CCS stunner: No. 7 St. Francis upsets No. 2 Riordan in Open Division
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SUNNYVALE — St. Francis didn’t fear Archbishop Riordan prior to Friday night’s tip-off in their Central Coast Section Open Division boys basketball quarterfinal.
It didn’t matter that the seventh-seeded Lancers lost both regular-season meetings with No. 2 seed Riordan, a tri-champion in the West Catholic Athletic League.
Third time proved to be the charm as St. Francis never trailed in a 66-60 upset at Fremont High in Sunnyvale.
“I feel for them, that’s rough. I’ve been there before,” St. Francis coach Mike Motil said. “It is zero fun when you’ve beaten somebody in this league twice and you’ve got to go play them a third time. That’s a rough one.”
A week ago, the Lancers (15-10) led going into the fourth quarter at home against Riordan, which rallied for a 69-62 victory in Mountain View.
This time around the Crusaders (20-5) found themselves behind 55-46 with 3:40 left in the game. Barely two minutes later, Nevada-bound Je’Lani Clark drained a pair of free throws to pull his team within 55-54.
The Lancers didn’t blink.
Off a timeout, St. Francis drew a play for sophomore Vince Barringer. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter sank his fifth 3-pointer of the night from the top of the key with 1:13 left, then the Lancers iced the game from the free-throw line.
“I caught it, didn’t think about it and hit it,” Barringer said. “I knew it was going in.”
Both coaches understood the importance of that shot.
“Vince only needs a second to let it go, and when he’s feeling it you just tell that it’s going in,” Motil said. “He hit a huge 3 at the end when we were reeling and that had to just stick a dagger in them.”
“It was a big game by him,” Riordan coach Joe Curtin said. “He didn’t really go off in the first two games we played him, but he was feeling it tonight. And I think we just let him get his footing early and he kept it going.”
St. Francis closed out the regular season on a four-game skid, including a 56-33 loss Tuesday night at home to No. 3 seed Bellarmine — its opponent in next week’s Open Division semifinal.
But the Lancers didn’t lack for confidence out of the locker room and led 31-25 at intermission.
“All I wrote on the board was commitment to rebound, commitment to each other and communication,” Motil said. “Then we went in at halftime and we pointed to it — and that was it.”
The St. Francis backcourt of Harlan Banks and Isaiah Kerr, both sophomores, relentlessly attacked the basket \despite a height discrepancy in the paint.
Banks finished with a team-high 23 points, while Kerr contributed 11.
“I knew before the game that I going to have to come out and find the gaps and get in the lanes for my team” Banks said.
Sam Houston State-bound Bryce Monroe hit a pair of desperation 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to keep hope alive for the Crusaders, but his 24 points were not enough.
Clark recorded a double-double — 13 points, 12 rebounds — for Riordan.
“It was nice to see that refusal to concede the game,” Curtin said. “But it was too little, too late. We had to come out with that urgency, and we didn’t.”
About the only negative for the Lancers?
Ryan Daly, a 6-foot-5 senior, separated his shoulder with five minutes left in the fourth quarter while diving for a loose ball.
“I’m going to give my boys the weekend off,” Motil said. “They’ve earned it.”