In the first quarter, the Pilots jumped out to an 11-3 lead with five minutes left. Pilot center Brendan Keane picked up his second foul midway in the quarter and sat out for the rest of the half. Despite his absence, the Pilot bench was able to increase the margin to 23-9.
St. Joseph continued to push the ball up the court and take it to the paint. They started the second quarter with a 14-3 run to give them a first half high lead of 25 points at 37-12. The quarter ended with the Pilots leading 39-16.
University would hit their first shot of the third quarter to trim the lead to 39-19 but were held scoreless for the rest of the quarter. St. Joseph would score the remaining 13 points to increase the lead to 52-19.
The fourth quarter would be procedural as St. Joseph would achieve a game high lead of 35 points. The Pilot bench replaced the starters midway into the quarter. The final score would be 63-32.
Notes
How this game was won: St. Joseph attacked the basket and forced the issue on offense. University made foour three-point shots out of 29 attempts and five two-point shots. The Pilots attack offense gave them several layup chances and open perimeter attempts as they made five three-point shots and 22 two-point shots.
University analysis: The Red Devils average over 70 points a game but were kept to half of that. Coach Randy Bessolo said this was the worse game that his team played all season but also credits St. Joseph. The loss snapped a 14 game winning streak in addition to easy double digit wins in the earlier rounds of the D5 NCS playoffs.
St. Joseph analysis: Dominic Lippi led the Pilots with 13 points, but the scoring was balanced as seven Pilots scored more than 6 points each. Keane said that the Pilots wanted to attack the paint and to avenge last year's losses to University. Coach Don Lippi was confident in his bench when Keane picked up his second foul as the team intensity and team defense was at a high level.
What is next for University: University will try to make a return trip to Northern California CIF finals. Bessolo will try to get his team to refocus on what was working well for the next game. The Red Devils will be without Max Savage, James Burton, and Ryan Lee in the playoffs.
What is next for St. Joseph: St. Joseph will look to make a deeper run in the Northern California CIF playoffs. Coach Lippi feels that the team defense, speed, and tempo are peaking in the past few games. The Pilots will likely be the favorite to come out of Northern California for the state title game.
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