Yo JJ.....I know you boys back East take pride in your High School hoops, was at the Max Prep Tourney in San Diego last night and watched your St. Anthony Friars get absolutely rolled up by Bishop Odowd out of Oakland 69-40. You should have seen the look on the face of Bob Hurley Sr, after his roster of D1 recruits got torched.
California 1............NJ 0
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Everyone tried to give Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) boys basketball coach Doug Vierra a confidence boost just before his personal matchup with legendary St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) coach Bob Hurley.
“Well, he does have 103 losses,” assistant coach Dante Patterson said. “It’s not like he’s never been beat.”
Vierra just smirked.
“Yeah, and 900-and-something victories,” he said. “Thanks a lot.”
The ‘pep’ talk might have not have comforted Vierra, but something surely fired up the Dragons, who posted a shocking 69-40 victory over St. Anthony, the defending MaxPreps/National Guard national champion in a first round National Division game of the 19th annual MaxPreps Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines High on Friday night.
O’Dowd, a perennial Northern California power, used a stifling defense, aggressive board play, 18 points, 13 rebounds and four steals from 6-foot-5 senior Justin Brue and a 14-0 run to end the third quarter to pull off the stunner.
Nick Capiti, a 6-2 junior guard, came off the bench to add a huge spark for the Dragons (6-2) by scoring 15 points on seven of nine shooting. His steal and tomahawk breakaway dunk at the end of the half gave O’Dowd a 27-22 lead. The Dragons trailed just once at 4-2.
The 77-team, five-division, four-day tournament, which features teams from nine states and Canada, resumes Saturday. (See all Friday results and Saturday schedules below).
“This is a game we’ll tell our grandchildren about someday,” Capiti said. “We can tell them we beat a national champion and one of the best coaches ever.”
Vierra said he dreamed about knocking off the East Coast power. But by 29 points?
“Never, ever, ever,” he said. “I envisioned maybe 60-57 or 59-58 on a buzzer-beater. This probably won’t sink in until tomorrow.”
St. Anthony (3-1), which made an eight-hour trip cross country earlier Friday morning for the 7 p.m. game on the West Coast, got a game-high 22 points from Quinnipiac-bound Jamee Jackson, but Villanova-bound Dominic Cheek managed just eight second-half points.
The Friars, who had a 35-game win streak snapped and lost six Division I players to graduation from last year’s squad, never looked energized or in synch.
“Travel might have had something to do with it,” said Jackson, who scored only three points after intermission. “But we really have no excuses. They played better and harder than us. We’ll just have to get some rest and play better the rest of the tournament.”
The Dragons just hope they haven’t spilled all their beans after playing a near flawless game. Brue, a brute of a power forward and third-year starter, especially keyed the second-half run when most thought St. Anthony would make a run.
Instead, O’Dowd outscored the Friars 36-18 after intermission to hand Hurley, the reigning national Coach of the Year, one of his worst losses in a 35-year career that includes a national-record 25 state championships and five undefeated seasons including 32-0 last season.
The Friars have always made a giant splash at the Holiday Classic, winning it six times, including the initial tournament in 1990. That helped draw a capacity crowd to Torrey Pines, which is somewhat unusual on opening night.
All that fueled the Dragons, the 2006-07 Northern California champions.
“We circled this game last summer and couldn’t wait for it to come,” Brue said. “We just played strong and didn’t let up. Winning NorCals two years ago was probably bigger for us, but if we played like this all year we’ll win NorCals again.”
The Dragons completely shut down Cheek, who got in a slight rhythm in the third quarter.
But O’Dowd squashed that by scoring the last 14 of the quarter, including a six-point burst by Brue and finished off by a beautiful hanging fastbreak hoop by Capiti, who along with senior Nick Brown did most of the defensive work on Cheek, a sleek 6-6 shooting guard.
Brown, a 5-11 senior, started his first game just because of his defensive prowess.
“We could have never imagined this,” Capiti said. “It really started and ended with defense. It led to our offense and carried us to victory.”
St. Anthony, which came in having won 63 of its last 64, couldn’t get a perimeter game going at all. Hurley was gracious in defeat, praising Vierra and his team’s effort.
“He’s a class act all the way,” Vierra said. “He said his team probably didn’t belong (in the top division) this year, that they were young and needed a lot of work.”
Don’t feel bad for the Friars, who figure to kick into high gear next month when three top flight transfers, all front-liners, are eligible to play.
