Familiar Open foes: Sequoia, St. Francis
It’s an identical matchup: same seeds, same tournament, same round.
Sequoia-Redwood City boys basketball coach Fine Lauese isn’t promising a different result than last year’s 67-61 loss to St. Francis in the first round of the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs Friday at Santa Clara High School.
But, as one of just two public-school teams in the section’s elite division (Palo Alto is the other), he’s not conceding anything, either.
The fifth-seeded Cherokees (22-5), with four starters — including leading scorer and rebounder Ziggy Lauese — returning from last year’s 25-6 team, are a legitimate threat to win the wide-open bracket.
Last year, after the close loss to St. Francis, Sequoia won consolation games against Menlo-Atherton (66-63) and Serra (75-62) before losing a first-round NorCal game to Folsom (70-66).
“We have a great group of seniors,” Fine Lauese said. “It’s a great group overall. I wouldn’t put anything past them.”
He recognizes the task is tall to beat St. Francis (18-6), which finished second in the West Catholic Athletic League and features one of the Bay Area’s most dynamic players in Logan Johnson, last season’s WCAL co-Player of the Year.
Johnson, the brother of Miami Heat guard Tyler Johnson, has signed with the University of Cincinnati.
“He makes them go, that’s for sure,” Lauese said of Johnson, “but they have a lot of players who can go. (St. Francis coach) Mike (Motil) does a great job, and there are more guys than Logan who can hurt you.”
Last year, Sequoia jumped to leads of 14-3 and 17-7, but Johnson (18 points), a super-quick 6-foot-3 guard, and Oscar Pedraza (14 points) eventually got going to pull out the win. Both return, along with 6-5, 295pound post Tyler Manoa, a UCLA-bound football player who will need to deal with Ziggy Lauese (19 points, 12 rebounds per game).
Seniors Zach Bene (6-4) and Pedram Attari (5-10) are other double-digit scoring threats, and Ziggy Lauese, the coach’s nephew, is the team’s go-to threat down low.
Fine Lauese didn’t want any part of the public school-private school debate. Since the Open Division was created in 2013, public-school teams are 0-15 in non-consolation games.
“I’m not going to get all into that,” said Lauese, whose team has won three Peninsula Athletic League tournament titles in four years. “We belong in the tournament. We’ve earned our way in. It takes a lot of hard work to get to the top, and we’ve made it two straight years. I’m proud of our guys for that.”
The other CCS Open games Friday:
#6 St. Ignatius (16-8) vs. #3 Palo Alto (22-2) at Fremont-Sunnyvale, 7:30 p.m.: Perhaps the game of the night. St. Ignatius, with lofty expectations, has had an up-and-down season but with vast experience and the dynamic backcourt of Darrion Trammell and Brandon Beckman, is more than dangerous. Palo Alto, coached by Peter Diepenbrock, who led the Vikings to a state Division 1 title in 2006 with Jeremy Lin, has won 20 straight. Unlike SI, it has been a smooth, steady ride for Palo Alto, led by seniors Max Dorward, William Schlemmer and Spencer Rojahn.
#7 Mitty (9-15) vs. #2 Menlo School-Atherton (23-1) at Fremont, 5:30 p.m.: Don’t be fooled by Mitty’s record. The Monarchs played a rigorous nonleague schedule and were involved in tight games with WCAL teams all season. Menlo, a perennial small-school power and winner of 17 straight, will try to prove it is tough and deep enough to tangle with the big boys. Menlo point guard Joe Foley (6-3) and Mitty forward Riley Grigsby (6-5) are special.
#8 Serra (15-9) vs. # 1 Bellarmine (21-3) at Santa Clara HS, 7:30 p.m.: The WCAL rivals, coached by Chuck Rapp (Serra) and Patrick Schneider (Bellarmine), had two tough matchups with Bellarmine winning 63-52 and 53-45.
Girls plays (23-1) Alto: CCS No. at 5:30 2 Open No. Pinewood-Los p.m. 7 St. division followed Ignatius at Altos by (14-10) GunnPalo No. Hills 5 Sacred No. 4 Eastside Heart Cathedral Prep-East (10-13) Palo Alto vs. (19-5) at 7:30.The other quarterfinal matchups are at Christopher-Gilroy, where No. 6 Menlo School (16-7) plays No. 3 Presentation (20-4) and No. 8 St. Francis (14-10) takes on No. 1 Mitty (24-0), the nation’s top-ranked team.