SAN JOSE — Like most shooters, Jake Wojcik wasn’t going to stop taking shots when his weren’t falling. Unlike most shooters that start a night cold, Wojcik was able to heat up down the stretch, hitting a pair of clutch threes when push came to shove as Bellarmine beat rival St. Francis 64-61 to take sole possession of first place in the WCAL.
The Bells led by 12 after an early 16-0 run and led 30-18 at the half, but St. Francis (14-3, 6-1 WCAL) came out firing in the second half behind junior Roy Yuan, who hit five 3-pointers in the third quarter. The visiting Lancers took their first lead since the opening minutes at 41-40 on a Tyler Manoa putback and held a 46-45 advantage on Yuan’s fifth three before Wojcik ended the third with a three of his own to put the Bells back on top heading into the final period.
After a three by Oscar Pedraza put the Lancers ahead once again, Wojcik gave Bellarmine (15-2, 7-0) a 52-51 lead on a beautiful up-and-under move and stretched that lead to four with a three on the following possession.
The Siena commit finished with 12 points despite having just three until the final moments of the third quarter.
“It was only a matter of time,” said Wojcik. “I was going to keep shooting no matter what.”
Kiran Kruse led Bellarmine with 21 points, including eight in the first quarter and another eight in the fourth. He scored off an inbound to give the Bells a 50-48 advantage with 5:26 to play and stretched the lead to 58-53 on a 3-pointer with three minutes left. He also made three of four free throws in the 30 seconds.
After Kruse hit a pair from the line with 25.5 left, Logan Johnson drove to the hoop and scored, but missed the free throw in an attempt to finish the and-1. Wojcik was fouled on the ensuing inbound and made one of two to boost the lead to four. With a foul to give, the Bells tried to foul before a St. Francis shot, but mistakenly fouled Yuan as he attempted a three with 6.5 left.
Yuan made the first two free throws and intentionally missed the third, attempting to catch Bellarmine off-guard, but Kruse grabbed the rebound. He split his pair at the line with 4.1 left, and although St. Francis broke the press and got Johnson a contested three in transition, the shot missed and the camouflaged Bellarmine fans rushed the court in jubilation.
“There’s so much energy in these games. I’m so happy our student section was able to show out and keep the place bumping throughout the whole game,” said Kruse. “That’s what it’s really all about.”
Even with the high standards that fans have come to expect from Bellarmine-St. Francis games, the crowd was above and beyond on Tuesday, with an overflow crowd estimated at 2,000 packing Patrick Wayne Valley Gymnasium. The always-extravagant Bellarmine students took things to an unprecedented level, with roughly 500 kids in camo, including two in full ghillie suits. From moshing to one of Drake’s new songs during warmups to a Viking clap to open the second half, the Bells rocked the house in a gym that’s typically tough to make serious noise in due to the high ceiling.
Many teams would have folded against a 12-point halftime deficit and a crowd like that, but St. Francis isn’t like most teams. The team that scored just 18 points in the first 16 minutes and at one point went more than five minutes without scoring put up 28 in the third quarter. Not only did Yuan sink five three pointers, he attempted a sixth that was halfway down before rolling out. He wasn’t the only one to step up, though. Tyler Manoa, fresh off a plane from Hawaii after playing in the Polynesian Bowl, scored four in the quarter and Johnson had five of his points and five of his game-high seven assists in the quarter, including a trio to Yuan.
For a game with so many twists and turns, Kendall Stubblefield was something of a constant for Bellarmine. He finished with 17 points and six rebounds, with exactly five in each of the first three quarters. His lone basket in the fourth was a putback with two minutes left to stretch the lead to 60-55. The six rebounds are below his average, and the Bells got outrebounded 38-31 for the game, but with the exception of the third quarter, they were even on the glass. Rebounding largely propelled the Lancers in the third, where they outrebounded Bellarmine 11-4 and pulled down six of their 18 offensive boards.
“We stopped rebounding in the third quarter,” said Bellarmine head coach Patrick Schneider. “That was the turning point in the game.”
Anthony Landphere finished with 15 straight rebounds for a second straight game to lead St. Francis in the category.
When it was all said and done, the numbers largely matched up. Yuan and Kruse each had 21, while the two stars and best friends, Wojcik and Johnson, each matched with 12. Stubblefield scored 17, while Landphere and Maurice Wilmer combined for 17. Pedraza and Manoa combined for 11, as did Nathan Metzger and Connor Despie.
The only thing that disturbed the balance, and one of the overlooked factors as the Bells ended St. Francis’ win streak at 14? Gio Saso, whose 3-pointer off a Metzger inbound pass restored a four-point lead for Bellarmine with three minutes left in the third. Though the Lancers would take the lead shortly thereafter, Saso’s points held up huge as a key bump in what was otherwise a dominant third quarter for St. Francis.
While the Lancer win streak is over, Bellarmine has won eight in a row and has emerged victorious in 23 straight WCAL contests, dating back to the penultimate game of the 2016 season. Bellarmine will travel to Sacred Heart Cathedral on Friday, while St. Francis will host Serra in another rivalry game.
Around the WCAL
The St. Ignatius Wildcats needed a road win to keep the hunt for the title a three-horse race, and they dominated in a wire-to-wire 73-58 at Riordan (11-6, 2-5). Darrion Trammell once again made his impact after spending the first few minutes on the bench, leading St. Ignatius (12-5, 5-2) with 24 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter. He was joined in double-figures by three starters.
Teddy Snyder scored 13 points, Brandon Beckman finished with 11 and came up one rebound shy of a double-double, and Matt Redmond scored 10, and a fourth starter, Wrenn Robinson, added nine. Riordan got 15 points from Je’Lani Clark, 10 from James Chun and 10 off the bench from Chimae Ugbaja.
Mitty (5-12, 3-4) beat Valley Christian 65-56 for a third straight win behind a huge night from Riley Grigsby, who finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks. Jaylon Bryant led Valley Christian (10-7, 1-6) with 13 points, while Grigsby was joined in double-figures by Joseph Vaughn (12) and Charles Meng (10).
Parker McDonald scored 18 points as Serra (10-7, 2-5) ended its losing streak at five with a 65-56 win over Sacred Heart Cathedral (11-6, 2-5). Henry James and Colin McCarthy each scored 14 for the Padres, while SHC got big nights from E.J. Neal (20 points), Bryce Monroe (16) and Gary Hudson (15) but failed to get depth scoring.
