St. Pat’s Division 4 goal: finish strong
All season, St. Patrick-St. Vincent-Vallejo coach Derek Walker said, he’s had only one word for his team at halftime. “Finish.” His last chance to say that comes Saturday.
The Bruins (27-7) will travel 60 miles up Interstate 80 to Sacramento, hoping to return from their noon Division 4 title game with Helix-La Mesa (31-5) with the first state boys basketball championship in school and city history.
“Everybody’s excited, enjoying the moment,” said Walker. “I’m not sure if it’s sunk in.
“But it’s just another game. Our goal has been to play as many games together as possible, and we’ve achieved that goal.”
St. Pat’s enters its 35th and final game on a roll.
In the wake of their March 1 North Coast Section Division 4 semifinal loss against LickWilmerding — in which they blew a 22-point, third-quarter lead and fell in overtime — the Bruins won their Northern California playoff games by 73, 35, 18 and 25 points.
“It definitely woke us up,” said Walker of the Lick-Wilmerding loss. “It made us mad — really, really mad. That’s a good thing for us.”
And a bad thing for the opposition. Tossing aside the gross first-round mismatch against Pierce-Arbuckle, St. Pat’s led Ripon by 16, and both LickWilmerding and Palma-Salinas by 10 after the first quarters. None of the three ever got within 10 the rest of the way.
“When we play our brand of basketball, we do a good job coming out,” said senior guard Marquel Johnson. “We have a good starting five.”
Along with Johnson (5foot-10), that quintet features three fellow seniors — BJ Standley (5-10) and forwards Romeo Mays (6-6) and Tavian Henderson (6-4) — and freshman Jalen Scott (6-0). The four seniors each scored at least 16 points against Ripon, and Johnson (twice), Standley and Henderson each had games with at least 20 in the NorCal-title run.
St. Pat’s will be severely tested by Helix, the San Diego Section Division II champion, which is 22-0 in 2017.
The Highlanders are led by 6-10 junior forward Miles Norris (who counts Oregon and Arizona among his college suitors), 6-4 senior forward Jaylen Arnold and 6-2 senior guard Dylan Lee.
“The key will be rebounding,” said Walker. Norris “is a stud, (Arnold) might be a problem for us and the point guard (Lee) looks solid. (St. Pat’s advantages are) team speed and the momentum we’ve built the last couple of weeks. We’ll throw whatever we have to at them. If we don’t get off to a great start, we’ll adjust.”
Like St. Pat’s, Helix — noted for alums Bill Walton, former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith and NFL running back Reggie Bush — is making its first state title-game appearance.
“We’re the underdogs, but the way my team’s been playing I trust them against everybody,” said Walker. “We’re playing our best basketball of the season right now.”
Which makes Saturday a good day to finish.
“Everybody’s excited, enjoying the moment. I’m not sure if it’s sunk in.” Derek Walker, St. Patrick-St. Vincent-Vallejo coach