NorCal basketball: St. Ignatius boys unable to continue historic run, fall to Clovis North in Division I title game
St. Ignatius misses its first trip to a state final since 1984 as upset-minded Clovis North claims fourth-straight road victory.
SAN FRANCISCO – In front of a delirious student section, St. Ignatius center John Squire slammed a two-handed dunk with under two minutes left in the CIF NorCal Regional Division I boys basketball championship game.
History felt within grasp for the third-seeded Wildcats with fans inside the McCullough Gymnasium unhinged on Tuesday night.
But for a fourth time in a span of eight days, upset-minded Clovis North traveled at least 175 miles to silence the crowd.
St. Ignatius, the latest victim, didn’t manage to score following Squire’s highlight-reel moment that briefly put the team ahead. The Wildcats eventually succumbed 58-56 after a pair of shots from beyond the arc in the final seconds failed to swish through the net – the final Hail Mary coming off an inbound with 0.7 ticks left.
“We haven’t been this far since 1984,” SI coach Jason Greenfield said. “So in that sense, the season was a success, but you don’t want to lose your last game.”
Technically, the Wildcats (23-8) also finished as a NorCal runner-up in 2004. Greenfield was referring to the program’s only NorCal title in 1984, with its lone state trophy coming way back in 1926.
“Guys don’t want to leave,” Greenfield said of the mood inside the locker room. “Guys don’t want to leave.”
Clovis North (22-11) traveled nearly 1,000 miles last week to knock off No. 4 Miramonte (Orinda), No. 5 Folsom and top-seeded Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton), in that order.
Three times the margin of victory was a single bucket – two points – en route to Friday night’s state final at Golden1 Center in Sacramento against SoCal’s top-seed No. 1 Damien of La Verne (31-4).
“I’m elated,” Clovis North coach Tony Amundsen said. “Some of these kids I’ve coached since third grade in our feeder AAU program and the relationship that we have and the bond that we have is tremendous. So I’m just so excited and so happy for them to get to that game. And hopefully we can win that one, too.”
The kid that Amundsen has coached the longest is his son, Connor.
The 5-foot-10 sophomore delivered another virtuoso performance with a game-high 21 points, including the last nine for his team.
“We went to a zone to slow him down a little bit, but we kind of had to go back to a man late and when we did he bit us again,” Greenfield said. “Fabulous little player. He’s only a sophomore, too. I don’t want to play him again.”
Amundsen tied the score at 56-all with 1:45 left on a jumper, then broke the deadlock with 38 seconds remaining on a leaner from 6 feet out.
This after he erased a 54-49 deficit in a span of 14 seconds with barely two minutes to go.
“It feels unreal right now,” Amundsen said. “Especially because we were down by five with only a couple of minutes left. We picked it up and got the dub. It feels really good.”
St. Ignatius got off to a slow start as it struggled to handle the full-court press, but bounced back to go into the locker room trailing 28-25.
The third quarter saw Squire dominate in the paint, with 14 of his 18 points coming after intermission while he piled up over 20 rebounds.
“He had a height advantage, No. 12 was in foul trouble and we just kept going to him,” Greenfield said. “And he just kept delivering.”
“He’s relentless,” Tony Amundsen said of St. Ignatius’ 6-foot-6 junior. “That’s a heck of a team, they’re very well-coached. … And he’s amazing.”
St. Ignatius seniors Roy Kenneally and Ryan Conroy also cracked double digits with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
It just wasn’t enough to continue a historic run.
Meanwhile, a 200-mile trip back to Fresno awaited Clovis North, which will rinse and repeat in terms of its routine on the road for the past two weeks.
Practice at school for two hours the day before, then shower and travel 175 miles to Sacramento, sleep in a hotel, arrange for a shootaround the next afternoon, pregame meal, play and drive home.
Except, after the program’s first-ever trip to a state final, the Broncos might stay for the entire weekend.
“I want these guys to watch the other games, as well,” Tony Amundsen said. “We have two sophomores, a freshman and a bunch of juniors on this team, so I think it’s good to be in that atmosphere, keep that hunger and hopefully do it again.”
Photos: Clovis North 58, St. Ignatius 56
