SAN MATEO, Calif. — Even the bright lights and pressure of their biggest game of the year wouldn’t stop the Serra Padres from doing things their way.
All five starters scored between seven and 11 points and the Padres turned up the defensive intensity to open up a 12-point lead before missed free throws forced them to hold on late for a 57-54 Jungle Game victory over the St. Ignatius Wildcats.
In a tight game that saw six lead changes in the third quarter alone, the hosts finally managed to create some separation when SI freshman point guard King-Jhsanni Wilhite, who scored a game-high 21 points, picked up his third and fourth fouls on consecutive plays late in the third quarter.
“That hurts, but without him, are we even in the game,” asked St. Ignatius head coach Rob Marcaletti after Wilhite hit all five of his shots in the third quarter, scoring 11.
That fourth foul would set up a pair of Dimitri Koutsogeorgas free throws with 49 seconds left in the quarter for what would turn out to be the final lead change of the night, and Luke Bidinost would get his lone basket of the game off a steal to put third-ranked Serra (10-2, 2-0 WCAL) up three entering the final quarter. That lead grew all the way to 55-43 as the Padres outscored the visitors 15-6 over the next five-plus minutes, capped off by an 8-0 run courtesy of Julius Alcantara and Ryan Wilson.
“We want him to attach more,” interim Serra head coach Brian Carson said of Alcantara. “He can take a big guy and drive or he can post up a little guy. He’s a mismatch.”
Trailing by 12, the Wildcats had one last inspired push, profiting off rare missed free throws from the hosts, who bricked three straight 1-and-1 attempts. Over that span, Wilhite made four shots from the line, Malcolm McCray-Hill threw down a dunk in transition and GC Toledo Rivera hit a 3-pointer to get 12th-ranked St. Ignatius (5-7, 0-2) within three, then cut the lead to 55-54 with eight seconds left as Wilhite looked for a game-tying 3-pointer but ultimately settled for a layup with no better options available. They fouled immediately on the inbound, but sent one of Serra’s best shooters to the line in Wilson and took Wilhite out of the game with his fifth and final foul. Wilson made both, the Padres fouled Kourosh Kahn-Adle before SI could get a shot up and sent the ensuing rebound off a missed free throw down the court to seal the game.
The first half was an old-fashioned battle in the post between Serra’s Muti Shuman and Wildcats junior center Ethan Jew as the teams played to a 21-21 tie at the break, with Shuman scoring seven of his team-high 11 in the first half and Jew racking up all six of his points and six of his eight rebounds during the stretch.
“It’s a different kind of thing,” Shuman said of playing in the rivalry for just the second time.
A transfer from Woodside Priory after his sophomore year, the hulking center saw occasional minutes off the bench as a junior but has expanded his role greatly in his senior season. He had the last of his points with five minutes left in the third before Wilhite caught fire, hitting a 3-pointer to tie the game at 33 and slicing through traffic to give his team a 37-36 lead.
With Wilhite off the floor over the final minutes of the third quarter and not coming back until Serra had taken a 45-37 lead, the momentum had clearly shifted.
“We kind of got a little lackadaisical at certain times, and Serra will burn you on that,” St. Ignatius head coach Rob Marcaletti said. “We just have these stretches that kill us, and sometimes we can’t bounce back. It just comes down to three or four possessions where Serra scores and we come down and don’t get a look that we want.”
While it was a whole roster of different players rising to the occasion for the Padres, the one who seemed to have the best grasp of the moment was reserve guard Jevon Jesus, who scored nine off the bench. He got the opening basket of the fourth, sinking just his team’s second 3-pointer of the game and first since the opening minutes as he was left alone on the wing.
“Jevon was huge tonight,” Carson said.
Fellow reserve Damon Lewis didn’t score for the Padres but had a key assist on a basket from Jesus in the third and earned himself a new nickname in the process, “do-rag Damon.” The three-sport standout, who’s fit in seamlessly on the basketball court after playing football until mid-December, cut his head in the first quarter and returned in the second half with new headgear.
“We have a running joke, D-Lew picked up the kids, went to school, wrote a book, he’s at practice and tonight he’s gonna say some prayers,” Carson said of Lewis, who also plays football and golfs. “He’s a great kid and he’s tough.”