“That will definitely give us a boost,” Johnson said. “But until then we got to boost ourselves and play better defense. Hopefully this will be a wakeup call.”.
California 1............NJ 0
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Everyone tried to give Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) boys basketball coach Doug Vierra a confidence boost just before his personal matchup with legendary St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) coach Bob Hurley.
“Well, he does have 103 losses,” assistant coach Dante Patterson said. “It’s not like he’s never been beat.”
Vierra just smirked.
“Yeah, and 900-and-something victories,” he said. “Thanks a lot.”
The ‘pep’ talk might have not have comforted Vierra, but something surely fired up the Dragons, who posted a shocking 69-40 victory over St. Anthony, the defending MaxPreps/National Guard national champion in a first round National Division game of the 19th annual MaxPreps Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines High on Friday night.
O’Dowd, a perennial Northern California power, used a stifling defense, aggressive board play, 18 points, 13 rebounds and four steals from 6-foot-5 senior Justin Brue and a 14-0 run to end the third quarter to pull off the stunner.
Nick Capiti, a 6-2 junior guard, came off the bench to add a huge spark for the Dragons (6-2) by scoring 15 points on seven of nine shooting. His steal and tomahawk breakaway dunk at the end of the half gave O’Dowd a 27-22 lead. The Dragons trailed just once at 4-2.
The 77-team, five-division, four-day tournament, which features teams from nine states and Canada, resumes Saturday. (See all Friday results and Saturday schedules below).
“This is a game we’ll tell our grandchildren about someday,” Capiti said. “We can tell them we beat a national champion and one of the best coaches ever.”
Vierra said he dreamed about knocking off the East Coast power. But by 29 points?
“Never, ever, ever,” he said. “I envisioned maybe 60-57 or 59-58 on a buzzer-beater. This probably won’t sink in until tomorrow.”
St. Anthony (3-1), which made an eight-hour trip cross country earlier Friday morning for the 7 p.m. game on the West Coast, got a game-high 22 points from Quinnipiac-bound Jamee Jackson, but Villanova-bound Dominic Cheek managed just eight second-half points.
The Friars, who had a 35-game win streak snapped and lost six Division I players to graduation from last year’s squad, never looked energized or in synch.
“Travel might have had something to do with it,” said Jackson, who scored only three points after intermission. “But we really have no excuses. They played better and harder than us. We’ll just have to get some rest and play better the rest of the tournament.”
The Dragons just hope they haven’t spilled all their beans after playing a near flawless game. Brue, a brute of a power forward and third-year starter, especially keyed the second-half run when most thought St. Anthony would make a run.
Instead, O’Dowd outscored the Friars 36-18 after intermission to hand Hurley, the reigning national Coach of the Year, one of his worst losses in a 35-year career that includes a national-record 25 state championships and five undefeated seasons including 32-0 last season.
The Friars have always made a giant splash at the Holiday Classic, winning it six times, including the initial tournament in 1990. That helped draw a capacity crowd to Torrey Pines, which is somewhat unusual on opening night.
All that fueled the Dragons, the 2006-07 Northern California champions.
“We circled this game last summer and couldn’t wait for it to come,” Brue said. “We just played strong and didn’t let up. Winning NorCals two years ago was probably bigger for us, but if we played like this all year we’ll win NorCals again.”
The Dragons completely shut down Cheek, who got in a slight rhythm in the third quarter.
But O’Dowd squashed that by scoring the last 14 of the quarter, including a six-point burst by Brue and finished off by a beautiful hanging fastbreak hoop by Capiti, who along with senior Nick Brown did most of the defensive work on Cheek, a sleek 6-6 shooting guard.
Brown, a 5-11 senior, started his first game just because of his defensive prowess.
“We could have never imagined this,” Capiti said. “It really started and ended with defense. It led to our offense and carried us to victory.”
St. Anthony, which came in having won 63 of its last 64, couldn’t get a perimeter game going at all. Hurley was gracious in defeat, praising Vierra and his team’s effort.
“He’s a class act all the way,” Vierra said. “He said his team probably didn’t belong (in the top division) this year, that they were young and needed a lot of work.”
Don’t feel bad for the Friars, who figure to kick into high gear next month when three top flight transfers, all front-liners, are eligible to play.
“That will definitely give us a boost,” Johnson said. “But until then we got to boost ourselves and play better defense. Hopefully this will be a wakeup call.”.