MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — As well as Logan Johnson had played on Friday night, he wasn’t satisfied.
“I need to do a better job finding my shooters,” said the Cincinnati-bound senior. “There are plenty of shooters on this team. I’ve got shooters in the corner, we have such successful shooters on the arc.”
Johnson did finish the night with 18 points and 12 rebounds for yet another double-double, but when push came to shove, he was able to connect with his teammates to keep #3 St. Francis tied atop the WCAL standings with a 63-56 win over #2 St. Ignatius.
After a Darrion Trammell-led 11-3 run brought the visiting Wildcats even at 53, a pair of Johnson assists helped the Lancers regain control as St. Francis (14-2, 6-0 WCAL) finished on a 10-3 run marked by excellent rebounding. During those final three and a half minutes, the Lancers outrebounded SI 7-2, with Anthony Landphere collecting three of his game-high 15 boards during the stretch. For the game, St. Francis outrebounded the Wildcats 44-27, and the Lancers did it without Matteo Fontana (illness) and Tyler Manoa, who is playing in the Polynesian Bowl this weekend.
“I think that’s been our key all year,” said head coach Mike Motil. “Typically we have Tyler and Matteo inside, so we played small tonight.”
Early on, there weren’t too many rebounds for the Lancers to grab on the offensive end as they shot the lights out in the first quarter, racing out to a 22-12 lead. Roy Yuan’s 3-pointer from the volleyball lines for St. Francis’ first points set the tone and sparked an 8-0 run, while Johnson scored seven in the quarter.
“Logan’s a beast,” said St. Ignatius head coach Rob Marcaletti. “He’s slippery, he’s got a great sidestep and a great Eurostep.”
Johnson wowed throughout the night with his ability to drive through traffic, maneuvering past two or three defenders at a time to get to the hoop. He was called for a charge just once despite his constant drives, a testament to his elusiveness.
The Wildcats responded in the second, playing their best basketball of the night as they went on a 12-2 run to take the lead with 2:43 left in the quarter on Matt Redmond’s three-point play. Redmond scored all nine of his points in the first half. Still, the hosts went into the break with the lead, going ahead on a Johnson drive with just over a minute left in the half and extending that lead to 30-27 when he scored off a Pedraza inbound pass in the final second of the opening half, even against a St. Ignatius defense that was fully prepared for the play.
A 7-0 run extended the St. Francis lead to 40-31 in the third before Trammell got St. Ignatius (11-5, 4-2) back into things. He scored seven of his team’s nine points in the quarter and took the reins in the fourth, with a 3-pointer followed by an and-1 to trim the lead to 50-48 with 4:59 to go. Yuan’s fifth and final 3-pointer of the night, which came on a Desai Lopez assist, put the hosts back up by five, but Trammell found Brandon Beckman for a three and then, after a rebound, send a full-court pass to Neal Begovich to even the score.
Even though Trammell caught fire, scoring 18 of his game-high 21 in the second half, the Lancers weren’t alarmed.
“We’ve been doing this all year,” said Motil. “We’ve had teams make runs at us, we’ve had to fight back. All teams go through moments where it’s tough to score.”
The go-ahead basket came from Lopez, an unlikely source who hadn’t even appeared in the previous two games.
“I just did what I had to do,” said the junior forward. “I just bring hustle to the game and try to get my team hyped.”
After an offensive foul thwarted the following St. Ignatius possession, Johnson found Pedraza in the corner for a three to restore a five-point lead. As much as teams key in on Johnson, he’s surrounded by a brilliant group of juniors, and those juniors helped create separation on Friday night.
Pedraza finished with 15 points while Yuan added 17 on five 3-pointers and a pair of late free throws. Landphere scored just four but made his impact on the boards, and Maurice Wilmer finished with six rebounds and seven points, including a rainbow 3-pointer to open up a nine-point lead early in the fourth.
Trammell was the only Wildcat to finish in double figures, but he also finished with eight rebounds. Neal Begovich, Brandon Beckman and Teddy Snyder each scored eight.
St. Francis will travel to Bellarmine on Tuesday with first place on the line as the archrivals square off for the first time this year. St. Ignatius will travel to Riordan.
Around the WCAL
Once again, the Bellarmine Bells kept their streak alive. Jake Wojcik’s third-chance putback at the buzzer made it an incredible 22 straight WCAL wins as Bellarmine (14-2, 6-0) pulled out a 64-62 win over host Riordan (11-5, 2-4).
With James Chun hobbled and Watida Mukukula battling illness, the Crusaders got 18 points from Je’Lani Clark and 15 from De’Sean Johnson before he fouled out with 6:08 to go. Wojcik scored a game-high, including a drive to the hoop to give the Bells the lead with 40 seconds to as Bellarmine executed a 2-for-1 exchange. Clark tied it with a drive into traffic with 25 seconds left before Wojcik’s winner. The senior missed his own shot and Kiran Kruse’s putback try failed before Wojcik’s third chance paid off to keep Bellarmine atop the WCAL.
After a MLK loss on Monday, Mark DeLuca said that his Valley Christian team hadn’t played a complete game in a while. The Warriors finally did on Friday, beating Sacred Heart Cathedral 74-64. Cameron Fini led Valley Christian (10-6, 1-5) with 28 points, including 21 in the second half, while Sacred Heart Cathedral (11-5, 2-4) got 25 from Bryce Monroe.
Mitty (4-12, 2-4) made it two straight victories in must-win games with a 62-57 win at Serra (9-7, 1-5) in double overtime. The Monarchs led 18-8 after a quarter, but Serra came back in the third with four 3-pointers from Henry James, who scored a team-high 17 after going scoreless in the first half.
The Padres forced a second overtime with a pair of free throws from Masie Mohammadi, their only points of the first OT, and got 15 points from Parker McDonald. Mitty’s Riley Grigsby led all scorers with 20 points, and he had three teammates join him in double-figures.
