M-A boys survive Open Division basketball with OT victory

Justin Anderson scored just twice in Menlo-Atherton’s 45-43 overtime victory over Serra Friday night – the tying and winning baskets.

Down nine in the fourth quarter and trailing in overtime, Menlo-Atherton never panicked, stayed patient, and pulled out a variety of clutch plays to capture the Central Coast Section Open Division boys basketball quarterfinal at Fremont High.

The Bears (22-3) advance to a Wednesday semifinal against another West Catholic Athletic League team, Archbishop Mitty (21-4), a 69-38 winner over Menlo School. WCAL rivals St. Francis and Bellarmine meet in the other semi, with trips to Stanford’s Maples Pavilion awaiting the winners.

“It started with defense, lockdown defense,” M-A guard Nick Tripaldi said.

M-A limited Serra (17-8) to two field goals over the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter, and stopped the Padres on their final two overtime possessions to secure the victory.

“We won this game on the defensive side,” M-A coach Mike Molieri said. “That’s what these guys have got to expect in the postseason. Shots are not going to fall, you’ve got to defend. That was the difference.”

When Serra guard Ryan Wilson split open the defense for a driving layup with 1:10 left in overtime, the Padres grabbed a 43-41 lead. But facing man defense, Anderson beat his man off the dribble and found an open lane to the hoop, tying the score with 46 seconds left.

Moments later, Anderson picked a Serra guard clean at midcourt and scored on a breakaway layup with 22 seconds left for the go-ahead score.

“We just wanted a stop,” said Anderson, who will play cornerback at Washington State next fall. “He put the ball in front of me and I took it. That’s that.”

Serra still had a chance and point guard Antonio Abeyta took it in the form of a contested 3 that bounced off the rim. Forward Jevon Jesus grabbed the rebound and immediately fired up a shot at the buzzer that fell short.

Until the late going, the game had been a frustrating grind for Menlo-Atherton, against a team with more size and strength inside, especially with 6-foot-9 center Muti Shuman.

“Fear no man,” was the philosophy of M-A’s 6-3 post Skyler Thomas, who helped hold Shuman to only two points and two rebounds.

Instead, M-A’s problem was shooting. When the Bears trailed 35-26 with five minutes left, they had shot 27 percent (10 of 36) from the field.

But everything changed when Trevor Wargo hit a jumper from the left side and Thomas made a steal and fed Spencer Lin, who hit another jumper to give the Bears some hope. But even that seemed false when Wilson sliced for a layup that gave Serra a 37-30 lead with 3:55 left.

“We needed to slow down,” Tripaldi said. “We know who we are. We don’t need to rush anything. We’ve got great weapons everywhere. We can get a good look any time.”

Moments later, J.D. Carson came off the bench to hit an unobstructed 3 from the right angle.

“We couldn’t buy a shot the whole game,” Carson said. “They were closing out on all of our shooters at the 3-point line. It felt good just to get a clean one off. When I saw it go in, I just had to keep on shooting.”

After a Serra travel, Carson struck again with another 3, this time with a man in his face. Suddenly, Serra’s lead was down to 37-36 with 2:45 left.

“It definitely got the crowd going, got the team going, got everyone going,” Tripaldi said.

After a Serra basket and an M-A miss, the Bears’ prospects seemed remote, but an Anderson steal gave M-A another chance. Thomas rebounded a teammate’s miss and, in the same possession, fed Tripaldi, who buried a 3-pointer from the left side with 20 seconds left to force overtime. It was Tripaldi’s only basket of the game.

Thomas was the catalyst throughout the game for M-A, finishing with a game-high 19 points, along with five rebounds and five steals. Carson had 11 points off the bench.

“We all had to play a big part in this one,” Anderson said.

Menlo-Atherton already played Mitty, losing 85-49 on Dec. 20. But since a Dec. 26 loss to Loyola of Los Angeles, M-A has won 18 straight.

This was the second consecutive season that the Bears knocked Serra out of the Open Division playoffs in the first round.

“We don’t mind playing the WCAL,” Molieri said. “We showed we can play with them.”

Molieri’s players believe him.

“When we make stops and we play together,” Anderson said, “we’re tough to beat.”

Menlo School and Sacred Heart Prep both came up on the short end against a couple of WCAL powers in the other boys Open Division quarterfinals at Santa Clara High.

No. 1-seeded Mitty beat No. 8 Menlo School, 69-38 and third-seeded Bellarmine defeated No. 6 SHP, 59-43.

Menlo and Sacred Heart drop to the consolation bracket of the Open tournament Thursday against another pair of WCAL squads. Menlo will play Serra and Sacred Heart Prep will face No. 2 seed Riordan, an upset loser to St. Francis.

No matter the results next week, both schools will be seeded into the NorCal playoffs.

Menlo (20-5) kept the game relatively close in the first half against the Monarchs, but poor shooting, uncharacteristic turnovers and Mitty’s overwhelming rebounding advantage spelled the difference.

Menlo connected on just two of 20 3-point attempts and made eight of 21 free throws while Mitty corralled most of those misses, out-rebounding the Knights, 35-19.

“There wasn’t anything that kept us from making that a single-digit game except for our shooting,” said Menlo School coach Keith Larsen. “I am disappointed because we had a chance to beat a real good team if we shot better. Our effort was there. We can go on to NorCals and surprise everyone if we shoot well and make free throws.”

Cole Kastner led Menlo’s scoring with 10 points. Chris Cook scored eight of his 9 points in the first half. Both did most of their scoring from inside.

While Menlo had to struggle mightily to score, the Monarchs were able to score inside, outside and on fast break opportunities, many of those coming off Menlo’s 17 turnovers.

Mitty’s Nigel Burris was the game’s leading scorer and rebounder, with 18 points and 8 boards.

Sacred Heart Prep (21-4) came tantalizingly close to making it a game with Bellarmine (22-3). Aidan Braccia hit a 3 at the third-quarter buzzer to close Bellarmine’s lead to 10 at 45-35. The teams traded baskets until midway through the fourth quarter when Bellarmine took advantage of Gator turnovers and pulled away.

Bellarmine made nine 3-pointers, including five by point guard Anthony Piro, to keep the Gators from getting to within single digits.

“Usually scoring is a little easier for us,” said SHP coach Tony Martinelli. “It would have been fun to see if we could have gotten to single digits. Bellarmine executes well and runs good stuff and I thought we threw them off a bit. We tried to match their physicality and I felt we did that.”

Charlie Selna was effective inside, leading Prep with 12 points and eight rebounds. Jai Deshpande added 11 points, including seven in the third quarter that helped the Gators back into the game. Braccia scored 10, with seven coming in the first quarter.

The Gators next face the tournament’s No. 2 seed in Riordan.

“This is what you want this time of the year while getting ready for NorCal.” Martinelli said. “We get a chance to play very good teams and hope it sets us up for a long run in NorCals.”