Modesto Christian falls 56-47 to O’Dowd in NorCal Open Division title game

There were so few secrets between Modesto Christian and Bishop O’Dowd that the teams might as well have been in each other’s practices during the days of preparation leading to Saturday’s boys’ Open Division title game.

O’Dowd, ranked ninth nationally, wanted to control the game with the balance between center Ivan Rabb and guard Paris Austin, and the Crusaders sought control with defense and rebounding.

Both teams succeeded in winning those battles, but O’Dowd won the war, advancing to the state title game against four-time defending state champion Mater Dei with a 56-47 victory at Sleep Train Arena.

Anthony Townes completed his MC career by scoring a game-high 20 points inside, but the Crusaders again were unable to get a perimeter game going. That’s been the team’s Achilles heel throughout the postseason, but their defense overcame the shortcoming until running into O’Dowd.

“The pillars of a great team are defense and rebounding, and that’s what we took pride in,” said MC coach Richard Midgley, whose team finished 30-4 in his first season in solo control of the Crusaders. “Obviously we would have liked to shoot better, but defense and rebounding got us to this game and kept us in this game.”

This was the third consecutive season that these teams met in Open Division play. Modesto Christian stopped the Dragons in 2013, but O’Dowd has ended MC’s season two years in a row.

With a fourth meeting – a regular season contest – thrown in the mix, these teams are in many ways mirror images, something not lost on Dragons coach Lou Richie, who will take a 27-4 record into next Saturday’s state title game at Cal’s Haas Pavilion.

Barely four minutes into the game, with Modesto Christian holding a 10-7 lead and the Dragons looking uncomfortable on offense, Richie stood at the near end of his bench and yelled toward the general direction of his point guard Austin and Midgley.

“Yes, they know our offense,” Richie said. “They know it because they run all our stuff.”

Both coaches shared a laugh, but there was no doubt how bad both teams wanted to win the game, and for MC it didn’t matter that it was O’Dowd in the way of a state title berth.

“The fact that we lost is what hurts and it doesn’t matter who we lost to,” junior guard Christian Ellis said. “They’re a good team, but we were up five early and let it slip away.

“I wasn’t satisfied how we played at all. The ranking thing doesn’t matter to me at all. O’Dowd could have been the 50th team in the country and it wouldn’t have mattered. We still lost.”

It was a game-changing moment, compounded when fellow post Robinson Idehen picked up his second foul moments later. O’Dowd would not pick up its second foul as a team until two minutes had elapsed in the third quarter.

“We couldn’t start off slow, and I was aggressive at the beginning and got us buckets,” Townes said. “The second foul kept me from being as physical as I wanted to be with Ivan. I told my teammates to stay strong while I was out of the game.”

But O’Dowd outscored MC 15-5 in the second quarter and opened a 34-25 lead with 3:43 left in the third quarter.

The Crusaders needed to get hot on offense, but it never happened. They cut the Dragons’ lead to 44-40 when Ellis finished a fast break with 5:46 left, but MC would not score again until Townes hit a free throw with 1:01 left, cutting O’Dowd’s lead to 50-41.

Jeff Wu and Ellis hit three-pointers in the final 48 seconds, but the outside game came far too late.

“I believe we did everything we wanted to, but got beat by the little things – turnovers and a few offensive rebounds,” Townes said. “They got some second-chance shots. They’re one of the best teams in the nation, but we wanted to go at them hard.”

Rabb, one of the nation’s top recruits, finished with 18 points and 18 rebounds as O’Dowd outrebounded MC 38-27. The Dragons outscored the Crusaders 16-3 at the foul line.

Modesto Christian battled for 32 minutes and lost to a team ranked in the top-10 nationally by nine points.

Proud? Yes. Satisfied? Not a chance.

“The goal was to win state,” Townes said. “I am proud that we made it this far, because not many people thought we could outside our team, coaches and fans. So this does mean a lot.

“And it hurt a little that it’s O’Dowd, but it hurts more than it’s my last game as a Crusader.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2015 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Modesto Christian falls 56-47 to O’Dowd in NorCal Open Division title game."