CCS Teams Wrap Up NorCal Top Seeds?

The Archbishop Riordan boys and the Archbishop Mitty girls both won, as expected, in a CIF Central Coast Section Open Division doubleheader played on Friday at USF. It’s a third straight section title for the Crusaders and it’s five in a row for the Monarchs. We have a lot more history set for the Mitty girls and they are going to be the top seed for the CIF NorCal Open Division playoffs. Riordan’s boys made a strong case for the top seed for the NorCal Open as well, but it’s not as clear-cut as it is for Mitty’s girls.

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With the likelihood that both boys teams for this year’s CIF Central Coast Section Open Division finals were going to be from San Francisco, the section switched its boys and girls Open title games to the University of San Francisco’s War Memorial Gym. It’s the first time the doubleheader has been played outside of Santa Clara County — it’s usually at the University of Santa Clara — and there was an almost capacity crowd on hand for Friday’s final boys game between the two teams that did make it there, San Francisco-based Archbishop Riordan and San Francisco-based St. Ignatius.

The USF gym has always seemed like a great environment for a big basketball game and since we’ve actually never been there before it was decided to check it out for a different experience this year in watching some section championship basketball.

GIRLS OPEN:
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 90,
Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 31

The Monarchs, No. 2 in the state behind only Ontario Christian (which is a team that handed them one of their only two losses 90-88 in double-overtime), have been on a mission to get back to the CIF Open Division state final for the fourth straight season. Head coach Sue Phillips also knows that winning by the lopsided margins such as this game had can’t be avoided in getting her squad ready for the NorCal Open semifinals and finals and then a possible rematch with Ontario Christian in the state final.

Still, Phillips doesn’t take for granted winning a CCS Open Division title, either. Mitty didn’t win the CCS Open in 2021 and didn’t win it 2015. All of the section titles before that were in years when the CCS had its divisions determined by enrollment. The Monarchs now have five in a row. The most CCS titles in a row they have ever had is nine from 1993 to 2001 (the state record is 16 and Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco has 10 from 2000 to 2009). According to the Cal-Hi Sports state records, Mitty’s all-time ongoing state record for most section titles also has been increased to 34 (that’s also 10 more section titles than any boys program in state history has achieved).

“It’s not lost on us that winning the (CCS) Open is a tough thing to do,” Phillips said. “I thought we really played well on both sides of the ball tonight.”

Phillips used the word “arguably” when asked about the Monarchs (now 26-2 with its other loss to national No. 1 Bishop McNamara of Maryland at the Nike TOC) being the top seed for the NorCal Open Division playoffs, which start next week (seedings and pairings from the CIF state office will be announced Sunday). But there’s no argument. Mitty will be the No. 1 seed, almost for certain will get a first round bye and wouldn’t play its next game until next Saturday in the semifinals. The best guess is that it’s going to be a game against a team from Clovis — Clovis High or Clovis West.

Having played Ontario Christian before — in the type of game that it was and in a game in which McDonald’s All-American McKenna Wolitzko had only been in game action for two weeks after her 12-month absence due to knee surgery — has all been part of the plan in Mitty’s quest to be at its best over the next two weeks.

“We take our film study very seriously after all these games,” said Phillips, who is second on the state’s all-time coaching wins list with 872 since her first season in 1993 (with one year off coaching in college). “We’re looking to make just incremental changes for each game.”

Probably the most drama for the Monarchs was seeing both Tee McCarthy and Zi Patterson, both key starters, limping around with ice packs after the game. McCarthy had one on her right ankle and Patterson had one on her right knee. McCarthy suffered her injury in the second quarter, but did return to play later. Patterson went out in the fourth quarter and didn’t return. Based on her reaction, it did not appear serious.

Wolitzko seemed to enjoy playing in her final CCS Open title game and led Mitty’s scorers with 27 points. She obviously missed last year’s final and she added six rebounds and four blocks. Sophomore Maliya Hunter had 14 points with McCarthy getting 10 despite her turned ankle. Senior Devin Cosgriff also reached double-figures with 10 points.

