9-0 Salesian boys make early statement
It’s a simple formula, really: Play hard, share the ball and defend well.
Salesian-Richmond boys basketball coach Bill Mellis has been preaching those principles for 26 seasons.
He has won two state titles, 10 North Coast Section crowns and more than 600 games implementing them. With the retirement last season of Don Lippi at St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda, Mellis is the Bay Area’s active leader in wins, according to the CalHiSports record book.
“We’ve had a lot of good players,” Mellis said, “and I’ve had some really good men coaching with me.”
Clearly, the 2023-24 version of the Pride is special. They’re 9-0 after winning two impressive tournament titles — the Gridley Invitational two weeks ago and last week in Meridian, Idaho, at the Pro Image Sports Champions event.
They beat two state-ranked teams at Gridley, Clovis North (82-56) in the semis and BransonRoss (63-60) in the final. At Meridian, they beat Idaho powers Hillcrest (60-57) and host Owyhee (55-47) before knocking off 2022 California Open Division-champion Centennial-Corona (62-51) in the final.
The Pride held down two of the state’s top 10 senior recruits, Arizona-bound 6-foot-8 power forward Carter Bryant and 6-3 UCLA signee Eric Freeny, who combined for 18 points. Freeny was coming off a 41-point effort the previous night.
Alvin Loving, who made a 30footer at the buzzer to beat Branson at Gridley, had 14 against Centennial, Zander Jimenez added 13 and De’Undrae Perteete 12 for the Pride.
“A lot of hustle and defensive switching on both of those guys,” Mellis said. “Really great team effort overall. All weekend. All season.”
In the win over Owyhee, Amani Johnson had 18 points, Loving 15 and Elias Obenyah 12. “We’re definitely getting a lot of different guys scoring,” Mellis said.
Much of that stems from returning All-Metro 6-3 point guard Aaron Hunkin-Claytor. The Hawaii commit, a native of Hawaii, transferred from Iolani following his sophomore season and is ranked the No. 31 senior recruit in the state by 247Sports.
He joins 11 returners from last season’s 26-9 team that lost in the NCS Open semifinals to De La Salle-Concord (55-49) and the NorCal Division I final to Granada-Livermore (60-47).
“We gained a lot of experience from last year,” Mellis said. “We’re very battle-tested. We played well in the spring and summer, so we felt very good coming into this season. It’s a very resilient group.”
More unbeatens: De La Salle (9-0) has been equally impressive with wins over two Southern Section squads, Centennial 62-51 to start the season and Los Alamitos 75-70 on Saturday behind 23 points and 10 rebounds from 6-6 junior Alec Bair and rapidly improving 6-3 senior guard Arshawn Salkhi (21 points). … Two more teams have zoomed up the Metro rankings since the preseason: No. 10 Monte Vista-Danville (10-0) and Menlo-Atherton (7-0), which is coming off a 61-42 win over previously unbeaten Palo Alto in Saturday’s Peninsula Basketball Invitational. Trevor Cadigan scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. Monte Vista, led by state championship coach Nick Jones, hasn’t had a 20win season since 2015-16, but the Mustangs are well on their way after winning five games by five points .or fewer.
Monarchs in marquee bracket: McKenna Woliczko had 25 points, seven rebounds and five steals and Elana Wiseman added 11 points, leading top-ranked Mitty to a 62-35 opening-round win over Miami Country Day on Monday’s first day of the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix. Mitty (4-0) was scheduled to play Xavier Prep (Phoenix) on Tuesday in the 16-team top division.