BERKELEY — If Saturday’s win over Mitty was a glimpse of what St. Ignatius can do, then Tuesday’s 65-45 Bruce-Mahoney victory over Sacred Heart Cathedral was a look at what the Wildcats can do at their full potential.
Wrenn Robinson scored 13 points in the second corner and led all scorers with 25, Neal Begovich added 21 and finished with 11 rebounds and St. Ignatius (6-7, 2-1 WCAL) outscored the Fightin’ Irish 39-18 over the middle two quarters, leading by as much as 25 en route to a comfortable victory.
The only other member of the Wildcat lineup to post more than four points was Ross Klein, a seldom-used reserve and fan favorite who scored all nine of his in the fourth quarter, but smooth ball movement and strong rebounding allowed 11th-ranked SI to take a 10-point lead into halftime and roll in the second half.
Trailing 14-11 after one quarter and getting doubled in rebounds during the opening eight minutes, Begovich, Garrett Cason and the rest of the Wildcat lineup took control of the boards, which opened up more opportunities for Robinson to do his thing. Even players like Malcolm McCray-Hill, who went scoreless but pulled down three rebounds, played a part as Sacred Heart Cathedral (8-5, 1-2) pulled down just five rebounds in the entire second quarter.
“I told guys, in this type of a game, I don’t really know that the lineup’s going to look like with substitutions and all that. Stay locked in and stay ready,” said head coach Rob Marcaletti. “We spent a whole timeout and the break between the first and second quarter talking about rebounding. It’s a huge focal point for us.”
It was latter half of the quarter where Robinson took off. He broke a 16-16 tie with a 3-pointer with 4:20 left in the first half and scored on a floater from the elbow a minute later. After an Osin McCormack basket, he hit a long two-pointer and drained another three after an SHC offensive foul. Begovich’s third 3-pointer of the night made it an 11-point game, and though McCormack and Kori McCoy would respond for the Irish, Robinson hit one more three to close the half, styming the SHC defense with fancy dribbling and then sinking the shot over 6-foot-8 Oscar Cheng with 12 seconds left in the half, even though the ‘Cats had the opportunity to run the clock down to the final moments.
“It was a heat check,” he said of the shot to close the first half. “I hit a couple before, so I had to shoot it.”
Marcaletti is typically one of the most meticulous coaches of all when it comes to clock management, but with how Robinson was shooting, there was no hesitation to let him take over.
“He’s got a looser rein because he’s been there and he’s gone through these games,” Marcaletti said.
Robinson, a three-year starter, has now won all three Bruce-Mahoney meetings he’s played in, and though the regular-season meetings have been split twice in the past three years, St. Ignatius has won the trophy game on the big stage for four straight seasons. An Oakland native who grew up attending Mike Montgomery’s camps at Haas Pavilion, Robinson felt right at home.
There would be little drama in the second half aside from seeing just how far Robinson could go, as he added another eight points in the third quarter, hitting a three to cap off an 8-0 run to start the quarter and put his team up 40-24. Another three would answer five straight points from C.J. Reed, who had gotten fifth-ranked SHC within 14 behind a Stephen Curry-like and-1 and an unstoppable coast-to-coast move.
Begovich, who scored nine of his team’s 11 in the opening quarter, put the Wildcats up 20 in the final moments of the third before a McCoy lay-in at the buzzer. The 6-foot-8 Stanford-bound senior would wrap up his double-double with six rebounds in the fourth quarter, a complete transformation from a start of the game in which SI had struggled on the glass. He also held his counterpart, Cheng, to just five points.
“We missed some box-outs early, and that’s on me,” Begovich said. “We did a good job pounding it inside offensively and defensively we were able to make Cheng put it on the ground.”
The only thing missing for Begovich, who also had five blocks, was a thunderous dunk that could have served as the cherry on top.
On a night where Haas Pavilion, even with its roof far higher than USF’s War Memorial Gymnasium, the typical site of the game, was rocking, few got the place louder than Klein, whose fourth-quarter performance drove the point home.
“I love Ross,” Marcaletti said. “Ross is the glue to us; he’s the one that keeps us all together. He’s our captain, and the cheering section is a complete credit to him.”
Only the St. Ignatius pep band’s halftime performance, a Bohemian Rhapsody tribute complete with a Freddie Mercury impersonator, drew a reaction that could compare to the roars Klein got when he scored on three straight possessions in the fourth.
The string of rivalry games will continue for both teams, as SI will host Serra on Thursday and Riordan on Saturday. The Irish, who got 10 points from Reed and nine from McCormack, will travel to Riordan Thursday night and host Serra on Saturday.
Girls: Sacred Heart Cathedral 61, St. Ignatius 54 (OT)
Talo Li-Uperesa hit a pair of free throws with three seconds left in regulation to avoid a fourth-quarter collapse for the Fightin’ Irish and force overtime, and with new life in the extra period, Sacred Heart Cathedral (7-5, 2-0) scored the first seven points to win for the eighth time in the last 10 meetings with the rival Wildcats.
“I felt a lot of pressure on my shoulders,” the SHC senior said. “It’s a do-or-die kind of thing.”
That pressure wouldn’t stop her despite what had otherwise been a pitiful quarter. The Irish had led by as much as nine in the first half and entered the fourth quarter with a 40-34 advantage, but turnovers let St. Ignatius (11-4, 1-1) back in. The first set up an Angie McAdams 3-pointer to cut the lead in half, and another let Rachel Harvey score to get the Wildcats within one, though she’d miss a potential game-tying free throw as SI struggled mightily from the line, going 2-for-8 in the fourth quarter, including 1-for-5 in the final 83 seconds. Maddie Ennis would tie the score at 42 by splitting a pair from the line with 4:33 left, but she would pick up her fifth foul on a battle for the ensuing rebound.
Even without their star, who finished with nine points and 12 rebounds, St. Ignatius nearly won it in regulation. Diary Khin drove to the hoop to give the ‘Cats their first lead since the opening minutes of the second quarter, and a basket by sophomore Sabrina Ma, who took advantage of Ennis’ absence to score a team-leading 12 points, made it 46-42 with just over three minutes left. The Irish would respond with a Carmela Marquez three, and they’d be bailed out despite missing two potential go-ahead baskets as SI was searching for answers at the free throw line. Ma finally snapped the drought by making one with 6.7 seconds left, but she missed the second, which Li-Uperesa rebounded and took up the court until she was fouled. Her first free throw was perfect, and the second hit the front of the rim and rolled in to second the game to overtime.
The extra period was all Irish from the get-go, with Da’Myiah Lewis scoring coast-to-coast and Nya Epps draining a three. Two free throws by Dylan Benitez, who has handled the point guard duties with Milan Tuttle recovering from a broken ankle, put SHC up by seven. A three-point play by Ma with 1:31 left in overtime would bring the Wildcats within four, but a putback from Lewis for two of her 15 points and one of her 16 rebounds would all but seal the game. Benitez would help finish things off as she went 5-for-6 from the line in overtime, accounting for half of her 10 points on the night.
Li-Uperesa led all scorers with 17 and finished her double-double with 10 rebounds and Marquez scored seven of her 10 in the first half. St. Ignatius got 11 points from Harvey and ten from McAdams, who finished one rebound shy of a double-double.
