SACRAMENTO – Another high school basketball season has crossed the finish line.
It ended at 9:51 on Saturday night with Archbishop Riordan falling short in the Open Division state championship game as Roosevelt-Eastvale won the title 80-60 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Riordan had a historically great season as the San Francisco private school captured league, section and regional championships in dominant fashion.
But on the biggest of stages, the Crusaders had no answer for five-star Roosevelt combo guard Brayden Burries, an uncommitted senior who had a game for the ages.
Burries scored 27 of his 44 points in the first half, leading the Southern California powerhouse to an 11-point cushion.
It didn’t get better for Riordan after the break.
By the time the fourth quarter started, Riordan trailed by 17 – foreign territory for a team that outscored its 14 league opponents by an average of 38 points and cruised through much of the playoffs.
When the Crusaders roared past De La Salle to win the NorCal Open Division title on Tuesday, Jasir Rencher, their Texas A&M-bound star, said winning a state championship would “mean everything for us to be the best Riordan team in history. If we get it done, that’ll secure it.”
They didn’t get it done because Burries scored the most points by anyone in state history on the winning side.
Only Tracy Murray, who had 64 in a loss to Menlo-Atherton in 1989, had more.
Burries scored his 44 points on 22 shots. He made 15 of them, including 3 of 5 from beyond the 3-point arc. He grabbed 12 rebounds He was 10 of 12 from the foul line, blocked three shots and had two steals and two assists.
“He got going early,” Riordan coach Joey Curtin said. “Getting to the line early. Her got into a rhythm, He got two good looks from 3. Drained them both. Guarding him, you hope he misses those. Once he did that, he was getting to the rim in transition. Getting to his mid-range. Walking into 3s. That’s how you get 44 points on 22 shots.”
For Roosevelt, those numbers were nothing new.
“We’ve seen that all year,” Roosevelt coach Stephen Singleton said. “He’s done that all year. If you go back and look at his stat lines, he’s scoring big-time points without taking a lot of shots. He doesn’t need 44 shots to get 44 points. He’s so efficient and he gets to the free-throw line. He puts a lot of pressure on other defenses or other teams because they can’t really stay with him.”
Riordan’s loss followed another Etiwanda triumph over Archbishop Mitty in the Open Division girls final.
Mitty did an admirable job reaching the title game in California’s top division for the fourth consecutive year after five-star junior McKenna Woliczko suffered a torn ACL in early January.
The goals never changed for the San Jose powerhouse without its best player, but the pathway did.
Unfortunately for the Monarchs, the finale went through Etiwanda for the third consecutive year. And just like the previous two outcomes, the Southern California school left the court with the larger trophy.
Without Woliczko, Mitty won West Catholic Athletic League, Central Coast Section and NorCal championships.
But the Monarchs were an underdog against Etiwanda, which returned All-Americans Aliyahna “Puff” Morris and Grace Knox but was so much more than two players.
Mitty trailed by only six points at halftime but couldn’t keep pace in the third quarter as Etiwanda took command.
Two stats stood out when the game ended:
Etiwanda outscored Mitty 46-20 in the paint and outshot the Monarchs 59.6% to 29.7%.
“It’s difficult to articulate how painful it is to yet again come up short in the situation,” legendary Mitty coach Sue Phillips said after congratulating Etiwanda for its third consecutive title. “Nevertheless, it certainly wasn’t our night and some of that is a credit to Etiwanda. They got to the rim at will.
“But this does not diminish the season that these young ladies have had.”
The weekend also included celebratory moments for Priory’s boys team, which captured the Division IV title on Saturday with an 83-66 victory over Fresno Christian.
Friday, Carondelet won the Division I girls crown, turning back Sage Hill-Newport Beach 51-48, and The King’s Academy’s late comeback fell short in a 52-51 loss to San Gabriel Academy in the Division IV boys final.
TKA went on an 11-run in the final 59.7 seconds, but it wasn’t enough.
Earlier Saturday, Half Moon Bay lost in the girls Division IV final to Whitney-Cerritos 48-40.
Hours later, the curtain closed on the season with a performance for the ages, one that Cal-Hi Sports editor and California high school sports historian Mark Tennis compared to legendary state championship games by Jason Kidd and Klay Thompson.
If Riordan was going to lose, it might as well have come against a player like Burries.