Modesto Christian and Bishop O’Dowd becoming familiar foes

Bishop O’Dowd big man Ivan Rabb and Modesto Christian’s Anthony Townes will be battling on the court for the fourth time as high schoolers in Saturday’s NorCal Open Division title game.

This, after being teammates for a summer with the elite AAU Oakland Soldiers.

So, do these matchups get personal?

“Of course I think about going up against Ivan, but it always comes down to the better team and who has the best teamwork at the end of the day,” Townes said. “If we get the win. that’s all that matters to me. I don’t pay attention to the individual stuff.”

O’Dowd won two of the previous three meetings, claiming a 71-62 regular-season win in Salida on Feb. 9, 2013, before Modesto Christian ended the Dragons’ season a month later with a 57-42 Open Division first-round victory at Chabot College in Hayward.

Last year, in a second-round Open Division game, O’Dowd dominated in a 74-51 decision as the Crusaders fell behind 13-1 and trailed by as many as 29 points in the final eight minutes. The Dragons went on to fall to Mater Dei 71-61 in the state final.

“We’re the only Northern California team to beat them in the last three seasons and I know that loss still burns them, so maybe this has become a rivalry,” said MC coach Richard Midgley. “Anthony played great in that game as a sophomore and that was one of the biggest wins since I’ve been here.”

But this matchup is different. The stakes are higher, the stage larger as the teams will battle Saturday at 8 p.m. inside Sleep Train Arena for the Northern California Open Division championship. The loser goes home while the winner gets to play March 28 for a state title at Cal’s Haas Pavilion.

“I don’t think it’s a personal battle, because we all know it takes a team to defend Ivan, and O’Dowd will be doing things as a team to defend Anthony,” Midgley said. “He’s our go-to-guy and a lot of our offense runs through him.”

But just as MC is much more than the University of the Pacific-bound Townes, O’Dowd runs much deeper than Rabb, who at 6-foot-11 is considered by many the nation’s top big-man recruit. He is entertaining offers from Cal, Arizona, UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky. The Dragons’ blur-of-a-point guard Paris Austin has signed with Boise State and is as important to O’Dowd’s offensive success as Rabb.

The Dragons (26-4) have not lost to any California team this season, falling only to prep schools Montverde Academy of Florida (78-64), Wesleyan Christian Academy of North Carolina (59-49) and twice to Oak Hill Academy of Virginia (59-48 and 63-52). Their run to the title game as the No. 1 seed came with home wins at Laney College over St. Francis (76-55) and Folsom (75-51).

Meanwhile, Modesto Christian’s road to the regional final has not included a moment to relax. The nail-biters started with the section title game against Sacramento, with the Crusaders (30-3) falling behind 18-4 before rallying to win 49-46. The first-round regional win at Monte Vista was anything but comfortable, and MC fell behind by 10 points at Serra on Tuesday, then pulled out a 53-48 win.

On one hand, the Crusaders’ past two weeks shows their grit and their ability to rally to win close games. On the other hand, they know a slow start against O’Dowd could be fatal.

“There has been a lot of intensity in these games, because all the teams we’ve played have been great,” Townes said. “They’re not going to miss their shots and they’re all going to execute their offenses all the way through.

“But we need to start executing earlier in games so we don’t have to play catch-up. If we don’t execute early against Bishop O’Dowd, there won’t be enough time for us to rally. We have to jump on them right away.”

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Modesto Christian and Bishop O’Dowd becoming familiar foes."