By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
Moments after St. Francis (Mountain View) stunned Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 70-66 in the West Catholic Athletic League playoff finals Saturday, first-year Lancers’ coach Mike Motil was asked when he thought sharing a league title was even possible.
After all, the WCAL is widely considered the top league in Northern California and one of the best in the state.
“I’m still not sure it’s possible,” he quipped.
Believe it coach.
The Lancers enter Central Coast Section Division II playoff action Saturday against eighth seed Leland (17-10) as the heavy favorite boasting a robust 25-2 record and No. 12 state ranking overall by MaxPreps/National Guard.
That’s pretty phenomenal considering St. Francis was combined 13-43 in WCAL play the previous four seasons and 50-62 overall.
The WCAL was loaded during that time and featured such state-ranked squads Mitty, Sacred Heart Cathedral, St. Ignatius, Valley Christian and Serra.
Mitty, Serra and Sacred Heart had all won Northern California titles during that time, something St. Francis claimed three times under coach Steve Filios: 1995, 2001 and 2002. The Lancers won the ultimate prize in 1995.
But St. Francis couldn’t get over the hump the last four seasons, excelling at the lower ranks, but falling short at the varsity level. When Filios, a gem of man and coach stepped down, most figured it would take some time for Motil, a longtime assistant in the program, to make his mark.
It took less than 12 months.
“I don’t know that anyone saw this as possible,” Motil said.
Motil certainly isn’t taking the chunk of the credit.
Though none of his players have committed to a Division I program, Shawn Grant, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, was selected co-Player of the Year in the WCAL along with Fresno State-bound Jerry Brown, of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Grant was brilliant on Saturday with 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting (4 of 7 on 3-pointers) along with seven rebounds and four assists.
“There’s a reason he was Player of the Year,” Motil said of Grant. “He’s done absolutely everything we’ve asked of him and more. He guards the toughest players game-in, game-out. He scores, he shares the ball. He just delivers.”
So has one of the most unsung standouts in Northern California, 6-1 junior guard Tyler Johnson. He’s slight and physically un-imposing but remarkably athletic. He can get to the rim, dunk with ease and has 3-point range as he showed off Saturday, making 4 of 6 from beyond the arc while finishing with 17 points.
“He does it all,” Grant said.
The third big scorer is 6-3 senior guard Kyle Hypes, who added 14 points against Sacred Heart and also drilled a pair of 3-pointers. He had four rebounds and three assists.
Hypes is one of six seniors who Motil said bought into the system immediately and helped it flourish.
“I’m sure they were thinking this was a transition year for us,” he said. “I’m sure they were kind of unsure what was happening with a new coach coming in. But they bought in and have been great. They accepted their roles and have been great leaders.”
Said Grant: “We could tell we were going to be pretty good that’s for sure. But this? I'm not sure.”
Motil said the co-championship was a cumulative effort, including the former coach as well.
“St. Francis is a great community and I’ve known coach Filios for years,” he said. “We’re on the same page as far as coaching. We have five on our staff who are St. Francis graduates and played for him. This really has been a community of coaches that has had a hand in getting this done.”
Finalizing the title was no small task however.
Sacred Heart Cathedral, the top seed in the CCS Division III playoffs and round-robin champion, trailed by double digits most of the way but a 9-0 run by the Irish late tied the game at 66-66 with 2:05 remaining.
Most in the packed Foothill College gymnasium thought Sacred Heart, which got 22 points from Daryl Cooper and 15 by Brown, was coming all the way back to win.
But Grant hit tough 17-foot fade away baseline jumper under heavy duress with 1:01 left and after a beautiful dribble-drive and dish from Johnson, Hypes clinched it with an uncontested layup with 25 ticks remaining.
“We weren’t going to be denied,” Grant said. “We’d come too far.”
Said Motil: “These guys just don’t blink under adversity. They believe and that makes me believe.”
PONDEROSA POWER
Ponderosa (Shingle Springs) boys basketball coach Dave Millhollin is a history teacher but he didn’t expect his team’s history to repeat quite so soon.
