Riordan boys basketball wins first outright WCAL title in 34 years: NorCal Coast boys, girls basketball roundup
SAN JOSE — Friday may have been Bellarmine’s Senior Night, but it was Riordan’s party.
The Crusaders beat the host Bells 74-51, securing their first outright WCAL title since 1990.
”This means everything to us,” said Zion Sensley, who scored a game-high 26 points. “This is history we’re making.”
Zion Sensley during a loss to Salesian at the De La Salle MLK Classic last month. Riordan has won 10 straight since and Sensley has been on a tear (See his interview at the top of the page after beat Corona Centennial at the Crush in the Valley last month).
File photo: Dennis Lee
Riordan also finished atop the league standings in 2002, but lost in the WCAL Tournament. The league tournament was discontinued after the 2014 season, with at least half of the WCAL qualifying for the CCS Open Division each year.
Riordan (19-4, 13-0 WCAL) will certainly be the top seed when matchups for pool play are announced on Wednesday. If the Crusaders win their regular season finale on Tuesday against Sacred Heart Cathedral (11-12, 4-9), they’ll enter the postseason with a chance to become just the second team to sweep WCAL play and top it off with an Open Division crown, following in the footsteps of the 2016 St. Francis Lancers.
”We want to go undefeated,” said head coach Joey Curtin, a 2001 graduate of the school.
Despite the final score, the Bells were no pushovers. Fueled by sophomore Will Corbett’s 24 points and a boisterous home crowd that was quick to jeer any Crusader blunder, they trailed just 55-44 after Corbett’s fifth and final 3-pointer early in the fourth.
“We were trying everything. He was just unreal tonight,” Curtin said of Corbett. “He didn’t even have a lot of wide open looks. He was making a lot of contested shots.”
But Riordan pulled away from there and turned the game into a dunk contest, as has been the theme throughout the year. Nes Emeneke’s two-hand jam capped off a 9-0 run, Andrew Hilman fed Jasir Rencher for a slam to make it 66-46 and Ryder Bush followed with a two-hand flush in transition.
The Crusaders finished it off with what’s become their signature play, with Hilman and Sensley hooking up on a reverse alley-oop before emptying the bench with 1:48 left and a 70-48 lead.
Andrew Hilman, Riordan (2)
File photo: Dennis Lee
The late-game spectacle allowed Riordan to seal the title in style, but it wasn’t so comfortable for much of the evening. Bellarmine (9-14, 4-9) used a 7-0 run to trim the lead to 30-23 late in the second quarter that included a technical foul against Curtin.
Nick Corbett, Will’s older brother who was honored alongside six other seniors before the game, scored off a long Cam Razavi pass when a backcourt violation wasn’t whistled, and Curtin erupted in response. Will then made two free throws, and after another contentious foul call negated a Riordan steal, knocked down a three.
Together, the Corbett brothers accounted for 40 of Bellarmine’s 51 points. Nick had 16, including a pair of threes.
“I haven’t seen him make many threes this season, but he was doing a good job setting his feet out there and letting it fly,” Curtin said.
But every time the Bells went on a run or made a play to grab momentum, Riordan hit the next shot. Rencher hit a 3-pointer and sank a pair of free throws to send the visitors into the locker room up 12, and his deep 3-pointer midway through the third answered one by the elder Corbett and gave the Crusaders a 47-33 lead.
“The crowd pushes you,” said Rencher, who scored 13 points. “It’s a great feeling when there’s a lot of people giving you ‘overrated’ chants.”
USC assistant coach Jay Morris was in attendance to watch Rencher. The Trojans offered the 6-foot-6 junior in January.
Morris was likely also impressed by Hilman, who scored just seven points but dished out nine assists, giving him 29 over his last three games. Riordan also got nine points from John Tofi Jr., while Emeneke finished with six points and a game-high rebounds.
Sensley took center stage from the start, scoring every point in an early 11-2 run. His 11 first quarter points exceeded Bellarmine’s entire team, and until Will Corbett’s two technical free throws with 2:01 left in the first half, the Saint Mary’s commit continued to outpace the Bells’ entire roster.
“I’m just trying to keep it rolling, always staying prepared and shot ready,” said Sensley, who had 19 points in the first 14 minutes.
Sacred Heart Prep 57, King's Academy 49
TJ Obrien scored 19 of his team-high 22 points in the second half as the Gators (19-4, 9-0) clinched the West Bay Athletic League title over visiting King's Academy (16-6, 7-2), which got a game-high 24 points by Caleb Hughey. According to Glenn Reeves of the San Jose Mercury News, SHP made 10 3-pointers, including four from O'Brien who overcame three first-half fouls.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Mills 46, Menlo-Atherton 40
In one of the more harrowing stories in recent Bay Area history, the visiting Vikings (17-6, 8-2) clinched the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title with a comeback victory to honor their late coach Dave Matsu, who died in October of a stroke. Matsu, a highly respected and popular coach, had led Mills to their first Central Coast Section title in nearly 40 years last season. He was 54.
As told by San Jose Mercury News reporter Nathan Canilao, the Vikings and their new coach Justin Matsu — Dave's son — wiped away tears after the victory.
"These girls have done such a great job of playing with fire from within that my dad fueled," Justin Matsu told Canilao. "They've helped me out more than have helped them."
Mills, from Millbrae, didn't score for nearly seven minutes and fell behind by as much as seven points. But Sophia Kwan caught fire and scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the second half. Michelle Tang added 12 points. "We didn't want a shared title," Tang said. "To get this win for Dave means more than anything for us."
Mitty 74, St. Ignatius 40
McKenna Woliczko had 23 points, eight rebounds and five blocks and Belle Bramer contributed 17 points as the nation's No. 1 team (23-0, 11-0 WCAL) rolled despite 15 points from Sophia Sanchez of St. Ignatius (14-8, 6-5).
