CCS basketball playoffs 2024: Friday’s top storylines, surprises, game recaps

TOP STORYLINE: RIORDAN DOESN’T NEED HOME COURT TO WIN

Despite being the top seed, Archbishop Riordan had to take the trip to Bellarmine’s San Jose campus for the first game of Central Coast Section Open Division Pool A playoffs on Friday night. The Crusaders were serving the first of a two-game penalty for last season’s fight that ended the San Francisco school’s home NorCal playoff game against Inderkum-Sacramento.

If Friday’s result was any indication, the Crusaders could play on Mars and still be favored to win CCS. After going 14-0 in West Catholic Athletic League play, Riordan stomped Bellarmine for the third time this season, 79-32.

Sophomore guard Andrew Hilman scored a team-high 25 points for the Crusaders, and high-flying wing Zion Sensley poured in 14 points, all in the first half. Not a single Bellarmine player hit double-figures in scoring.

Riordan (21-4) will play at No. 5 Sacred Heart Prep, which lost to Serra on Friday.

TOP STORYLINE: SAN MATEO GIRLS

It has been a banner year for the San Mateo girls basketball team.

Led by Paul Carion, who had three seasons with at least 20 wins as South San Francisco’s coach in the 2010s, San Mateo won the Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division, the program’s first league title since 1977.

The Bearcats, riding an 18-game winning streak to end the season, was seeded No. 11 in the CCS Division II playoffs. San Mateo defeated Oak Grove 45-35 in its first-round game on Friday night, and will take on sixth-seeded Santa Clara on Saturday.

SURPRISES

No. 6 seed St. Ignatius outlasted No. 3 Priory in a 41-36 girls Open Division pool play victory. The Leigh girls also grinded out a 32-27 upset over No. 11 Sequoia and Silver Creek beat No. 10 Mountain View 43-33 in Division I. In boys Division II, Sobrato, Aragon and Willow Glen all knocked off higher seeds.

GAME DETAILS

Open Division boys

No, 2 Archbishop Mitty 75, No. 7 Half Moon Bay 51: Mitty, playing at home in San Jose, built a 33-22 halftime advantage, extended its lead to 21 points after three quarters and went on to prevail comfortably in its Pool B opener. Caeden Hutcherson, a 6-4 sophomore, led Mitty with 23 points. The Monarchs also got 18 points from Tyler Jones and 13 from Gavin Ripp. Asher Meighen (11 points) and Gavin Glynn (10 points) scored in double figures for HMB. Mitty (19-6) will play host to Branham and HMB (19-6) will travel to St. Ignatius in the second round of pool play Monday. — Darren Sabedra

No. 3 St. Ignatius 68, No. 6 Branham 52: The Wildcats led by eight at halftime and then pulled away to start 1-0 in CCS pool play. Marcus Bast led St. Ignatius with 20 points. Three-pointers by Sebastian Fisher and Steele Labagh helped stretch the lead to 19 midway through the third quarter. Ben Lim had 19 points and Dasan Poston finished with 15 for Branham (22-3), the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division champion. St. Ignatius (19-6) will play host to Half Moon Bay and Branham travels to Mitty on Monday.

No. 4 Serra 59, No. 5 Sacred Heart Prep 49: Fordham-bound Ryan Pettis scored 22 points to lead host Serra past Sacred Heart Prep in an opening-round game in Pool A. Held scoreless for the first quarter and a half, Pettis came alive when a dunk accounted for his first points. Glenn Reeves was in San Mateo and has the complete story here.

Open Division girls

No. 1 Archbishop Mitty 77, No. 8 St. Francis 36: Mitty began a playoff run that it hopes will end with the program’s first Open Division state championship next month. So far, so good. Playing league rival St. Francis for the third time this season, Mitty breezed comfortably, as expected. The Monarchs led 26-9 after one quarter and 41-21 at halftime. McKenna Woliczko led Mitty with 19 points. Elana Weisman added 14 points and Belle Bramer finished with 13. Mitty will play host to fifth-seeded Archbishop Riordan and St. Francis will travel to fourth-seeded Pinewood in the second round of pool play Monday. — Darren Sabedra

No. 2 Pinewood 57, No. 5 Archbishop Riordan 41: Efficiency was the name of Pinewood’s shooting game in its Open Division game against No. 5 seed Riordan. The Panthers made 11 of 23 triples, with Vallory Kuelker leading the way with 17 points and five 3-pointers. Jolyn Ding was second on the team with 14 points. Pinewood will play host to St. Francis, and Riordan will take on the Mitty juggernaut on Monday.

