tuesday at Valley Christian.
“We’ve just got to keep winning and make sure that we secure the spot,” said Burke.
The win puts the Monarchs at 5-1 on the road in league play, having avenged home losses to both Bellarmine and Riordan.
“It’s almost like we play better on the road where we get away from the distractions and come in a little more laser-focused,” Kennedy said.
The Crusaders will have minimal time to feel sorry for themselves with Friday’s trip to St. Francis, now looking to maintain a share of first place rather than win the outright title.
“Shots just weren’t falling for us tonight. We got the shots we wanted but shots weren’t rolling our way tonight, and that’s what happens when you play a lot of basketball games. You’ll have games like that,” said Monroe, whose 22 points came on 10-of-25 shooting. “We’ve got to stick together as a team show that we’re really a family and bounce back from games like this. We have to keep that in mind even though we just took two losses that we didn’t want to take.”
In addition to shooting just 37.9 percent for the game and making just five of 24 threes, Riordan once again struggled against zone defense for a second consecutive game, staying on the perimeter instead of feeding the post. The seven-foot Seck took just three shots, Wilson went 0-for-5 from the floor and Ngot and Robert Vaihola, making his first appearance since breaking a bone in his hand on Jan. 14, combined for just three shots.
“We have to stay aggressive,” Curtin said. “We get away from that at times.”
No. 4 Serra 67, No. 9 St. Francis 61
Ryan Wilson wasn’t going to let his Senior Night slip away.
Having missed potential game-winning 3-pointers at the end of two prior games, he knocked down three from beyond the arc in the final quarter, including the go-ahead shot as his Serra Padres overcame an 18-point second-half deficit for a 67-61 victory over the St. Francis Lancers.
Trailing 47-29 after an Isaiah Kerr 3-pointer midway through the third, Serra (15-6, 8-4) closed the third on a 15-5 run, capped off by a Dimitri Koutsogeorgas 3-pointer. Antonio Abeyta, who went scoreless the first half, scored eight as part of that run, including back-to-back threes to answer one from Kerr, who had 19 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.
The Padres would continue their surge into the fourth, getting five big points from Damon Lewis and taking the lead for the first time since the first quarter on Wilson’s three with 4:46 remaining. Kyle Rosecrans (14 points) would answer with the last of his four threes to put St. Francis (14-8, 6-6) back in front, but Luke Bidinost would make one of two free throws and Wilson would get the last of his 17 points to put the third-ranked Padres ahead for good.
Wilson wasn’t the only senior to make his final regular-season home game a memorable one. Abeyta, who followed with a steal and layup, scored 16. A Kerr dunk would make it a two-point game once again, but Abeyta would knock down his last 3-pointer and score off a press break to put the game away.
6-foot-9 center Muti Shuman had 11 points and eight rebounds, with six of those points coming in the first quarter as the Padres raced out to a 14-4 lead. Ninth-ranked St. Francis would close the first on a 17-2 run, with Trevor Leon scoring nine of his 17 in that stretch with a pair of threes and an and-1. A Kerr 3-pointer with 1:40 left in the first half would give the Lancers their first double-digit lead, and they’d go into the half up 38-26 after another basket from their sophomore guard.
Threes by Rosecrans, Leon and Kerr early in the third would give the visitors their largest lead of the night, but a Shuman putback would spark the Serra comeback.
On a night where both teams were bombing away from 3-point range, Serra hit 12 threes, with Wilson knocking down five and Koutsogeorgas scoring all nine of his points from beyond the arc. The Lancers also hit 12, with three by Leon, who scored 14 of his 17 in the first half.
No. 2 Bellarmine 63, No. 7 St. Ignatius 30
The Bells wouldn’t let St. Ignatius (8-14, 3-9) pull off a second straight upset, limiting the Wildcats to 2-of-19 shooting in the first half. Quinn Denker scored just five points, but Bellarmine (19-3, 9-3) got 11 from Ryan Kiachian, 10 from Ian Elam and eight apiece from Josiah Ajiake, Cole Despie and Jackson Depree. SI freshman point guard King-Jhsanni Wilhite scored 12 to lead all scorers.
No. 10 Sacred Heart Cathedral 71, No. 17 Valley Christian 63
Sacred Heart Cathedral (9-13, 4-8) won a second straight, hitting free throws down the stretch to hold off the Warriors. The Fightin’ Irish got a game-high 21 points from Kyle Crawford and 14 from Darnay McPherson while Kori McCoy had 11 points and nine rebounds. Freshman point guard Jaiden Paran led Valley Christian (8-14, 0-12) with 17, Pawllos Habtom scored 16 and Aleksa Jovanovic added 13, but the Warriors lost a 13th consecutive game.