Alcantara and Koutsogeorgas each scored nine in the third to match Jesus and point guard Antonio Abeyta scored seven. Kahn-Adle scored 10 for St. Ignatius while McCray-Hill had a game-high nine rebounds.
No. 11 St. Francis 46, No. 2 Bellarmine 43
For a young St. Francis team to pull off a major upset was to be expected at some point during the season. The Lancers fire off 3-pointers at will.
For them to do it on the road in a low-scoring affair amidst a huge crowd at Bellarmine? Almost unfathomable.
Yet, when the final buzzer sounded on Tuesday night, it was the Lancers celebrating at midcourt after a come-from-behind 46-43 win over the host Bells, knocking their archrivals from the ranks of the unbeaten after trailing by 15 in the second quarter.
Sophomore Harlan Banks, eligible for just his second game after transferring from Sacred Heart Prep, scored 13 for St. Francis (8-3, 1-1), including the basket with 2:27 left to give the Lancers the lead for good as they held Bellarmine scoreless over the final 3:02.
“Feels great,” Banks said. “Nerves were definitely kicking in, but big-time players make plays in big-time games.”
The Bells got their final points on a three from 6-foot-9 junior center Ryan Kiachian to go up by one, but Banks’ basket and a series of forced 3-pointers that missed the mark did the hosts in.
“They played harder than we did,” Bellarmine head coach Patrick Schneider admitted after his team committed 16 turnovers. “They played more physically and we let this happen.”
That physicality kept the second-ranked Bells away from the rim in the fourth quarter, scoring just six points over the final eight minutes of the game, all from Kiachian. He went just 2-of-9 on free throws and Bellarmine (11-1, 1-1) shot 7-of-18 from the line as a team, but he did convert an and-1 to put the hosts up 40-39 after the Lancers had taken their first lead on a Banks three-point play. Kyle Rosecrans answered the Kiachian and-1 with a 3-pointer, and sophomore Isaiah Kerr sank a pair of free throws with 8.3 left before the hosts missed one last attempt at a game-tying three.
“Great team effort,” Rosecrans said. “There’ll be plenty more for us this season.”
It looked like a rout for the hosts early on as they scored the first nine points of the second quarter to take a 24-9 lead and led by 14 with just over two minutes left in the first half, but the Lancers closed the gap to nine by halftime with four points by Kerr and six by Trevor Leon, who was fouled on a 3-point attempt and sank a three off an inbound pass before Ian Elam got the final points of the half. The Lancers used a 9-0 run to tie the game at 30 midway through the third on a basket by Banks, then got a basket by Kerr and one-handed dunk from Banks to answer five straight points by Bells point guard Quinn Denker.
Kiachian led the hosts with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Denker scored nine, including seven in the third quarter. Kerr had 15 for the Lancers and Leon had eight, all coming in the first half.
No. 4 Riordan 73, No. 9 Sacred Heart Cathedral 52
With Bryce Monroe limited to just six minutes as he nursed a hip injury, the Riordan Crusaders played a strong second half, outscoring the Sacred Heart Cathedral Fightin’ Irish 46-26 over the final two quarters for a 73-52 win.
After a stagnant offense killed Riordan (10-2, 1-1) in Saturday’s home loss to Serra, the Crusaders did an exceptional job sharing the ball on Tuesday night, with Je’Lani Clark dishing out seven assists as ten different players scored for the visitors. Clark led the way with 14 while Mor Seck had 13 and both Riiny Riiny and Dominic Wilson finished with nine. Robert Vaihola scored eight while matching Seck with nine rebounds. Sophomore Ray John Spears led all scorers with 21 while Kyle Crawford added 11 for Sacred Heart Cathedral (5-6, 1-1).
No. 1 Mitty 85, No. 17 Valley Christian 46
Another balanced scoring attack fueled a blowout win for the host Monarchs. Mitty (11-1, 2-0) got 16 points from Owen Browne, 15 from Marcus Greene, 11 apiece from juniors Nigel Burris and Mikey Mitchell and 10 off the bench from sophomore Aidan Burke. It marked the 33rd straight victory for the Monarchs against Valley Christian (8-4, 0-2).