No. 2 Sacred Heart Cathedral 72, No. 7 Los Gatos 61: The seventh-seeded Wildcats saw their 14-game win streak end in the first round of pool play. Host Sacred Heart Cathedral (21-3) built a nine-point lead in the first quarter and never allowed Los Gatos (22-3) to get closer than six points over the final three periods. Juniors Nicole Steiner and Ashley Childers combined for 48 points, with Steiner’s 25 points topping all scorers. Senior Reza Po, who will play in college at New Mexico, tallied 24 points for the Fightin’ Irish. Los Gatos may have been caught a little off-guard by SHC’s fast start. The Wildcats’ average margin of victory during their 14-game win streak was 24 points. Their closest game was a 10-point victory over Lynbrook. They hadn’t lost since Dec. 30. Los Gatos still has two more games in Pool B play. It visits Priory on Monday, then returns to San Francisco for a game against St. Ignatius on Wednesday. In pool play, the seventh and eighth seeds (St. Francis) play all three games on the road. SHC hosts St. Ignatius on Monday. — Mike Lefkow

Division I boys

No. 9 Cupertino 56, Salinas 36: Cupertino has relied on rock-solid defense to carry the team to a sterling 24-1 record, and when it got two big scoring nights from its senior leaders, visiting Salinas never stood a chance. Soham Nighojkar poured in 18 and center Max Feldan scored 14 for Cupertino. The Pioneers will travel to No. 8 Milpitas on Saturday for a second-round game.

No. 10 Fremont-Sunnyvale 51, Hollister 49: Kyle Steigerwald’s layup with 50 seconds left proved to be the clinching bucket for the Firebirds, who improved to 20-5 on the season. It’s Fremont’s first 20-win campaign since 2004-05, when it went 25-4. Senior Yuval Lewit led the Firebirds with 23 points. He had six 3-point baskets. Jaidev Shanker, also a senior, knocked down 11 points. The game was close from start to finish. Fremont, playing at home, led by a single point after each of the first three quarters. The Firebirds advance to the second round, where they will visit No. 7 seed Leigh (15-8) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. Hollister ends its season with a 12-13 record.

Division II girls

No. 9 Lincoln-San Jose 50, Hillsdale 35: The Lions had three players score in double figures while improving their overall record to 16-8 with the first round win over Hillsdale. Seniors Danielle Tyner and Gianna Crouch each scored 12 points for the home team. Junior guard Aislin Seaton had 10 points. Laia Williams just missed double figures, scoring nine points. Lincoln led 12-11 after one quarter, then broke the game open by outscoring Hillsdale 29-16 over the next two periods. Next up for Lincoln is a visit to eighth-seed Leland (9-13) tonight at 7. The winner plays at No. 1 seed Monta Vista on Tuesday. Hillsdale, which got eight points from Daniella Sierra, goes home with a 12-13 record. — Mike Lefkow

ON TAP FOR SATURDAY

The top seeds in the section won’t start play until Tuesday’s quarterfinals. On the girls side in Division I, No. 8 Los Altos will host to Santa Teresa, and No. 7 Menlo-Atherton will welcome Silver Creek. In Division II, No. 6 Santa Clara will see its high-scoring duo of Nina Llamas and Mia Talalele take on visiting San Mateo, and No. 5 Lynbrook will play host to No. 12 Aragon. Seeded No. 8 in Division III, Presentation will play host to No. 9 Westmoor. … In boys basketball, No. 10 Fremont-Sunnyvale will go on the road to take on No. 7 Leigh in Division I, and No. 7 Oak Grove will play host to Sobrato in Division II. No. 5 Pioneer will play host to No. 12 Mt. Pleasant and No. 7 Burlingame will take on visiting No. 10 Prospect in Division III.