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SAN JOSE — In these unprecedented times, Bishop O’Dowd boys basketball coach Lou Richie had an unprecedented message for his team before its Northern California Open Division semifinal Saturday night at Archbishop Mitty.
“This is your state championship game,” he told his players.
No one knows when the next shoe will drop on the state tournament as administrators monitor the latest coronavirus updates. If this was it for O’Dowd, the third-seeded Dragons went out in electrifying style, putting on a dunk and 3-point show to prevail 73-60, a result that extended the storied Oakland program’s win streak to 18 games.
When it ended, the Dragons (23-7) posed for a picture on the court, just as teams do when they capture a state crown.
“As far as I am concerned, it was our last game,” Richie said several minutes later in the locker room. “Tomorrow is not promised and, in the Bay Area, it’s definitely not promised. What can happen over the next 48 hours? All it takes is one person to make a phone call.”
It was already an unprecedented 24 hours for California Interscholastic Federation officials.
Friday, the Menlo girls withdrew from the Division I playoffs because of a coronavirus shutdown on its campus.
Saturday afternoon, Sheldon, the top seed in the boys Open Division and two-time defending NorCal champion, was removed from the tournament because its school district shut down for the next week and canceled all athletic events amid coronavirus concerns.
Saturday night, Archbishop Riordan’s Division I semifinal at home against De La Salle was postponed until Monday as Riordan awaits the results of a coronavirus test for one of its students.
“My condolences to Sheldon’s seniors,” said Mitty standout Marcus Greene, who had 12 points in his final high school game. “I had the opportunity to lose playing my heart out. They didn’t have the opportunity to win or lose tonight. We’ve got to go through this as a world and as people. My condolences to them.”
The Mitty gym was packed and colorful Saturday as O’Dowd, the top team from the North Coast Section, took on the No. 1 team in the Central Coast Section.
The home team’s strategy was to pack bodies in the paint around O’Dowd’s 6-foot-8 freshman Jalen Lewis. But that thinking quickly went awry as the visitors sank four first-quarter 3-pointers to grab a nine-point advantage.
“I told the guys the scouting report was on me right there,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. “That kind of put us in a little hole to start off, then we kind of settled and were getting the shots we wanted, but we didn’t shoot it great, especially in the first half.”
O’Dowd not only shot well from long distance, but it also got Marsalis Roberson loose on three rim-rattling dunks before halftime.
Still, second-seeded Mitty (23-5) stayed within striking distance, trailing by seven at the break and eight going to the fourth quarter.
Then O’Dowd put the game away with a 13-5 run as Monty Bowser nailed a 3-pointer, then drove to the hoop for an and-one three-point play.
Lewis followed with a 3-pointer — the big guy can shoot — and Taj Phillips scored on a teardrop in the lane.
“When we start picking up the pace like that and getting lobs on fast breaks, we’re hard to stop,” Lewis said. “We have all the energy flowing. We have our fans, our bench.”
Four O’Dowd starters scored in double figures. Phillips led the way with 19 points, including three 3-pointers. Lewis finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, despite pregame concerns after tweaking an ankle in practice. Bowser added 15 points and Roberson chipped in with 12 points, including the Dragons’ last two on, you’ve got it, a dunk.
“They’ve got a lot of weapons and they were playing downhill a lot of the night,” Kennedy said.
If the tournament continues, O’Dowd will play Dublin on Tuesday night (site to be determined) for the NorCal Open championship and a spot in next weekend’s Open state title game. O’Dowd beat Dublin 75-72 for the NCS Open Division title Feb. 28.
Dublin coach Tom Costello and his assistants were in attendance Saturday after their game against Sheldon was canceled.
“I think it will be even more intense,” Richie, who brought Purell and cleaning wipes to the scorer’s table Saturday, said of the rematch. “We’ll see if the game is played.”
And if it isn’t?
“The goal is to win the last game,” Richie said. “If there is no more, we’ve done that.”
