After seeing state No. 3 Santa Maria St. Joseph in person two weeks ago, we got to check out No. 8 Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco at home in a Tuesday night game against Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, a team that normally gives the Crusaders a tight game. Not this time. The 65-40 win was indicative of how the Crusaders are rolling through the West Catholic Athletic League, which just doesn’t happen very often.
By Dante Moody
Special correspondent
Riordan vs. Mitty on Tuesday night at Riordan’s historic home gym did not leave anything to the imagination. By the end of the first quarter, the game was already over.
The Crusaders were led in points by Kirby Seals, who dropped 18. It was a very balanced team effort, however. The amount of steals and dunks in the first half alone were too many to count. Andrew Hilman, one of the top juniors in the state, had the team’s first five points but was more of distributor afterwards to Seals, 6-foot-10 center Nes Emeneke and others.
Junior guard Andrew Hilman scored the first five points of the game vs Mitty and is progressing as a shooting guard or point guard prospect down the road quite well. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
In the end, Riordan came through with a dominant victory, winning 65-40. After the game, head coach Joey Curtin commented that “the goal was to hold Mitty under 40 points.” The Crusaders in the West Catholic Athletic League this season have been in a complete league of their own in terms of dominance.
In terms of Riordan’s incredible start in the WCAL, Curtin described it as “unheard of” and “historic.” It is uncommon for California teams to only have one loss up to this point, but it is a testament to how athletic and dangerous Riordan can be.
The fascinating thing about the game was that Riordan did all its work inside the arc. The team did not make a single three the entire game but absolutely destroyed the inside.
The win against Archbishop Mitty marked the fifth straight win against the Monarchs and completed a two-game regular season sweep. Riordan has pushed up to 21-1 in its chase of the No. 1 seed for the CIF NorCal Open Division playoffs, while Archbishop Mitty fell to 12-11. Junior guard Caeden Hutcherson made some impressive plays for the Monarchs.
The Crusaders definitely have a good case for the one seed. Curtin agrees as well. When asked about why his team deserved it, he had some interesting points. First, he talked about the lone loss against JSerra of San Juan Capistrano at the Torrey Pines tourney. He talked about how they played “four games in five nights” and that JSerra got to “sleep in their own bed.”
Curtin also described JSerra having “all their guys healthy” while Riordan was “without all their guys.” It is a good argument to look at Riordan’s team as a whole and claim it is much better with all its moving parts. One of those who wasn’t yet eligible for the Crusaders in that loss was 6-foot-9 junior J.P. Pihtovs, who is a difference maker inside the paint. They didn’t have Pihtovs and Emeneke on the floor together much at the same time, but there could be big games later on where that is going to be effective.
Riordan will square off next against Valley Christian of San Jose on Friday. Curtin is fully aware that St. Joseph of Santa Maria could get the No. 1 seed for the north in the Open Division if the CIF were to place the Central Section team in the North (which by its bylaws can do), but admitted how weird of a situation it is. “People see NorCal rankings all the time and they are never in it,” he said. “If we win out, we should be the one seed.”
