Boys basketball: Morrow’s clutch shot lifts MC in potential title preview

The reality lived up the hype for Marin Catholic senior Joe Hammond, whose Wildcats had been looking toward Tuesday’s matchup with rival Archie Williams High as a potential preview of the MCAL playoffs.

“We knew we had this game on the schedule for a while, so we were super excited for this game,” Hammond said after Marin Catholic gutted out a 76-72 home victory to stand as the lone undefeated MCAL team after a thrilling night.

Hammond sounded certain that Tuesday’s game was just Round 1 between the two league powers, with the potential for a rematch in the postseason.

“These are two of the top teams in the league, so this was a very, very important game,” Hammond said. “We’ll see them again.”

Marin Catholic (17-2, 3-0 MCAL) has already improved on last year’s win total (16-16), despite a rugged schedule that includes wins over De La Salle, Serra and University, all ranked in the top 75 in the state by Max Preps.

“We knew it was just going to be who can have the ball at the end of the game and who can get a win,” Marin Catholic head coach Kevin Vasquez said.

The Peregrine Falcons’ Brian Wright has been asserting himself as one of the top big men in Marin County, but the Wildcats’ 6’5” junior Bentley Morrow grabbed his share of the spotlight with a 19-point effort on Tuesday. Wright finished 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Morrow was a clutch performer all night, but never more so than with the game on the line in the final minutes. Ephraim Sohn had just given Archie Williams (13-6, 2-1) the lead with a 3-pointer, but Morrow answered as he drove to the hoop for a layup for the winning basket as the Wildcats took a 73-72 lead with a little more than minute to play.

“Every possession matters, every second matters, every shot matters,” Hammond said. “We haven’t been tested for a while, so this was a really good test.”

Every attempt by the Falcons to the recapture the lead was thwarted. Meezy Butler missed on a turnaround jumper. The Falcons got the ball right back, but the officials blew the whistle on a traveling call just as the shot dropped through the net.

The Falcons had another chance when they got the rebound after Marin Catholic’s Micah Pierce missed a pair of free throws, but Pierce intercepted a pass. The Falcons sent him to the line again with 5.8 seconds left and Pierce missed the first but hit the second of two shots. The Falcons were forced to foul Oliver Myers with 2.2 seconds left, and he iced the game at the free throw line.

“It’s no secret we both view ourselves as playoff teams with championship expectations,” Archie Williams head coach Mike Clagett said. “If we clean up a couple of self-inflicted wounds, it could have been a different game. But it was a close game and someone had to lose, unfortunately.”

Grady Stewart led the Falcons with 19 points, 11 of which came in the second half. Butler had 17 points, while Sohn had a dynamic night with 14 points.

“I think Ephraim is a guy other teams kind of sleep on, and I think he likes that,” Clagett said. “I told him ‘You’re going to get teams’ third- or fourth-best perimeter defenders, and you’re really in a position to score for us.’ He’s a phenomenal shooter, and I’m proud of him today for not just limiting himself to being a shooter. He played a great game.”

Henry Dibble had 10 points for Marin Catholic, which is riding a 12-game streak heading into back-to-back games against Redwood and Branson, both of which are looking to knock off the Wildcats. Redwood (7-11, 3-1) lost a 52-49 grudge match with Branson (9-11, 3-1) on Tuesday.

Archie Williams plays Terra Linda and Novato before closing out the regular season against Redwood, Tam and San Marin.

“We knew that they had great guard play with super athletes, super quick and super fast, but I think they were actually quicker and faster and more athletic than we thought,” Vasquez said of the Falcons.

The Falcons looked to put their stamp on the game in the opening quarter and stake their claim as the favorites to win the MCAL title. Wright dominated the paint, and even added a 3-pointer, as he racked up 11 of his 16 points in the first 8 minutes of the game. The Falcons flexed their muscle for an 11-point lead before Morrow hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“In the first half, we tried to slow down the game, that’s not their style,” Wright said. “In the second half, we pushed our shots and the game sped up more. We lost control of the tempo a bit.”

Hammond kept the momentum flowing for the Wildcats with back-to-back layups that cut the gap to just five points. The Wildcats rallied with baskets by Lucas Rotem, Dom Tarantino and Morrow to draw even at 27-27 midway through the second quarter, and the race was on.

Stewart and Butler attacked the hoop, but Morrow and Henry Dibble kept the Wildcats one shot ahead with a 38-37 lead at the half.

“They’ve got really good guard play, and they were able to handle our pace,” Hammond said. “Our pace is meant to go up and down. We want to tire out teams, but they handled the pace well, pushing the ball and getting open shots.”

The Falcons came out firing in the second half, with Stewart and Sohn fueling their run as the game picked up speed. The pace of the game was starting to feed into the Wildcats’ game, however, as Pierce blocked Wright’s shot then took the ball to the hoop at the other end to close the third quarter with Marin Catholic trailing, 61-59.

The Wildcats surged to the lead as sophomore Liam Crawford and junior Chase Hatch scored to open the fourth quarter.

The MCAL championship could have been at stake as neither team let up, and whoever scored last was going to be victorious — and that was Morrow and the Wildcats.

“At the end, it was just who’s going to buckle down and get more shots. That’s what it really came down to,” Hammond said.