Kentfield, CA – The belle of the ball has stopped dancing, but it was not without a fight, however in the end it was just too much of Branson-Ross star Viktor Rajkovic in a 52-47 CIF Northern Regional Division I Bulls victory over upstart Sacred Heart Cathedral on Thursday night at College of Marin.
Rajkovic, a 6-5 senior forward that has been accepted to Tufts bur surprisingly does not have any D1 college offers, hammered home a monster double-double 35 points and 14 rebounds with three blocked shots in an amazing performance.
“The difference in the game was Vik. He did everything but drive the bus,” said Branson Coach Jonas Honick, who recorded career coaching win No. 714 in the victory. “He was the best player on the floor and when you have the best player you usually win.”
Second-seeded Branson (30-2) came out a little tentative and trailed 12-6 after one quarter but turned it around with defense and a 21-9 run gave the Bulls a 27-21 halftime lead.
From there it looked like Branson had all the momentum against the tenth-seeded Fighting Irish, but the San Francisco boys were not quite ready to concede
Sacred Heart Cathedral (14-15) had been there before. They entered the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs as the No. 8 seed and with a 10-14 record but ran the table to beat Archbishop Mitty-San Jose in the title game. Then, they went to Fresno in the NorCal D1 opening round where they upset seventh-seeded Bullard in a 65-64 overtime victory.
The Fighting Irish still had fight and outscored the hosts 19-9 in the third quarter to go the final period with a 40-36 lead, and it was looking like Cinderella might avoid the toll of the bell.
Unfortunately for the large and vociferous contingent of Fighting Irish fans it was at this point that Rajkovic really took over, junior Peyton Mullarkey (seven points) hit Branson’s only three-pointer of the game off an assist by Rajkovic, and the vise-like defense that has produced three CIF Division V state championships for Honick and the Bulls put the clampers on the visitors and held them to seven fourth quarter points while Rajkovic had 11 of the 16 Branson points himself.
Sacred Heart Cathedral got 13 points from Elijah Flowers and 11 by Cedric Reed Jr.
“It’s been a great run and we wish it was longer,” Irish Coach Sean MacKay said. “Unfortunately, the clock struck midnight on us. We just couldn’t stop No. 10 (Rajkovic). He’s the best player we’ve seen all year.”
Even so, it was a great run for a Sacred Heart Cathedral team that shocked the CCS Open field after entering the playoffs with a losing record and after only going 3-11 in the West Catholic Athletic League.
“These guys have a special bond,” MacKay remarked. “They’re special and special things can happen.”
“They were a team of destiny and they almost pulled it off once again,” Honick said. “But our guys just didn’t want to lose and we had Vik, and I can’t believe he still hasn’t gotten a D1 offer.”
While one Cinderella has left the ball another remains and its Branson. The Bulls may have had some recent success since Honick returned to the helm after an eight-year hiatus, winning NCS D5 titles in his first two years back and a Division IV title after being moved up this year due to competitive equity.
Honick and his boys made it to the CIF NorCal D5 semifinals in 2017, and then in 2018 they were moved up to Division III due to competitive equity and made the No. 1 seed in the NorCals before bowing out to Valley Christian-San Jose in the second round.
As the No. 2 seed in Division I the CIF could have placed them in the Open Division but opted for six teams instead of eight, but even so the Bulls were still bumped up two divisions for this year’s NorCals.
Now, the school of 320 students has a team that has won 27 straight games and held an opponent s under 50 points for the 25th time during the winning streak. On the season Branson has held opponents to under 39 points per games.
At this point however, the Bulls are into unchartered waters. They’ve been this far and further under Honick but that was in Division V and not in Division I under a competitive equity formula.
The new Cinderella will be dancing again on Saturday night at College of Marin when they host Moreau Catholic-Hayward in the D1 semifinals. Sixth-seeded Moreau Catholic went on the road on Thursday night and pulled off an 84-79 upset of No. 3 seed Clovis West-Fresno.