Riordan, which fell to 18-8 but did get a big win earlier in the week over state No. 19 Priory of Portola Valley and may still come up from No. 26 in the state, was never close to Mitty. The Crusaders, who suffered 32 turnovers on the night, were down 22-3 after the first quarter and it was 41-9 at halftime. This is only the sixth year of the Riordan girls having a program and under head coach Will Watkins the future looks bright. Freshman forward Chay Collins had nine points and some key rebounds and junior guard Tallyah Nasol made some shots. Senior Nylah Dyson led the Crusdaders with 11 points.

BOYS OPEN:
Archbishop Riordan 73, St. Ignatius 51

While the first two games that these two teams played were absolute barn-burners — Riordan won the first game 53-51 on Jan. 27 on a buzzer-beater and then just 10 days earlier won 100-95 in two overtimes — this one wasn’t expected to be the same by most Bay Area insiders. St. Ignatius last week lost senior standout Steele Labagh to a concussion and was going be down three starters from the lineup it had early in the season.

The CCS also does a pool play format with its Open Division and crams each team’s three pool play games into a tight window, which means the title game on Friday is the third of the week for the two title game teams. Both teams looked somewhat tired, but without its players the depth of the Crusaders really hurt the Wildcats.

Riordan also went on mini-runs to start the second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter. An 11-3 run in the second quarter gave the Crusaders a 21-12 lead. They went 9-4 after halftime to extend their lead to 36-24 and it was 9-2 to start the fourth that put it away for a 58-40 advantage.

“They were a little tired and not as deep,” said Riordan head coach Joey Curtin. “We looked tired, too. Friday is the end of a tough grind and we just had a little more juice.”

The Crusaders’ depth also was on display with their scoring chart. Senior center J.P. Pihtovs had 14 points (including four dunks) and was a menace blocking shots with four. Senior four-year starter Andrew Hilman had 14 points, had 12 rebounds for a double-double and had some crowd-pleasing assists. Cole White (13 points) and D.J. Armstrong (10 points) also were in double-figures.

With the win, Riordan, which was No. 9 in the Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 35 rankings, improved to 27-1. Curtin was asked if he thought that would be enough for the top seed for the start of next week’s CIF NorCal Open Division playoffs, in which seedings and pairings will be announced on Sunday afternoon.

“I think so,” he replied. ““We haven’t lost to a NorCal team in two years. What are we even talking about? We’re 27-1 and our resume speaks for itself and so does our strength of schedule.”

Well, it is possible the CIF could look at other factors, which would be that Riordan’s only loss is to Crean Lutheran of Southern California while Salesian of Richmond (which plays in the CIF North Coast Section Open final on Saturday) has a win over St. John Bosco, a much higher ranked team from Southern California. Salesian also has a win over CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinalist La Mirada with losses to Crespi of Encino (also SoCal), Wheeler of Georgia and St. Joseph of Santa Maria (which if recent precedence is followed will be placed into the CIF SoCal regionals and not the NorCal regionals). The Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 35 has had Salesian ranked higher, but the San Francisco Chronicle has had Riordan ranked higher and computer rankings have had Riordan higher.

St. Ignatius head coach Jason Greenfield reiterated after the game despite the loss that his team wants to get into the CIF NorCal Open Division and at 24-4 overall (with three losses to Riordan and two of those being very close) that would make sense. The Wildcats also were No. 14 in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports state rankings (No. 3 among NorCal teams), including owning a head-to-head win over the Clayton Valley of Concord team that is playing Salesian in the NCS Open final. Greenfield, in fact, thinks his team has done enough to get a top four seed and a NorCal Open home game.

Without Labagh, the Wildcats received solid games from sophomore Noah Kirsch-Lopez, who had 15 points, and senior four-year standout Raymond Whitley, who had 12 points.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle.