SAN FRANCISCO — The old saying about how difficult it is to beat a team three times in one season didn’t faze the St. Ignatius boys basketball team.
Locked in a tight battle with Serra for three quarters, the Wildcats dispatched one of their biggest rivals and earned a trip to the CCS Open Division semifinals, pulling away down the stretch for a 54-46 quarterfinal victory.
“It’s something we’ve never done before,” said center Ethan Jew.
Jew was pivotal in the decisive final quarter, tying the game at 34 on a three-point play and giving St. Ignatius (12-6) a 36-34 lead that would hold up for the final 5:27 by knocking down a pair of free throws. He also had a key assist to fellow big man John Squire to create a six-point advantage and grabbed a crucial offensive rebound with just over a minute left that he kicked to an open GC Toledo Rivera for a 3-pointer that effectively put the game away.
“I grabbed the board, saw someone open and passed it out,” Jew said of the play that gave his team a 48-41 lead. “GC is one of our best shooters.”
Serra (6-7) did get back within five on a Dimitri Koutsogeorgas layup with 1:02 left and again with 34 seconds left on a Brady Smith 3-pointer, but the Wildcats went 6-of-8 at the free throw line in the final 56 seconds to clinch the game behind the efforts of Ryan Conroy and Sean Quanico. Conroy scored a game-high 14, while Quanico finished with nine on a 7-of-8 performance at the line.
“That’s easily the best they’ve played against us,” SI first-year head coach Jason Greenfield said. “They just ran their stuff to perfection and we kept getting caught on back screens and flip screens. A couple of stops was really what it took.”
Every time the third-seeded Wildcats needed a stop, they got one. Serra’s only substantial run all game was a 7-0 stretch early in the second, with Matthew Oliveira-Killmon, who missed more than half of his senior season to a mix of an ankle injury and contact tracing, scoring five of his seven off the bench in the span.
Conroy quickly answered with an and-1 off a Quanico assist to help the hosts regain stability, and the sixth-seeded Padres would never lead by more than three the rest of the way. JV callup Tyler Kelly hit a corner three to send the ‘Cats into the fourth with a 31-30 lead, and though Serra got the first four points of the fourth off a Koutsogeorgas steal and long Miles Klapper jumpeer, the 34-31 lead would be the last one the visitors held.
Koutsogeorgas, playing in his final high school game, scored all eight of his points in the second half and racked up four assists and four rebounds. He spent the final 28.4 seconds of his career on the bench after fouling out.
“It embodies him as a teammate and it embodied all these kids as teammates,” Serra interim head coach Brian Carson said of Koutsogeorgas’ selfless play. “Dimitri is the leader of this team, and it starts with him.”
Klapper scored 10 to lead the Padres, who are just one of two teams, along with Mitty, to play in all nine editions of the CCS Open Division. However, Friday marked the fifth straight year Serra has been upended in the quarterfinals.
“Our goal is to play with the best and beat the best,” Carson said. “Winning the Open is definitely our goal.”
Conversely, this is just the second time SI will be playing in the semifinals, having reached the stage in 2017 before losing to Mitty. The Wildcats will travel to Riordan on Wednesday, hoping to avenge a regular season sweep.
No. 1 Mitty 79, No. 8 Palma 40
While eighth seeds have frequently put scares into No. 1 seeds in the Open Division, the Monarchs ensured there would be no such drama at home on Friday night, opening up a running clock before the start of the fourth quarter. Mitty (15-1) got a game-high 17 points from Arrish Bhandal, who exploited a mismatch against an undersized Chieftains squad that was without the services of center Joey Finley. Derek Sangster added 16, Mikey Mitchell finished with 14 and Nigel Burris chipped in 12, while Aaron Garibay scored 14 to lead Palma (9-1).
No. 2 Riordan 77, No. 7 Priory 60
Making his Open Division debut, sophomore guard King-Jhsanni Wilhite scored 22 points as Riordan (13-3) took control with a 15-2 run to open the second quarter and led by as much as 27 to top the Panthers, who were the first Division V team to ever compete in the Open Division on the boys side.
The Crusaders also got 15 points from Robert Vaihola, 14 points and 11 rebounds from Zion Sensley and 10 points apiece from Lee Hubbard and center Mor Seck, who was one of three natives of West Africa on the court.
Seck, a native of Senegal, also had seven rebounds, while Priory (14-2) started Nigerian center David Ajanaku-Makun and Cameroonian forward Rostand Olama Abanda, who collected 11 rebounds. The Panthers got 16 points apiece from Ashton Axe and sophomore guard Tayo Sobomehin. Hubbard dished out a game-high six assists for the Crusaders, who improved to 10-2 at home.
No. 5 Half Moon Bay 71, No. 4 Bellarmine 68
Facing a Bellarmine team missing Cornell-bound center Ryan Kiachian to a rotator cuff injury, Half Moon Bay (21-3) opened up a 22-point lead in the third quarter behind Mykola Ediger and Sean Kennedy, then had to hold on for dear life after the reserves brought Bellarmine (7-7) back to within a point. Kennedy scored a game-high 23, knocking down seven of 13 3-point attempts, while Ediger scored 21. Ben McKnight finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Sean Ediger, Mykola’s twin brother, scored eight.
Seniors Cole Despie (17 points), Josh Wolf-Bloom (14) and Zach Turner (13) led the way for the Bells, who made a frantic late charge as Enow Akem and Michael Oliverio each came off the bench to hit a pair of threes. The loss marks the first time the Bells have played in the Open Division without reaching the championship game; their prior five appearances all resulted in a championship berth.
Wednesday’s semifinals
No. 3 St. Ignatius (12-6) @ No. 2 Riordan (13-3), 7 p.m.
No. 5 Half Moon Bay (21-3) @ No. 1 Mitty (15-1), 7:30 p.m.
