SANTA CLARA, CA - The Riordan basketball team out-shot Sacred Heart Prep in the first half of Friday night's game, making 10 of 25 shots to 7 of 25 for SHP. But the Gators made five of seven 3-pointers -- the difference in a 51-46 Gators' win at Santa Clara High.
"They executed and shot well," Riordan coach Rich Buckner said. "And late in the game when we needed to make 2 of 2 from the line we were making 1 of 2. We've been struggling on free throws in practice and it bit us in the game."
The victory was SHP's first ever in CCS Open Division play. The Gators (23-2) will now face No. 1 seeded-St. Francis on Tuesday at Independence High in the semifinals.
Sacred Heart Prep is trying to replicate the success of its football team which stunned observers by winning the CCS Open Division title.
"This is great," Gators' guard Mason Randall said. "The WCAL is the best around and we just want to show what we're all about. We'll probably see some more WCAL teams in the tourney."
No doubt. The other three teams remaining in the championship bracket are all WCAL entries -- St. Francis, Serra and Mitty.
The game was tied 21-21 at the half before SHP took a 37-29 lead after three quarters. But with 2:59 left in the game Riordan's Eddie Stansberry scored, cutting the Gators' lead to 45-39. A comeback seemed imminent.
SHP responded the way it knows best, with first Randall connecting on a 3-pointer and then Connor Moses. The Gators led 51-43 with 48 seconds left by the time Moses made the net ripple, and it was all over.
"We played two WCAL teams during the season, Bellarmine and Serra," Moses said. "They play tough defense so this was a good win for us. We play in a weaker league so people think of us as inferior. We have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder."
Randall led the Gators with 15 points and Moses and Corbin Koch had 11 points apiece. SHP shot roughly the same as Riordan from the field, but the Gators made 8 of 22 3-point attempts while Riordan went 0 for 8. The Crusaders also shot less than 50 percent from the free throw line, making just eight of 17 while SHP connected on 7 of 12.
Eddie Stansberry led Riordan (15-10) with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Max Randall added eight points.
Riordan will now host Fremont at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the consolation round.
