Riordan Albany
- Thread starter FUBO
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One word for this game: Ugly! Bad decision making, turnovers and lack of hustle in the first half. Crusaders somewhat wake up in the 2nd half playing with a sense of urgency. It was the Stansberry show once again, but nice contributions from Jrs Smith and Norman. Smith had a steal and two hand flush to secure a lead. Riordan hits their FTs in the 4th and OT period. I think there may have only 2-3 outside shots made. Galindo out again. Crusaders need to get their perimeter game going if they want to advance . Nice to see Crusader Alum, Chiefy Ugbaja, at the game.
Those 2 were fearless competitors and I came away very impressed. #5 was quick, had great handles and knocked down some perimeter shots. #10 was also impressive - he had a high motor, fearless, and was able to finish amongst the bigs. Albany didn't get to 28 wins for nothing and as a team they were well coached. Congrats on a great season!
Good article by Prep2Preps in the link below. It seems the Riordan fans are often a bit pessimistic about their teams efforts with the key word being "team". Though Stansberry is their obvious scorer & go to guy Riordan has regular production according to their team stats from several players, just not up to the level of Stansberry. Consider Stansberry led all scorer's with 24 followed by Friedkin of Albany with 15 points then Randall of Riordan with 13 points and Albany's other top scorer Coleman with 10 points & 7 boards. Jason Smith of Riordan outplayed Coleman with 8 points but had 13 boards on the nite which is huge.
Without Stansberry then Riordan probably would have lost, but without Randall or especially Coleman it is likely as well.
So in a tight game into O/T I just don;t see one player carrying his team to the win without a team effort on both O & D. Riordan essentially won the game at the foul line shooting 19/25 while Albany was 12/15. Am I giving too much credit to the other Riordan players?
http://www.prep2prep.com/story.aspx?ArticleID=4054
Without Stansberry then Riordan probably would have lost, but without Randall or especially Coleman it is likely as well.
So in a tight game into O/T I just don;t see one player carrying his team to the win without a team effort on both O & D. Riordan essentially won the game at the foul line shooting 19/25 while Albany was 12/15. Am I giving too much credit to the other Riordan players?
http://www.prep2prep.com/story.aspx?ArticleID=4054
Riordan certainly plays as a team or else they wouldn't be in this position. The fact EVERY team knows Stansberry is the key to the Crusaders chances of winning and Riordan still comes up with a win or stays close in almost all of their games - the other players are doing their part. Take last nights game, it seems all of the Crusader points were either on layups or free throws. The lack of perimeter shots being made, much less attempted does not bode well if Riordan wants to advance. No word from Riordan if Galindo is out the rest of the season or not. Looking at potential opponents should Riordan advance, all of these teams have more than one 3 pt shooter. (I.e. Sierra, Campo, Drake, SHC) Riordan's D is pretty good this year as they score many of their points off of turnovers. It was good to see the team making their ft's in crunch time. If Riordan hit their ft's against SHP, they would have won. I believe Randall himself went 1-9 at the line that night. Coach Buck deserves a lot of credit of the job he has done with this team so far.
As someone who has followed Riordan basketball since 1962 I am proud of the job this years team has accomplished. I really would have loved to have seen how much better they would have been if 6' 7 Robert Colton had been made eligible by the CCS. Coach Buckner is a true Crusader. Considering everything(no Colton for whole season, and no Galindo for last six games) I say a job well done! Beat Sierra!
I say this year in and year out around this time, RB, gets the most out of his players and consistently has them in the top half of the WCAL doing more with less. Sure its nice to have a Jiday or a Camacho, every year, but to be able to get a group of kids year in and year out to compete is the hallmnark of RBs tenure at Riordan. He has been one of the most under appreciated coaches outside the Riordan community, but slowly he is getting his due respect. 2 wins away from a 3rd straight NorCal final, no one could have expected them to possibly still be playing well into March, once Gallindo went down as well!