Nobody did.
The Bruins lost three vital seniors off last year’s 25-4 team and by most accounts, 2008-09 appeared to be of the rebuilding variety.
Wrong.
The Bruins (22-5) are a win away from getting to Arco Arena, site of the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal finals, the same place Ponderosa’s season ended to Rocklin last year.
Ponderosa, the seventh seed, travels to No. 2 Fairfield (22-6) in a Division II quarterfinal contest tonight.
“We knew we had some potential to be pretty good, but these kids have really progressed,” Millhollin said. “Every one knows their roles and have really grown within those roles.”
Millhollin’s system will always produce victories largely because of its defensive prowess. But nobody saw a 20-win season this year or a second straight outright Sierra Valley League title.
The Bruins, largely behind the play of returning starters Steve Lackey (18.0 points per game) and Tyler Arstingstall (9.1), have improved every step of the way, highlighted by a remarkable 69-57 first-round home win over a very good Vallejo squad on Wednesday.
The Bruins made a staggering 23 of 32 shots (71 percent), including 80 percent on 2-pointers (16 of 20) and 58 percent on 3s (7 of 12).
Lackey, a 6-7 senior forward, and Brad Waldow, a 6-8 junior, had 18 points apiece, Arstingstall 17 and Brandon Fisher 15. Fisher, who was fighting a serious flu, made four 3-pointers and Arstingstall had three.
It was the most points Ponderosa had scored since 2002 and the most it has given up all season.
Considering the Bruins give up just 37.6 points per season and won earlier games by 51-9 and 41-15 (remember, California has a shot clock), this was a track meet.
“Everything clicked,” said Millhollin, who has won 250 games in 13 seasons at Ponderosa and 381 in 26 overall. “We had clear shots, we were on balance and the kids played with confidence.”
Lackey has played with a growing confidence throughout the season.
Millhollin called him the best power forward he’s ever coached and is sure he can play at the next level. Lackey might even join last year’s SVL MVP Rhett Beal, who is now a starter at Point Loma Nazarine University in San Diego.
“Steve is the complete package,” Millhollin said. “He’s unselfish, he has all the tools and he’s very tough.”
Shooting 52 percent from the floor as a team (62 percent on 2-pointers), the Bruins are very tough to beat because they limit possessions and make most of their shots.
According to Millhollin, Fairfield is very similar to Vallejo and in fact, beat Fairfield 70-69 earlier in the year.
“These guys show no sign of apprehension,” Millhollin said. “The Vallejo game has given them plenty of confidence. If we play similarly how to we played on Wednesday we have a good chance.”
SHOWDOWN CENTRAL
Four of the state’s top seven ranked teams square off tonight in the Southern Section I-AA semifinals when No. 1 Mater Dei (29-0), also ranked No. 1 in the country, plays No. 4 Etiwanda (25-4) at AB Miller High and No. 1 Dominguez (25-5) plays No. 5 King (25-2) at Rancho Verde.
The losers’ season will end abruptly and the winners get seven days off before a March 7 final at the Honda Center.
Mater Dei struggled for one of the few times all season in a 72-65 quarterfinal win over Rancho Verde on Tuesday, shooting 41 percent. The Monarchs need to deal with 6-9 Perris Blackwell and 6-5 Christian Katuala, but with 6-10 North Carolina-bound twins and McDonald All-Americans Travis and David Wear, Mater Dei should be able to advance.
GOLDEN NUGGETS
The boys soccer teams at Mount Miguel and Bonita Vista were disqualified from San Diego Section playoffs for fighting during a Division II first-round game on Tuesday. Mountain Miguel was leading 3-1 with 15 minutes left when the fight broke out, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. … Fantastic read on San Francisco boys basketball standout De’End Parker (Lincoln) by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Will McCulloch. Make sure to scroll to the bottom to see explanation of his first name. … Here’s moving story by San Diego-Tribune staffer Kevin Gemmell about a Westview High wrestler who has overcome the murder of his mother to star on the mat.
Look for California basketball roundups this weekend. E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
