PicoBlog

For St. Ignatius to have four scorers in double figures is nothing new.

Tuesday’s 69-51 Bruce-Mahoney Game victory over Sacred Heart Cathedral at USF’s War Memorial Gym is the sixth time in 13 games the Wildcats have reached that mark this year.

What made Tuesday’s win over the Fightin’ Irish unique was who did the scoring.

Yes, the trio of Marcus Bast and sophomores Steele Labagh and Raymond Whitley were all in double figures, but the fourth big Wildcat scorer was backup guard Sebastian Fisher, who scored 13 of his 15 in the first half to help his school secure the vaunted multi-sport trophy for a fourth consecutive year.

“Nobody gets more garbage points,” head coach Jason Greenfield said of Fisher. “He’s the guy that picks up the airball and lays it back in. He’s the guy who gets the tipped ball on the run and gets the bucket. He’s impressive that way.”

Fisher scored the final six points of the first quarter for St. Ignatius (11-2, 2-1 WCAL), then knocked down a three from the top of the arc early in the second to give the Wildcats a seven-point lead. His putback of an airballed free throw, one of the plays Greenfield highlighted, made it 22-13, and SI took a 28-17 lead into halftime.

Labagh hit a pair of threes in the third as part of his 10-point effort, and Bast, who scored 13, sank one with 55 seconds left in the quarter to make it 48-28. Whitley was the closer, scoring nine of his team-high 16 in the fourth quarter to ensure Sacred Heart Cathedral (7-6, 0-3) never trailed by less than 14.

“I love this environment,” said Whitley. “Especially being able to close (the series) out, 3-0.”

With a five-set volleyball victory and a 38-14 triumph in football over the Irish in October, Tuesday’s game solidified that the trophy would stay at SI’s Sunset District campus for another year.

“I want that thing in my office tomorrow, just for a day,” Greenfield said with a smile.

St. Ignatius has now won the trophy for a fourth year in a row, with Tuesday marking the first 3-0 sweep since the series became a best-of-five co-ed event. SHC last won the trophy in the 2017-18 school year; the Wildcats took it back in 2018-19, and the 2019-20 series was tied when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down athletic competition.

Tuesday was also a continuation of SI’s dominance over the Irish on the hardwood. Since losing on Jan. 3, 2020 at the Cow Palace, the Wildcats have won nine straight meetings, and are 7-0 against SHC under Greenfield.

The balanced scoring attack has been a staple of this year’s SI team, and it was complemented by a strong defensive performance that had been lacking in the team’s prior three outings.

“Vince (Crisp)’s defense was what we normally get from him,” Greenfield said. “The past two games were a bit of an aberration.”

The 6-foot-3 junior had four blocks by halftime, and finished the night with five assists and four rebounds to go along with his four points, including a late alley-oop from Whitley that served as the icing on the cake.

Crisp had consecutive blocks on a possession early in the second quarter, one of the defensive highlights as the Wildcats allowed just 51 points after conceding at least 68 to each of their prior three opponents.

They could only do so much to stop Fed Pernell, though. The SHC senior scored a game-high 25 to keep the Irish in it, going 11-for-13 at the line and pulling down seven rebounds.

“Couldn’t ask for anything else,” head coach Caesar Smith said of Pernell’s performance.

Pernell scored eight of his team’s 10 points in the second quarter and seven straight in the third across four trips to the free throw line, but the Wildcats had an answer every time. When he made a pair of foul shots to cut the lead to 41-28, SI fired back with a 7-0 run with baskets from Whitley and Fisher, followed by Bast’s three to extend the lead to 20.

“It was either a no call or a missed bucket or a turnover any time we were about to take the momentum,” Smith said. “And then they came down and they executed and they got buckets.”

Mykel Patton was Pernell’s lone teammate to reach double digits. He scored off a crafty streetball play with just under five minutes left, throwing an inbound pass off the back of an unsuspecting SI defender and laying it in to cut the lead to 53-39, but Bast made two free throws after an ensuing technical foul.

Bast and Whitley combined for the dagger with 3:31 left, as Bast hit Whitley on the money with a one-handed pass from half-court, allowing the sophomore to convert an and-1 to make it 58-41.

