Five players suspended and Riordan out despite valiant efforts

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The kids behind the Western basket chanting “Hey hey goodbye” at the Riordan likely didn’t know or care that the Crusaders were missing five players, including three starting ones.

If the Granada students who flooded the court after beating Riordan 69-57 knew it didn’t matter much to them either.

But the Crusaders, playing with a makeshift eight-player lineup, including three who spent most of the season on the bench and two who were on the junior varsity team, pushed the Matadors to their limits before disappearing in the final minutes.

“They left it all there,” head coach Joey Curtin said.

Under normal circumstances, No. 4 Riordan (23-7) would host the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Northern California Division I semi-final Saturday night against the No. 9 Matadors with a full roster. But Thursday night’s victory over Inderkum ended in a brawl that began when a Riordan player shoved an Inderkum player in the back and erupted into chaos when the Tigers’ bench subsequently collapsed to the floor.

Although none of the Riordan players landed punches, five players were disqualified: the one whose push started the fight (who was also on concussion protocol after being punched to the back of the head), one who left the bench, and three of the other four. players who were on the court at the time of the incident. All five would have seen game time against Granada (25-10) and could have helped slow the two-foot center Andrew McKeever.

“It’s far from fair,” Curtin said of the suspension. “If one guy on your team gets injured, fine. But having three starters and two guys who don’t play in my rotation just sucks. But I’m proud of the guys who came out here and gave it their all. Their teammates supported them one hundred percent all day, telling them that they could do it. But McKeever was just too much.”

McKeever, the ninth-seeded St. Mary’s player in his last home game for the Matadors, had 31 points and 17 rebounds. He made a double-double less than three minutes before the start of the second quarter and scored 22 of Granada’s 34 points in the first half. After scoring just one point in the third quarter, he got his team’s first eight points in the fourth, including a one-handed alley with 4:46 left in the game, which sent fans into hysterics and gave the Matadors first place. double-digit lead of the night.

“You have to do everything you can to keep him out of that deep position,” Curtin said of McKeever. “If he understands this, it will be difficult to stop him. I had 6-7, 6-6 and 6-5 on the bench that could jump out of the gym.”

Curtin’s Crusaders had never led past the last minute of the first quarter, but they had never been more than nine behind before that McKeever lane. They tied the game at 37 with Christian Wise’s fouls with 5:13 left in the third quarter, but quickly lost the next five points to NaVon Long’s float and Marco Wilde’s 3-pointer.

Long, presumably defended by one of Riordan’s main starters, had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

“You saw a talent that didn’t play today,” Curtin explained. “I think it would be a different story (if they were playing).”

However, the eight people who played did a damn good job. Wise posted 21 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Andrew Hillman, who was asked to switch to point guard, scored 20 points and nine assists in a stellar first year.

“He played with all his heart, as always,” Curtin said of Hilman, a Cameroonian who received an offer from UC Santa Barbara before playing his first game in high school, and more offers are likely to follow soon. Division I. “He played this role in practice, got used to it and prepared for the next year. He was in the role a little earlier than I wanted, but he did a great job.”

Wise and Hilman were Riordan’s only regular starters. Kaia Berridge was the only player to play more than a few minutes in the past month. The rest of the rotation was filled by three juniors who had barely played since December in the form of center Kalolo Taagi and defenders Zeke Natorilla and Jakinan Williams-Choa. The seventh player, Jacen Davis, was a freshman who spent the first half of the season on the junior varsity team and then missed most Western Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) games due to injury.

“We just had to get ready with the parts we had,” Wise said. “The dudes who came on the field and did not get so many minutes this season showed a great game. They went there and got busy.”

The eighth crusader, Jeremiah Jones, had just come out of the JV group and only played in the final minutes to foul.

The Matadors missed 1st and 1st in a row when Riordan fouled in the last minute, but got offensive rebounds both times before finally winding the game down as Kevin Grant and Mathai Fayaipau hit six free throws over the course of last 35 seconds. .

Grant scored 12 points off the bench, including a pair of 3-pointers pinned late in the first quarter that the Crusaders struggled to make up for the remainder of the night. He would likely have been defended by Zachary Jones, Sr., whose involvement in the fight was less clear on video than the other suspended players.

“He couldn’t play his last senior year game for not doing anything wrong,” Curtin said of Jones.

Granada opened the second quarter at 9–4 thanks to a 3-pointer from Grant and three shots from McKeever to take a 26–17 lead, although Riordan went off at halftime just five behind after a pair of Wise dunks and a deep Williams-Choa. 3-pointer.

“He got a lot better from preseason to the playoffs,” Curtin said of Williams-Choa, who effectively filled the role of Jones by taking charge against a player who was a full foot taller than him. “He was ready for tension tonight.”

His 3-pointer with 1:34 left cut Granada’s lead to 61–54. After an uncharacteristically rushed three-point attempt by the Matadors with half time left to shoot, Hilman hit one of his two free throws, but Granada broke the press after he missed the second, with Long converting an easy layup on the other end. stretched passage Tyler Harris.

Harris, who signed from the Salesian last year, had six points and eight assists. The Matadors will face the sixth-place Salesian on Tuesday night in a Northern California Division I championship game, most likely at Contra Costa College.

“Playing at home was special, don’t get me wrong, but we would have been just as good away,” said Granada head coach Quaran Johnson, whose team beat away No. 1 Clovis West in overtime. on Thursday. “You go to Clovis, you can go anywhere.”

Had Riordan handled it on Saturday night, the Crusaders would have been on the road again as the top seed in the NorCal Championship on Tuesday. They were denied the opportunity to play at home under CIF sanctions in response to Thursday’s melee.

“We remain the top seed in the tournament and we would be at home if not for the unmanageable team we just played,” Curtin said. You feel a little robbed.

Players react to losses, disqualifications

“I wanted my teammates to play,” said Hilman, a native French speaker who spent most of his childhood in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé. “I had to take a step forward. I played for my teammates because I want the team to win.”

“I didn’t want to quit because I was worried about my future. I was just trying to avoid it,” Jones said of his role in the fight on Thursday. “Anyway, I tried to break it. I was told that I was suspended, so I have to follow the rules.”

“I appreciated how hard they tried to give me one more game,” Wise said of the benches who came on as a substitute. “I can really say that everyone on my team is my brothers. This is what I will remember more than basketball, more than fights, more than conflicts, more than victories.”

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