SAN JOSE — It was starting to look familiar for Archbishop Mitty on Wednesday night.
Painfully familiar.
A year ago in this round, Mitty lost on its home court to Serra, an outcome that prevented the San Jose powerhouse from advancing to the Central Coast Section Open Division title game.
This time, it was St. Ignatius that was making things too close for comfort as the visitors overcame a rough start to take a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
But down the stretch, Tyler Jones turned a steal into a layup and Gavin Ripp hit two clutch free throws that helped lift Mitty to a 65-59 victory.
Archbishop Mitty’s Gavin Ripp (10) takes a shot against St. Ignatius’ Marcus Bast (5) at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
The Monarchs finished first in Pool B, winning all three of their games, to advance to the final on Friday night at Santa Clara University against Pool A winner Archbishop Riordan.
Caeden Hutcherson scored 23 points to lead Mitty. Ripp and Jones each added 13.
“I definitely saw some flashbacks to that game tonight when they started coming back,” Ripp said, in reference to last year’s loss to Serra. “But it feels amazing. We’re super excited.”
Mitty (21-6) came on roaring to start the game, building a 17-7 advantage after one quarter and stretching the lead to 23-10 early in the second. But once St. Ignatius settled in, it was clear that this game would be no cakewalk for Mitty.
St. Ignatius (20-7) pulled to within 32-26 at halftime and evened the score 34-34 on two 3-pointers by Steele Labagh and a layup by Vince Crisp. When Raymond Whitley hit a 3-pointer a short time later, St. Ignatius had its first lead, 37-36.
Hutcherson answered with a jump shot that made it 38-37 and then a slice to the hoop for a 40-37 lead.
“It’s tough to beat a team three times, especially a team as good as them,” Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. “The way they put you under pressure with the way they shoot the three and they’ve got the great size, they can hurt you in multiple ways. It was a dogfight.”
Archbishop Mitty’s Caeden Hutcherson (5) blocks the ball against St. Ignatius’ Vince Crisp (24) at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
After SI took the lead, Kennedy said he told his players, “Hey, we’ve just got to just win it play by play. It felt like we were trying to go for home runs too much. When we were simpler, we were pretty good, sharing it on offense and making specific plays.”
With SI leading 47-43, Nathan d’Abreu Noronha made a jump shot to pull Mitty to within two. Then Ripp scored down low to even the score. Noronha followed with a 3-pointer to give the Monarchs the lead.
Ripp added two more free throws with 5:24 left, capping a 9-0 run that put Mitty in front for good.
Not comfortably in front but ahead by enough to hold on.
Labagh hit two corner 3-pointers in the closing minutes to keep SI in it, the first cutting the margin to 55-54, the second making it 59-57.
The sophomore finished with 17 points. Whitley, also a sophomore, added 13.
“Proud of the effort,” SI coach Jason Greenfield said. “I would really love to get a win. But I am proud of the effort. We put ourselves in a position to win. A couple of stops, a couple of plays, a couple of whistles and we win the game.”
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Mitty is 3-0 against SI this season but 0-2 against Archbishop Riordan.
The Monarchs will not have one day to prepare for a Riordan team they took to overtime in San Jose but were walloped by in San Francisco.
Jones can’t wait to play at SCU.
“It’s going to be huge for us,” Jones said. “The seniors have never been there before. Last time, sophomore year, it was in Santa Cruz. It’s a little different. I feel like we’re ready to play. We’ll prepare tomorrow and be ready to go on Friday.”
Archbishop Mitty’s Gavin Ripp (10) takes a shot against St. Ignatius’ Vince Crisp (24) at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)