Bambauer Classic Day 3: 'No BS' Rematch in Final, Williams Scores 37, Lincoln Wins Another Thriller
St. Ignatius made it look easy against a second consecutive DAL foe.
There was little suspense in the semifinals of the 27th Bambauer Classic.
St. Ignatius and University both handled business in their respective matchups to set up a rematch of their one-point “No BS Classic” thriller three weeks earlier, with the Wildcats rolling to a 72-52 win over Miramonte and the Red Devils dispatching Arcata, 70-47.
St. Ignatius (8-1) closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run, then used a 10-2 surge in the second quarter to open up a 19-point lead. The lead was as large as 23 in the third quarter and reached its widest margin at 70-44 on a Marcus Bast 3-pointer midway through the fourth.
Bast, in his second year starting, scored 12 points in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 20.
“I feel like we’re playing more as a team and everyone’s stepping up as much as they can without (6-foot-8 forward) Theo (Lamb),” the senior guard said. “Everyone on our team got a little stronger and faster during the offseason. We used the Serra games as motivation.”
The Wildcats also got 16 points from Raymond Whitley, 12 from Steele Labagh and 10 off the bench from Sebastian Fisher. Fisher scored eight in the second quarter, and Whitley dropped in eight during the third.
Marcus Robinson led Miramonte (8-3) with 17 points, scoring 12 in the second half. Thomas Zwahlen added 11 the losing effort.
While SI had a handful of big individual performances, University (10-3) rode balance past a Tigers squad that had knocked off tournament host Marin Catholic a night earlier. 13 of the 14 players who made an appearance for the Red Devils scored, led by sophomore Lucas Lau’s 14 points.
Cole Boake was 5-of-6 at the free throw line as part of a 12-point performance, and Gus Fried scored eight of his 10 in the first quarter.
“Gus is a great player,” head coach Randy Bessolo said of the senior forward, who is at full strength after playing through a knee injury during the prior season. “He has the potential to be a special player. He does so many things to fill up the stat sheet. You watch the game you don’t realize all the things he contributes until you stat it.”
Trevor Tarm dished out five assists for the Devils, setting up threes by Lau and Read Millar during a 12-3 run that gave University a 39-14 lead in the second quarter. Arcata (7-6) trailed 44-25 after a 9-3 run to open the third quarter, but the Devils outscored the Tigers 9-2 over the next two minutes to reassert control. A Jason Morris basket midway through the fourth gave University its largest lead at 68-37.
Luke Lemke led the Tigers with 12 points, while Dayquan Dunn and Lennon Geider each added seven. Geider did all of his scoring in the fourth quarter. Gus Parsons finished with seven points and four assists for University.
Marin Catholic 62, King 55
Every time Charles Williams takes the court, it’s hard to remember that he’s going to be a Division I athlete in football, not basketball.
The Wyoming defensive back commit looked the part of a Division I basketball player on Friday night, scoring a game-high 37 points to lead Marin Catholic (5-9) to an impressive 62-55 win over the King Wolves.
Williams scored seven points apiece in each of the first two quarters, then took flight by scoring 16 in the third, including the 3-pointer with 2:23 left in the period that gave his Wildcats the lead for good. He added another seven in the final quarter, including an explosive drive to the basket with 2:18 to go after King (9-11) closed to within three on a James Herrell 3-pointer.
None of Williams’ teammates scored more than five points, though eight of them did score over the course of the game. Sophomore Jeremiah Davis led the Wolves with 19 points, including seven in the first quarter. King led 17-11 after eight minutes and looked to take a seven-point lead into halftime, but Williams sank a stepback 3-pointer at the buzzer to close to 30-26.
A minute earlier, he delivered the play of the game and arguably of the entire tournament when he showed off the cornerback speed with a marvelous chasedown block.
King also got 10 points from Donovan Holloway and eight from Mathias Tinker.
Lincoln 65, Central Catholic 64
The Lincoln Mustangs won a second straight one-point thriller, beating the Central Catholic Raiders 65-64 on Sommari Tanner’s 3-pointer with 5.3 seconds left.
A day earlier, the Mustangs beat Mills on Tyrrell Price’s four-point play with 0.2 left.
Central Catholic (8-5) took a 64-62 lead on Manjot Mann’s putback with 15.9 seconds to go after Ceyaan Lutt had blocked a shot by freshman James McGee, who drove into the lane instead of waiting to take the final shot.
Tanner, who scored 38 in a loss to Arcata two nights earlier, took a pass from Kaleb Banh and hit the go-ahead shot over his defender. The Raiders had one last chance after calling timeout with 3.1 to go, but the contested heave from in front of their own bench hit the front of the rim and rattled away.
Tanner, one of the breakout stars of the tournament, scored 15 in the fourth quarter. Lincoln (5-9) trailed 52-41 after the third, but clawed back as a pair of Central Catholic starters, forward Wesley Payne and sophomore point guard Jordan Magana, fouled out. Payne was disqualified on an offensive foul with 6:01 left and his team up 52-47, and Magana picked up his fifth with 2:58 to go and a 60-56 Raider lead.
