St. Pat’s moves on to NorCal finals
Alexander propels win over Sacred Heart Prep
Three years ago, the St. Patrick-St. Vincent High boys basketball team played for a Northern California title but it took about 120 miles to get to Palma High in Salinas.
Considering that the Bruins’ post players like to play close to the rim, maybe it’s fitting that the Bruins have played close to home for most of this postseason.
No. 2-seeded St. Pat’s will return to the Bruin’s Lair for the seventh time in eight games in the playoffs when it hosts No. 4 Weston Ranch in the NorCal final on Tuesday. The Bruins blew past Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton, 56-43, on Satuday in the NorCal Division II semifinals. Weston Ranch edged No. 9 St. Mary’s of Stockton 57-55 in the other semifinal.
Junior forward Jaden Alexander scored a game-high 26 points and four dunks, including an uncontested rip with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter to put an exclamation point on the win. Alexander scored 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the first quarter as the Bruins raced out to a 19-8 lead.
“No one can really stop us right now,” Alexander said. “Our defense
is really what is separating us from a lot of teams. Our coach always says to defend and rebound. When we start getting all of those steals and loose balls and we get the runout, it’s hard to stop us.”
The Gators (23-6) did an admirable job on St. Pat’s 6-foot-11 center Dishon Jackson in the first half, holding the senior without a point. Jackson did eventually make his presence known with nine points in the second half. He added seven boards and three blocked shots overall. Jackson
scored 29 points in the NorCal quarterfinal against De Anza.
“Last time we played them they were missing No. 1 (Jalen Scott) and I’m sure that gave them a little more confidence that they could beat us without him,” Sacred Heart coach Tony Martinelli said. “But Alexander had a big game against us last time but we kind of highlighted those three guys. They’re good players. They are players who can beat good defense. You don’t win as many games as they have by accident.”
The only quarter when the Bruins (25-10) sputtered was the second and the Gators took advantage. Sacred Heart scored 11 of the first 13 points of the quarter to trail just 21-19. Emmer Nichols had five points in the run and Jai Deshpande finished it off with a jumper.
St. Pat’s didn’t score for about 6 minutes but the drought finally ended on a layup from Wilfred Nado at the 1:22 mark. The Gators scored the final bucket of the half on a floater from Everett Banks and trailed just 23-21 heading into the locker room. Banks and post player Charlie Selna both had 10 points to lead Sacred Heart. Selna also had eight boards.
St. Pat’s head coach Derek Walker said he wasn’t too concerned with the icy shooting quarter.
“It’s basketball. Everybody is going to have a run,” Walker said. “We had ours early and they had theirs in the second quarter.”
The Bruins started the second half scoring seven of the first nine points to extend the lead to 30-23. Jackson hit his first two field goals in that stretch.
The Gators, however, made one final run, closing to 30-29 after back-to-back 3-pointers from Banks. St. Pat’s responded by scoring eight of the final 10 points of the quarter to take a 38-32 lead. Alexander highlighted the run by grabbing a long rebound near the perimeter, outracing his defender and slamming it down to the excitement of the crowd.
St. Pat’s never let Sacred
Heart get within striking distance in the fourth quarter. The Bruins scored seven of the first nine points of the period with Scott ripping a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 45-34. Scott finished with eight of his 12 points in the second half. That was the only long ball the Bruins hit all game.
Walker noted that when Alexander, Jackson and Scott are all playing well, his team is difficult to defend.
“The other team has to figure out a way to stop three guys,” he said. “One guy, maybe two but three is tough. There’s only five guys out there.”
Walker is pleased to be hosting the NorCal championship at home.
“It’s huge,” Walker said. “It’s bigger than the boys. The community and all of the students get to watch. I think it’s a great thing for the city and the community, and these boys have earned it. They’ve gone out and put in the work and they’re playing
good ball at the right time.”