Sacred Heart Prep boys’ basketball kept in check, falls to Bellarmine

The Bells (2-0) kept on knocking, riding a big second-quarter run to a 78-68 victory over SHP.

“Bellarmine is a really good team,” SHP senior Harrison Carrington said. “We went down against them early. And going down against such a great time, it was hard to fight our way back. We tried our hardest. In the second half we made some great runs, and they always had an answer for it. But all in all, I just love the fight in our team.”

Carrington had a strong showing, scoring a game-high 22 points and falling a rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. More notably, perhaps, the 6-6 senior was tasked with contending against Bellarmine big man Ryan Kiachian, who did enjoy a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Kiachian showcased quite a highlight-reel play after Bellarmine’s 15-2 run to start the second quarter. The 6-10 senior took aim for a gorgeous midrange skyhook, with the rainbow trajectory catching nothing but net, that evoked memories of the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“He’s such a good finisher around the basket,” Bellarmine head coach Patrick Schneider said. “Yeah, he’s special.”

But SHP (4-2) showed the mettle that helped the team earn last season’s CCS Open Division berth. The Gators stayed with the Bells for four quarters, and even caught them near the end of the first to tie it at 18-18 when guard Aiden Braccia came up with a steal near midcourt and passed it up to Carrington who scored on a put-back off his own miss.

But the Bells used the final 12 seconds of the first quarter to take back the lead as senior guard Enow Akem pumped a hard baseline layup off the glass for a 20-18 lead. Bellarmine shot 8 of 12 from the floor in the opening period, including 4 of 5 from 3-point territory. The Gators kept pase from beyond the arc, shooting 4 for 6 on 3s in the quarter.

But in the second quarter, Bellarmine stayed hot — very hot — while the Gators did not.

“Coach Martinelli did a great job just kind of stifling the inside against the 1-3-1,” Schneider said. “That’s always been a tricky defense to attack.”

So, the Bells did their damage from long range. Nate Teresi opened with a corner 3, and Josh Wolf-Bloom soon followed with a corner 3 of his own to make it 28-20. Wolf-Bloom then scored an and-1 off an in-bound assist from Theoren Brouillette before Cole Despie drilled a 3 to up the lead to 35-20.

Then Kiachian turned back the clock to go full-on 1970s highlight reel with the splendid skyhook to make it 39-24. The Bells took a 43-30 lead into the half.

But Carrington went for 7 points and 4 rebounds in the third quarter to help the Gators make a game of it. In addition to making his presence known in the paint, SHP’s big man got the free-throw line nine times in the second half converted all nine times.

“He’s a basketball player, and a very good one,” Martinelli said. “I just keep telling everyone, some college is going to get an absolute find in that guy. He’s put the work in, he’s obviously grown a little bit, so that’s helped. But he’s going to be an excellent college basketball player.”

SHP senior Ryan Wong grabbed a long rebound and blazed down to score a transition layup to close the deficit to 56-47 at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth, a pair of 3s by Braccia helped keep the Gators within reach at 70-61.

But the Bells went on a mini 6-0 run from there, including a physical dribble-drive score by Teresi, punctuated by mighty yawp to all but put the game away.

Braccia added 19 points for the Gators. Bellarmine was paced by Despie with 20 points, while Wolf-Bloom had 10 points along with four assists, all of them in the first quarter.

SHP will rematch with Bellarmine May 8 in San Jose. The Gators also have a two-game set scheduled with the WCAL’s St. Ignatius.

“We just want to be able to compete with every team in our area,” Carrington said. “I love the schedule that Coach Martinelli has put together for us. And every single one of our players knows what it takes to win these types of games. We’ve just got to convert on those.”

Not only had Bellarmine never played at SHP, this year marks the first time the two teams have ever matched up twice in the same season.

“It just feels like a WCAL schedule, and that’s what my guys enjoy,” Martinelli said.