Mills falls short of Central Coast Section finals

By the time the Vikings stabilized things, they were staring at a 16-point deficit and despite a furious late-game rally, Mills ran out of time in a 52-44 loss to the Crusaders.

“Not having Nick out there takes away a key player,” said Mills head coach Rick Hanson.

After a grinder of a first half, Mills (21-7) was right in the thick of things, leading 18-17 at the break. But a combination of Brouqua’s injury and Riordan suddenly getting hot offensively put the Vikings in a big hole. When Brouqua went down, Riordan (15-11) had scored the first four of what would become 12-0 Crusaders’ run, turning a 20-20 tie into a 32-20 lead with a tick under three minutes to play in the third.

Riordan would go on to outscore Mills 20-4 in the quarter, on 7-13 of shooting. The Crusaders managed only 17 points and 6 of 25 shooting in the first two quarters combined.

With Brouqua out, who served as the Vikings’ triggerman on offense, the bulk of the offensive duties fell on the shoulders of Colby Vazquez. While Vazquez did a good job of consistently getting to the bucket, he could not consistently knock them down and with the Vikings struggling to find a second scorer, the offense took a hit in the third quarter.

“[Riordan] plays really good defense,” Hanson said. “Sometimes its hard to get going (offensively).”

Vazquez tied for game-high honors with 16 points, but he was the only Viking to score in double figures. Michael Matsuno added nine, six of which came in the second half. Ibra Diawara came off the bench to chip in eight points.

Mills has relied on a trio of ball handlers this season, with Aaron Chen joining Brouqua and Vazquez. With one of them down, Hanson turned to Quinn Bura, who after a few hectic minutes, settled down and played solid with the ball in his hands.

“It took a little bit of time to recover from [Brouqua’s exit]. I wasn’t sure we could,” Hanson said. “I’m really proud of the players for coming back the way they did.”

The Vikings didn’t just pack it in down 37-22 after three periods. When Mack Yates made three free throws, Riordan led 40-24 with 5:07 to play.

That’s when Mills clawed its way back into the game. Matsuno knocked down his first 3-pointer of the night and Diawara, a transfer from Riordan who became eligible for Mills late in the regular season, followed with a bucket off the bounce. Vazquez hit a pair of free throws and then slashed his way in for another basket and the Vikings were down 46-34 with 2:17 to play.

When Bura buried a 3 with just over a minute to go, Mills was down just eight, 47-39. While the Vikings just couldn’t quite complete the comeback, they did put up 22 points over the final eight minutes to record the biggest quarter output of the game.

The second half was a far cry the first two periods as both teams struggled mightily to score. Nearly two minutes had elapsed before Chen knocked down a 3-pointer to open the scoring for Mills.

Riordan, on the other hand, would go more than six minutes without a point. Watidaishe Mukukula finally got the Crusaders on the scoreboard with a putback. James Chun, who led Riordan with 16 points, followed with a pair of free throws and he added a 3 with under a minute to play in the first to give Riordan at 7-5 lead. The teams combined to shoot just 4 for 22 from the field in the opening quarter.

Mills finally got comfortable in the second quarter as Vazquez scored the first two baskets of the quarter to take a 9-7 lead. The teams then went back and forth. A Diawara slash to the basket and three free throws from Matsuno gave Mills its biggest lead of the game, 16-12, but they needed a putback from Julius Adkins with 12 seconds left in the half to give the Vikings an 18-17 lead at the break.

“The tempo was where we wanted it (in the first half),” Hanson said. “The kids played great. Great effort.”

In the Division V bracket, the second-seeded Woodside Priory boys advanced to championship game as Panthers buried West Bay Athletic League rival Eastside College Prep 53-32 in a semifinal game at Pinewood.

The Panthers will face another WBAL foe in No. 4 seed Pinewood, which went to three overtimes to beat top-seeded St. Francis-Watsonville 74-71. The two will meet 8 p.m. Friday at Christopher High School in Gilroy.