Granada’s Andrew Mckeever (45) blocks Riordan’s Kalolo Ta'aga (23) in the first half during division I semifinals at Granada High School in Livermore, Calif., on Saturday, March 4, 2023. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
LIVERMORE — Granada High celebrated a home court victory it never expected Saturday in a season that has seen the Matadors reach heights unmatched in program history.
It took all 7-feet of senior center Andrew McKeever with a lot of help from his friends for Granada to beat Archbishop Riordan 69-57 in the NorCal CIF Division boys playoff.
The Matadors (25-10) will visit Salesian on Tuesday with the Division I title on the line.
The Crusaders finished the season 23-7 and poured every bit of intensity and effort within themselves to stay with Granada as long as they did with basically a seven-man roster.
Riordan had five players suspended resulting from Thursday night’s brawl at their home court win against Inderkum-Sacramento, losing not only three starters and two rotation players but with the CIF deciding the No. 4 seeded team would lose its home court against the No. 9 seed.
McKeever, the St. Mary’s-bound post, led all scorers with 31 points and added 16 rebounds. Riordan was never able to deal with his ability to score with either hand around the basket at odd angles — sometimes while not even looking at the hoop.
When McKeever scored just a single point in the third quarter, on came NaVaughn Long with all 15 of his points in the second half — nine in the third quarter — while McKeever was being swarmed by Riordan. Shooting guard Kevin Grant had 12 for Granada.
Christian Wise, a 6-foot-6 senior, led the Crusaders with 21 points with 6-3 freshman Andrew Hilman scoring 20 in an elevated role due to the suspensions.
The Granada gym was packed not only for the boys game but a Division III girls game that preceded it as the Madators fell to Caruthers of Fresno County 55-50.
“Oh man, for Granada to have not one but two games of this magnitude on our home for this community, it was just everything for us,” Granada coach Quaron Johnson said.
Granada led throughout almost the entirety of the game after scoring the last seven points of the first quarter for a 17-13 lead, with McKeever scoring a left-handed basket, another off the offensive glass and with Grant burying a 3-pointer.
But the Crusaders wouldn’t be shaken. While they couldn’t stop McKeever from scoring, they kept attacking on offense inside, defended every inch of the court and hit the floor for loose balls with regularity.
Granada took a 26-17 lead in the second quarter and cut it to 26-23 on a Wise slam dunk. Granada led 34-29 at halftime.
Riordan briefly tied the score 37-37 in the third quarter on another Wise score inside, but Long countered with a floater and Marco Wilde hit a baseline 3-pointer to push it back to 42-37. The Crusaders would get as close as that one final time on an offensive rebound basket by Kalolo Ta’aga at 47-44 and trailed 49-44 after three quarters.
Then McKeever took over, scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter as Granada pushed its lead to 57-46. Riordan, playing on fumes, never got closer than six the rest of the way.
“We went into it knowing they were going to miss some players, but the players they had on the court, they were still dogs and we had to come into it like they were full strength and ready to go,” McKeever said. “They work hard, man. That’s a good team. I wish they were full strength but we got it done and we’re ready to go to the next round.”
Riordan coach Joe Curtin was proud of the way his team competed — the suspended players were on the bench in warmups pushing their teammates as much as possible — but couldn’t help but be disappointed at the ruling that sent its team on the road and undermanned.
One player was called up from junior varsity but only played at the tail end of the game, so the Crusaders basically played with seven players.
“I think we’re pretty ticked off, to be honest,” Curtin said. “We were the highest seed left in the tournament. Should have been playing at home. If it wasn’t for an out-of-control team we just played I’d be happy right now. You feel a bit robbed.”
Dealing with McKeever was all the more difficult with Riordan missing 6-8 freshman Alex Kuminga, 6-5 freshman Jasir Reacher and 6-5 junior Nathan Tshamala.
“I’m proud of the guys that went out there and gave their call,” Curtin said. “We were in it the whole game until we ran out of gas. McKeever was just a bit too much.”
Granada and Salesian met on Feb. 25 in a North Coast Section Open Division game, with the Pride beating the Matadors 50-48.
