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MOUNTAIN VIEW — Three-way ties atop the West Catholic Athletic League standings are rare. It’s happened twice in football, including this past fall.
Only a few months later, Bellarmine, Mitty and Riordan made history on the hardwood as for the first time the WCAL boys basketball trophy will be shared by three teams after comfortable wins to close out the regular season Tuesday night.
“There’s eight very good teams in our league and three right now that have really established a great body of work through the course of the season,” Bellarmine coach Patrick Schneider said. “So it’s always an honor to win the WCAL, whether you share it with somebody or share it with two others.”
Each tri-champion split meetings against one another and finished 11-3 in WCAL play.
Riordan (20-4) lost at home to fourth-place Serra. Mitty (20-4) lost on the road at seventh-place St. Ignatius.
Bellarmine (21-3) lost at home to fifth-place St. Francis, 46-43.
Tuesday night, the Bells avenged that setback with a resounding 56-33 triumph over their rivals inside a packed gym in Mountain View.
“We feel like we can beat anybody, but it comes with the little things in every possession,” Bellarmine senior Ian Elam said. “But we have confidence we can get it done, we just have to do our jobs.”
Elam, a versatile 6-foot-6 forward, delivered a game-high 21 points, including 11 in a row for his team to open the second quarter.
“Almost all of my points were from my teammates, them making the right read and I was just at the right place at the right time,” said Elam, who was aggressive in the paint and drained one of only two 3-pointers by the Bells.
“Ian has been fantastic the last five games,” Schneider said. “We’ve asked him to do so much this season … and I talked to him about this after the Mitty loss, ‘Ian, we’ve asked you to be the jack of all trades and you haven’t really been able to be the master of any.’ We just encouraged him to go back to the things that you do great for us.”
Bellarmine point guard Quinn Denker managed only four points through three quarters, but his team still led 28-18 at intermission and 45-28 entering the fourth period.
Denker hit the dagger with 5½ minutes left, a 3-pointer off his own steal to make it 50-30, but his scoring prowess wasn’t required against the Lancers (14-10, 6-8), mired in a four-game skid.
“We need to be more consistent, just taking care of the basketball, rebounding,” St. Francis coach Mike Motil said. “We just need to continue to be committed to communicating.”
The Lancers got a team-high 10 points from point guard Isaiah Kerr.
CCS seeding meeting
The attention now turns to San Jose, where the Central Coast Section playoff brackets will be announced Wednesday night.
It’s no surprise Bellarmine, Mitty and Riordan will vie for a No. 1 seed in the Open Division.
“I feel like it’s a coin toss,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy expressed via text.
The Monarchs, last year’s outright champion, rolled to a 75-54 victory at Valley Christian (9-15, 1-13). Point guard Owen Browne paced the team with 18 points, while three others also cracked double digits: Marcus Greene (14), Nigel Burris (12) and Mason Ryan (10).
But no one had quite a night like Riordan guard Je’Lani Clark, who accounted for 36 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in a 92-69 win at home against Sacred Heart Cathedral (9-15, 4-10).
Backcourt partner Bryce Monroe added 10 points, while 7-1 sophomore Mor Seck recorded a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) for the Crusaders, who finished atop the standings for the first time in 13 years.
“It feels great,” Riordan coach Joe Curtin texted. “This is one of the toughest leagues in the state and to finish in first place is quite an accomplishment. Especially since it hasn’t happened for us since 2007.”
Also in WCAL action, Serra (17-7, 9-5) returned from San Francisco with a 44-33 triumph over St. Ignatius (8-16, 3-11).
The CCS selection show will begin approximately at 5 p.m., free of charge, with last year’s Open Division comprised of seven teams out of the WCAL.
St. Francis, which hasn’t won since Feb. 4, is still expected to make the cut.
“Whatever happens, happens,” Motil said. “If we’re in the Open — 5, 6, 7, 8 seed — then so be it. If we’re in Division II, they’ll put us wherever they put and we’ll go play.”
Other candidates for the Open Division include:
• Menlo-Atherton (21-3), champion of the Peninsula Athletic League South;
• Menlo School (20-4) and Sacred Heart Prep (21-3), co-champions of the West Bay Athletic League;
• Palo Alto (20-4), champion of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza.
But maybe the toughest decision for the CCS seeding committee? How to differentiate between the first WCAL tri-champions.
“I think there’s three teams hoping to get the No. 1 seed,” Schneider said. “But we have to win three games against three very good teams, it doesn’t really matter to us who, when and where, or how. We certainly think our defense is something to hang our hat on, and whether that gets recognized by a committee or not it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to do it on the court.”
OF NOTE: The CCS boys and girls Open Division finals Feb. 28 will be at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion, the section confirmed Tuesday. Santa Clara University, which normally hosts the Open games, was unavailable on that date for the doubleheader.