Lincoln had drawn even at 56 on a DaMarco Reed Jr. basket with 4:30 left, but Magana scored the last of his 15 points on a runner and a contested layup to put Central Catholic back in front.
Tanner’s 3-pointer with 1:15 left gave the Mustangs a 62-60 lead, their first since the opening minute of the third quarter. McGee tied it on a pair of free throws with 56.8 left, and Mann, who was only playing because Payne had fouled out, gave Central Catholic the lead after a Lincoln turnover.
Payne scored a team-high 21 points, including 15 in the first half. Clemson baseball commit Tyler Wentworth, who finished the game with four fouls, also scored 15.
Lutt added 18 for Lincoln, while Price scored six in the first half. Reed Jr., playing in his second game after sitting out his transfer period, had six points and nine rebounds.
Montgomery 61, Ygnacio Valley 50
Caden DeVries continued his run of excellence at the 27th Bambauer Classic, with a 20-point, seven-rebound, seven-assist performance in Montgomery’s 61-50 win over the Ygnacio Valley Wolves.
The Vikings led 33-15 with 6:46 left in the third after a pair of DeVries free throws, and went on a 7-1 run to go back up by 15 after Ygnacio Valley (9-4) had used a 10-1 run to get within nine.
Junior center Michael Ule had his strongest game of the tournament for Montgomery (11-2), with eight points and a game-high 16 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive glass. 6-foot-10 center Evan McKnight had eight rebounds for the Wolves.
Montgomery head coach Steve Arrow was rewarded for his decision to insert Will Grafe in the starting lineup, as the senior scored 11. Bobby McGovern added seven in the winning performance.
The Wolves, who dropped consecutive games for the first time this season, got 14 points apiece from Tone Kellogg Jr. and Loyal Morris. Kellogg had six assists, sharing the team lead with TJ Tatom. Tatom had a strong all-around performance, with nine points, six rebounds and six assists.
Archie Williams 84, Heritage 63
Sophomore forward Brian Wright posted his third double-double and the Archie Williams Falcons had their biggest offensive output of the season, rolling to an 84-63 win over the Heritage Patriots.
Wright scored 21 points, second only to the 25 he tallied against Kelseyville on Dec. 8, and set a new personal high with 14 rebounds. Archie Williams (6-7) led 25-16 after a quarter and used a 20-8 second quarter to take a 45-24 halftime lead. The Falcons led by as much as 29 in the third quarter before emptying the bench.
Marin Catholic transfer Dante Stallone took advantage of the familiar surroundings, sinking a trio of first quarter 3-pointers as part of a 16-point outing. Julian Nichol scored 11 of his 14 in the second half, Grady Stewart had nine points and seven assists and Ephraim Sohn scored eight off the bench. Owen Bugas added seven points and five assists.
Heritage (4-9) got 13 points apiece from Jace Bernard and Lucas Daniel, 11 points and eight rebounds from Nate Grube and eight points in the second half from Niko Ceja.
Urban 50, Vintage 32
Jake Rodriguez came close to a triple-double and the Urban Blues outscored the Vintage Crushers 17-3 in the second quarter en route to a 50-32 win to advance to the consolation championship at the 27th Bambauer Classic.
Rodriguez had eight points, seven assists and 11 rebounds, including the 3-pointer to cap off the dominant second quarter and give Urban (10-3) a 24-13 halftime lead. Vintage (7-6) led 10-7 after a quarter, but Isaac Wayne fed Jonah Hur for a 3-pointer and Owen Brown for a layup to give the Blues a lead they’d never relinquish.
Griffin Hayward scored a game-high 13 points for Urban, while Brown added 11. The Crushers got 11 points from Miles Macpherson and nine from Connor Gongora, plus a seven-point, nine-rebound effort from sophomore center Rory Holland.
Priory 67, Mills 54
6-foot-5 freshman center Teddy Xanthopoulos did his best Nikola Jokic impression in the fourth quarter as the Priory Panthers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 67-54 win over the Mills Vikings.
Xanthopoulos tallied 11 points, five rebounds and two assists across the final eight minutes as Priory (5-6) took the lead for good on a Xanthopoulos 3-pointer as part of a decisive 8-0 run.
His shot gave the Panthers a 52-50 lead, and sophomore Kasten Eggers scored off a Xanthopoulos assist to stretch the lead to four. Eggers, who scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, then hit a 3-pointer off a Noah Gallon assist to put Priory up seven.
Eggers was one of three different Panthers to finish with a double-double. Xanthopoulos finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Hudson Karnes, the lone senior in head coach David Moseley’s starting lineup, had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Mills (3-9) got 14 points from Jefriel Bacorro, 13 from Jaeden Vazquez, 10 from Kareem Mosa and eight from Joshua Lee. Vazquez scored nine off the bench in the second quarter, and Lee scored off a Mosa assist to give the Vikings a 30-29 halftime lead.