Dynasty defined: Riordan dominates St. Ignatius for CCS Open three-peat

SAN FRANCISCO — Game 1 ended on a buzzer beater. Game 2 took double overtime to decide a winner. 

But in its third game this season against St. Ignatius, Archbishop Riordan made sure to leave no doubt – especially with a Central Coast Section Open Division title on the line.

After two hard-fought wins over its San Francisco rival in the regular season, Riordan dominated the Wildcats in a 73-51 win at the University of San Francisco to earn its 19th section title. The Crusaders captured their third consecutive CCS Open Division crown and fourth in five years. 

“It’s a dynasty,” Riordan coach Joey Curtin said. “It’s a culture. We got guys coming back and helping out and that’s what great programs do. I’m proud of our guys for kind of embracing that and making it their own.” 

USF commits Andrew Hilman and JP Pihtovs each had 14 points to lead Riordan. Hilman finished with a double-double, adding 12 rebounds. 

Junior guard Cole White had 13 points and senior DJ Armstrong had 10. 

“This championship means a lot and it keeps going,” Pihtovs said. “Coach Joe is doing an amazing job. He keeps bringing in new players and he’s developing them like crazy. We’ll just keep stacking these championships.” 

St. Ignatius was not at full strength Friday. 

Sophomore star Alex Moore has been out since late January with a torn ACL while sharpshooting guard Steele Labagh suffered a concussion that kept him out of the last two playoff games. 

“We had to work so hard to get those open shots,” St. Ignatius coach Jason Greenfield said. “Part of that is depth of course, and their defense was good tonight.” 

The first quarter ended like the last two games have with neither team able to build a solid advantage. 

Riordan took a 27-20 lead at halftime as Hilman started to find his groove. The wiry 6-foot-4 point guard dictated the pace and found ways to get his team involved to give Riordan a taste of momentum going into the second half. 

Even as St. Ignatius hung tough, the Wildcats didn’t have enough to stop Riordan’s patented second-half run, especially without its depth. 

Riordan extended its halftime lead to nine points at the end of the third quarter, and made its game-clinching push early in the fourth. 

An 11-2 run from the Crusaders all but put the game away as the purple and gold’s lead ballooned to 18. The exclamation point came when Hilman threw an alley-oop pass to Pihtovs, who slammed down a dunk to ignite an already rowdy Riordan crowd. 

“That was freaking amazing, I was telling the crowd to get on their feet and cheer for that,” Curtin said. 

Riordan led by as much as 24 in the fourth, putting the game away and sealing a CCS Open championship win.

Both teams will move on to the NorCal playoffs with Riordan possibly earning the bracket’s top seed with its win Friday. Curtin made it clear that he believes his team’s resume is more than enough to earn home-court advantage throughout NorCal playoffs. 

“We haven’t lost to a NorCal team in two years,” Curtin said. “What are we even talking about? We’re 27-1 and our resume speaks for itself and so does our strength of schedule.”