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SAN FRANCISCO — Marvel’s Hulk is a meaner, tougher form of Bruce Banner.
Tuesday night on the road, the Archbishop boys basketball team got its own superhero to come off the bench in Arrish “Bad Man” Bhandal.
The 6-foot-9 junior turned into a one-man wrecking crew by scoring more than half of the Monarchs’ points in a 61-59 victory at Archbishop Riordan — including the game-winning layup right before the buzzer.
“Whenever my teammates need me, I’m there,” Bhandal said. “Bad Man is always there.”
You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry, or maybe that’s Hulk.
Either way, Bhandal finished with 31 points, six rebounds and two blocks — 13 of his points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers.
“He’s ‘Bad Man’ Bhandal when he’s got that mindset,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. “You saw it out there tonight, he’s almost his alter ego right there and turns into another gear.”
Both West Catholic Athletic League members knew what was at stake, as back-to-back losses by Riordan (18-4, 9-3 WCAL) created a three-way tie atop the standings with Mitty (18-4) and Bellarmine (19-3), which stymied St. Ignatius during a 63-30 rout at home on Tuesday.
Each of the teams split head-to-head matchups against the other contenders and with two games left in the regular season won’t face each other again — at least until the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Riordan coach Joe Curtin said. “Obviously it’s an emotional game, a big game. To lose at the buzzer at home it’s heartbreaking, but you have to kind of move on. I know it’s easier said than done, but you get ready for the next opponent.”
It’s the same approach Mitty took during its second visit to San Francisco after last Friday’s inexplicable 55-54 upset at the hands of bottom-dwelling St. Ignatius (8-14, 3-9).
“The S.I. loss, it stung us right here in the heart,” Bhandal said. “We knew we had to come out and play with a chip on our shoulder. And that’s exactly what we did.”
Early turnovers and missed shots left the Monarchs trailing 14-5 with two minutes left in the first quarter — all five of their points courtesy of Bhandal.
But Mitty managed to pull ahead 35-30 going into the locker room at the half.
“The one thing that I was confident with was our body language didn’t change, our mindset didn’t change,” Kennedy said. “So that’s when I knew that we could still have a chance to win even when we weren’t knocking down shots.”
The backcourt tandem for Riordan — Nevada-bound Je’Lani Clark and Sam Houston State-bound Bryce Monroe — dropped 20 and 22 points, respectively.
But it came at an inefficient rate of 38 percent from the field (16 of 42) and 28 percent from beyond the arc (5 of 18).
“Just being a little bit more patient and hunting for a good look is something that we have to kind of do and take away from this game,” Curtin said.
The starting lineup for Mitty enjoyed an even more woeful shooting performance, going 4 of 20 from the field while combining for a total of 12 points.
That’s when “Bad Man” Bhandal and the rest of the bench came to the rescue.
“If we don’t get that from him, we don’t win that game,” Kennedy said. “But if you’re able to win championships, you need different guys stepping up.”
He added: “It doesn’t matter who’s in, guys trust each other to make plays and make shots. And it showed tonight.”
In a see-saw second half, Mitty trailed entering the fourth quarter, then reclaimed the lead down the stretch only for Riordan to pull even with 36.2 seconds left.
The Monarchs called a timeout with 12 seconds to go, but didn’t draw a play specifically for the Bad Man.
“It was just on the fly, just a read,” said Bhandal, who caught a pass in the lane with the clock running out and turned to the basket.
“I knew I had to attack,” he added. “I didn’t know how much time was left, but I knew I had a wide-open layup, so I had to take it.”
After the game, Bhandal didn’t realize he’d put up 31 points.
“I did not know,” he said. “I was not keeping score.”
Maybe it’s because his alter ego took over for the night.