While the trophy has been decided, the Bruce-Mahoney series continues with the girls basketball game at USF on Jan. 30. The boys teams will meet again one night later at SHC for their second regular season meeting.

A shorthanded Serra Padres side gave Riordan fits for three quarters, but the Crusaders turned the final term into a dunk contest and pulled away for a 65-48 win at Morton Family Gymnasium.

Serra (9-4, 1-2) led 30-28 at halftime and trailed by just three after three quarters despite missing Fordham commit Ryan Pettis to concussion symptoms, but Riordan (8-3, 3-0) outscored the Padres 20-6 in the fourth quarter, punctuated by back-to-back dunks from Jasir Rencher and Andrew Hilman.

Rencher drove through the lane for a one-handed slam after an inbound pass from Dorde Curcic to make it 55-46, and John Tofi Jr.’s block at the other end sent Riordan off in transition, where Zion Sensley fed Hilman for a one-handed finish to punctuate the Crusaders’ third consecutive win at Serra and their fourth in five years. Before the current run, Riordan had lost 11 meetings in a row in San Mateo.

Alex Naber and Mikey Ballout combined to sink six threes to keep the Padres close, with Ballout tying his career high with 18 points. The two-point halftime lead would have been far larger if not for an excellent second quarter from Sensley, where the Saint Mary’s commit scored 15 of his game-high 21.

Riordan opened the third on a 9-0 run and led 44-38 after Tommy Tofi’s putback, but Naber’s fourth and final 3-pointer sent Serra to the fourth down by just three. Naber finished with 12 points, all coming from beyond the arc.

Sensley was 7-of-8 from the line and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, while Hilman and Rencher each scored 12. Rencher did all of his scoring in the final two quarters, including a steal and two-handed dunk to give Riordan the lead for good at 32-30 with 6:36 left in the third quarter. Curcic scored 10, including eight in the second half.

Just when it looked like the walls were closing in on Valley Christian, the Warriors rallied to secure their first league win of the year.

The Bellarmine Bells had used a 10-0 run to get within three with 2:53 remaining, and Warriors point guard Tzahari Trevino had fouled out, but Valley Christian (9-4, 1-2) fired back with a 9-0 run to seal the game and win a third straight head-to-head meeting over the Bells.

Diego Martinez’s 3-pointer with 2:41 left put the hosts up 59-52, and he scored again off a Michael Armeniakos assist with 1:51 to go to stretch the lead to nine. Armeniakos delivered the dagger, knocking down a corner three off a pass from Jacob Annab with 1:15 left to seal the win.

Martinez scored a game-high 27 points, while Annab scored 12, all off 3-pointers. He hit one on the opening possession of the third quarter to give the Warriors their first double-digit lead, and he sank another two minutes later to make it 38-25.

Bellarmine (6-7, 1-2) ripped off a 15-5 run in response, capped off by a Will Corbett elbow jumper to make it a three-point game, but Annab’s fourth trifecta made it 49-42 Warriors with 7:49 to play. Valley Christian led 55-42 after baskets by Andrew Salisbury and Martinez, but Corbett scored six of his 12 points across a two-minute span to whittle the lead down to three, with the last of those points coming on two free throws after Trevino committed his fifth foul.

Nick Corbett, Will’s older brother, led the Bells with 17 points and collected seven rebounds. Julian Gospich posted the second double-double of his career with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Nick Paniccia scored eight, all in the second half. The Bells went just 12-for-22 (54.5%) at the line, and had three 0-for-2 trips to the charity stripe over the course of the evening.

Gavin Ripp tied his career high with 24 points and the Mitty Monarchs used a 17-5 second quarter to win their 11th straight meeting over the Lancers. Mitty (9-4, 3-0 WCAL) went into the break with a 44-22 lead to maintain a tie atop the league standings with Riordan. The Monarchs also got 15 points from Nathan Noronha and eight from St. Ignatius transfer Caeden Hutcherson, who was playing in his second game after recovering from a hand injury. St. Francis (3-10, 1-2) was led by a pair of sophomores; Max Haberlach scored 13 points and Evan Lee scored 10.

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