Drake, Riordan headline the surprise teams of the NorCal playoffs

Many of the Northern California teams still alive heading into Saturday's CIF Northern California playoff finals were supposed to be eliminated.

The advent of the Open Division — where the strongest programs are now funneled — has certainly helped many teams advance. But clearly, other squads have peaked at just the right time.

The Division III boys finals match-up of No. 9 seed Drake (San Anselmo, Calif.) (25-7) and No. 3 Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco)  (21-9) is the best example of that. The two square off 8 p.m. Saturday at American Canyon.

Drake, led by 22-year head coach Doug Donnellan, high-scoring 6-foot-6 junior forward Jesse Hunt and terrific 6-1 point guard Malik Huff, struggled after winning the Marin County Athletic League round-robin, losing in the league playoff and the quarterfinals of the North Coast Section playoffs.

The Pirates only advanced to NorCals because Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland was moved up to the Open Division and the NCS backfilled the D3 NorCal bracket. Donnellan told his team, made up primarily of juniors, to loosen up, have some fun and shoot the ball, and they've responded with three straight high-scoring wins — two on the road — including a 69-62 shocker over top seed Sacred Heart Cathedral on Saturday.

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Hunt, whose father Dan has an Australian league MVP trophy named after him and played on the 1982 Drake state title team, had 38 points in that game and backed it up with 25 in a semifinal home win over Miramonte-Orinda, another upstart. Huff, a Division I recruit, 6-5 junior Jasper Verduin and a deep cast of strong role players are playing their best at the right time.

"We're just playing loose and having fun and trying to score," Donnellan said. "We were given new life, the kids responded and it's been a blast."

When Riordan started the West Catholic Athletic League season 0-3 and starting 6-8 junior center Karim Ndiaye went down with a torn ACL injury for the second straight year, the Crusaders had to regroup.

Coach Rich Buckner reminded them about their roles, the high-scoring senior cousin tandem of 6-5 forward Chiefy Ugbaja and 6-foot point guard Jiday Ugbaja flourished, as did an assort of rugged specialty players, led by defensive stalwart Zach Masoli, super shooter Eric Galindo and post presence Robert Valencia, who has filled in nicely for Ndiaye.

Riordan rattled off nine wins in its next 11 and have played superbly in the playoffs, highlighted by a 72-68 overtime win at second-seed Campolindo-Orinda Tuesday when Sacramento State-bound Jiday Ugbaja scored 29, Chiefy added 22 and 16 rebounds and Galindo tallied 17. Jiday Ugbaja had six 3-pointers against Campolindo and is now the school single-season holder with 79.

Now, the Crusaders are the last San Francisco, WCAL and CCS boys team standing. Who would have thought that?

"The WCAL has a way of humbling you," said Buckner, who won his 100th game Tuesday. "But we continued to set our goals high and we just showed a lot of resolve."

Riordan beat Drake 51-50 the second game of the year for both teams, but both coaches downplayed the game. "I'm not even going to have us watch tape of the game it was so long ago," Buckner said.

Said Donnellan: "We're two completely different teams since then."

Drake was minus Verduin for that game. Masoli, one of the region’s best quarterbacks, was just coming off the football field. They also had Ndiaye then.

“We actually played very well that game,” Donnellan said.

Drake actually did all season. But the MCAL is a coaches league and games are tight, defensive and down to the wire. Much like the WCAL, which has a few more athletes.

Riordan went into the school year thinking they had a boatload of them.

But two starters from last year — Frankie Ferrari, a high-scoring point guard heading to USF, and off-guard Bobby Arenas — transferred to other schools.

One of Northern California’s top sophomores — 6-2 guard Eddie Stansberry — transferred from Serra to Riordan but CCS ruled he had to sit out a season. A fourth potential starter, a transfer from Hungary, decided to go back to his homeland.

This for a team that went to the NorCal D4 championship game last season.

“Hey, we weren’t going to cry over spilled milk,” Buckner said.

With Buckner, who Tuesday won his 100th game in charge, the Crusaders were in good shape. With the Ugbaja cousins able to put the ball in the basket, the Crusaders have had more than a fighting chance.

They’ve had wins over NorCal teams Drake, Salesian, St. Joseph, St. Ignatius, Bellarmine (twice), Serra, Sacred Heart Cathedral and Burlingame.

“I’ve watched them on film — (Buckner) has done an amazing job,” Donnellan said. “He’s really helped them understand the best way to play. They play great defense. They play to their strengths.”

Buckner says the same about Donnellan and the Pirates.

“They do everything well – shoot, drive, pass,” Buckner said. “They aren’t just a two-person team. You can’t rest on any of them. They’re all dynamite. And Doug just does an excellent job. He mixes up the defenses. He has the right guys in the right spots.

“On top of that, he’s the best dressed coach in the Bay Area. I need to get the number of his tailor.”

Other Bay Area surprises looking good:

* Salesian (Richmond) boys team started 0-3 in league play (9-7 overall) and turned the ball over in bushels. But two-time state title coach Bill Mellis has done perhaps his best job and has the Pride (23-14) in the D4 title game against Moreau Catholic (Hayward) (26-6).

* Moreau, talented yes, but with 17 sophomores and freshmen on an 18-man roster, a NorCal title game was penciled in for later.

* Miramonte (Orinda) girls (30-1) was seeded sixth in the Open Division, but now play fourth-seed Salesian (Richmond), which many thought were cooked after losing in the NCS finals.

* Though Berkeley has 12 NorCal girls' titles, another wasn't expected after a sound defeat in the NCS finals. Instead the Yellowjackets (24-8) turned around the loss with a 63-61 win at Deer Valley-Antioch behind a combined 43 points from Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman and Desire Finnie.

* Like Berkeley, it appeared with 11 losses, this wasn't the year for perennial power Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.). But the Monarchs (19-11), led by UCLA-bound Kelli Hayes, are one D2 win from a 10th NorCal girls title.

* Justin-Siena (Napa) girls (28-6) haven't been ranked all season, but caught fire in the postseason. They got a combined 55 points from Sadie Irvine and Haley Cremen in a 81-68 semifinal win at top D4 seed Scotts Valley Tuesday.

* The Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) girls were handled convincingly in the Sac-Joaquin Section D1 semifinals by Oak Ridge, but then as the 11th seed in NorCals, the Eagles won three consecutive road games against lower seeds to make the finals against Berkeley.