Prep basketball: Peterich Tip-Off, Cardinal Newman Classic feature top teams from region, state

Basketball season is underway in Sonoma County and while league play is still about a month out, area teams are getting some early season reps in winter tournaments.

Three local tournaments will be taking place this weekend in the Russ Peterich Viking Tip-Off at Montgomery, the Cardinal Newman Classic and the Girls Gold Rush Classic VI at Piner.

Piner’s tournament will have the most local teams with Casa Grande, Rancho Cotate, Healdsburg, Elsie Allen and Piner all in attendance, while the events at Montgomery and Cardinal Newman will feature fields with high-caliber teams from around the region and beyond.

The Peterich, which has long been the premier boys’ tournament in the county, once again boasts a field that features some top-tier competition from around the Bay Area. Reigning champ Campolindo is not in the field this year. The championship game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The Cardinal Newman Classic, a girls’ tournament, has a set schedule and will be played in a round robin-type format. Similar to the Peterich, it also features some elite teams, including two ranked in the top 10 in Northern California.

All the tournaments run from Thursday to Saturday. Here’s a closer look at the Peterich and Cardinal Newman Classic.

Russ Peterich Viking Tip-Off

First round

Game 1: Washington-Fremont vs. Monte Vista, 4 p.m.

Monte Vista has long been a powerhouse in Division I but may be a bit of mystery this season. The Mustangs went 9-7 in the spring with a team that featured seven seniors. Two of their wins were against teams that finished the year in the Mercury News Top 15. They beat De La Salle 47-44 and Clayton Valley Charter 62-60. They also finished fourth in the Peterich in 2019.

Washington went 7-3 in the spring and while their two top scorers graduated, the Huskies do return 6-foot-5 senior forward Alex Martin, who scored in double figures in nine of the 10 games. In 2019, the Huskies went 21-7 overall and won the Mission Valley Athletic League.

Winner faces winner of Montgomery-San Marin.

Game 2: Branson vs. Las Lomas, 5:30 p.m.

Over the last ten seasons, Branson has won 20 or more games eight times and hit the 30-win mark three straight times from 2017 to 2020. The Bulls will be playing this winter without legendary head coach Jonas Honick, who retired after last season. The Bulls went 7-2 in the spring and lost top scorers Miles Keefe and Jack Jacobsen but return 6-foot-4 senior forward George Gale and senior point guard Joaquin Arauz Moore.

Las Lomas went 2-10 in the spring but played a loaded schedule that featured Campolindo, St. Patrick-St. Vincent, San Ramon Valley, and Clayton Valley Charter twice. The Knights are 1-2 to open this season with losses to Redwood (51-50) and Berkeley (60-47). They beat Alhambra (60-53) for their first win on Tuesday.

Winner faces winner of St. Ignatius-Galena.

Game 3: San Marin vs. Montgomery, 7 p.m.

Montgomery enters its home tournament at 2-0 coming off a 53-39 win over Rancho Cotate on Tuesday. The Vikings also edged Petaluma 51-50 to open the season. Defense will be Montgomery’s calling card, said first-year head coach Steve Arrow, who took over the varsity program in the summer. Arrow has spent years coaching at different levels within Montgomery’s program. He replaces Zac Tiedeman, who spent five years leading the varsity team.

The Vikings went 8-3 during the spring and return 6-foot-8 senior center Nolan Bessire. They finished as the runner-up to Campolindo in the Peterich in 2019.

They’ll face a San Marin team that’s also under new leadership both on the court and the sidelines. Mustangs’ star guard Tyson Geraci, who averaged nearly 20 points per game for his varsity career, graduated last year and is now playing at Chico State, while head coach Pat Fahey was replaced by Conn Dunning.

Winner faces winner of Washington-Monte Vista.

Game 4: St. Ignatius vs. Galena-Reno, 8:30 p.m.

For as good as this field is, St. Ignatius likely enters as the favorite to come out on top. The Wildcats went 12-7 in the spring and reached the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs, losing a heartbreaker to Archbishop Riordan 66-65. They opened their season with a resounding 76-62 win over Piedmont on Saturday and are currently ranked No. 8 in the Mercury News Top 15. Six-foot-3 senior guard Ryan Conroy leads the way.

Like Monte Vista, Galena from Reno, Nevada, returns to the Peterich as a bit of a mystery. The Grizzlies didn’t have a season last year as winter sports weren’t able to be played in the state due to the pandemic. They finished seventh in the Peterich in 2019 but have a new coach in Olek Czyz, a native of Poland who played at Duke and Nevada-Reno in college.

Winner faces winner of Branson-Las Lomas.

Girls Cardinal Newman Classic

Thursday

Branson vs. Encinal, 4:30 p.m.

Cardinal Newman vs. Redwood, 6 p.m.

Damonte Ranch vs. Archbishop Mitty, 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Redwood vs. Damonte Ranch, 4:30 p.m.

Archbishop Mitty vs. Branson, 6 p.m.

Cardinal Newman vs. Encinal, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday

Damonte Ranch vs. Salesian, 2 p.m.

Encinal vs. Redwood, 3:30 p.m.

Branson vs. Pinole Valley, 5 p.m.

Cardinal Newman vs. Archbishop Mitty, 6:30 p.m.

Top games:

Cardinal Newman-Archbishop Mitty

Archbishop Mitty has long been a girls basketball powerhouse and this year is no different. The Monarchs are the top-ranked team in the Bay Area by the Mercury News, one of the top-ranked in all of Northern California and were the preseason No. 7 team in the state by CalHi Sports. And that’s even after graduating their top three scorers from last year’s team that was the runner-up in the CCS Open Division.

Six-foot sophomore Morgan Cheli is back, along with a cast of three seniors – Noemie Bariteau (Seattle), Siena Guttadauro (UTSA) and Makayla Moore (Seattle) – who just signed letters of intent to play at Division I colleges next season.

The Cardinals (2-1) likely won’t face a tougher opponent this entire season. They’ll open the tournament on Thursday looking to bounce back from their first loss of the year, 41-34 to Marin Catholic over the weekend. They so far have wins over Vintage (68-19) and Miramonte (50-36).

Against Miramonte, Cardinal Newman hit eight threes in the first half and were led by sophomore guard Leah Martinez (19 points, five threes) and Reese Searcy (11 points, seven rebounds, six steals, three assists).

Cardinal Newman and Mitty have some recent history as well. The Monarchs ended the Cardinals’ season in the CIF State Open Division playoffs in both 2017 and 2020.

Branson-Pinole Valley

Two years ago, Pinole Valley went 24-7 and made the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs. Their four top scorers that year were either freshmen or sophomores. In the following spring season, they went 6-4 overall and their top five scorers were sophomores.

They return all five of those players, headlined by leading scorers Deadriana Prim (15.2 points, 8.3 rebounds per game) and Imani Johnson (11.5 points, 4.5 points 4.0 assists, 4.2 steals per game). As of Wednesday, the Spartans were 2-0 on the year heading into a Thursday game against another regional powerhouse in St. Mary’s-Stockton.

On the other side, Branson won’t be an easy out. The Bulls, who won the Division 5 state title in 2019, return their top players in 5-foot-11 junior forward Hannah Golan and 5-foot-8 senior guard Jaliyah Wiggins, both of whom have been contributing varsity players since their freshmen seasons. They only went 4-4 in the spring but that’s mainly because both players missed a handful of games.

Damonte Ranch-Salesian

Damonte Ranch of Reno, Nevada has undoubtedly the toughest draw of the weekend, playing two of California’s top teams in Mitty and Salesian.

The Pride will only be playing on Saturday but come to Santa Rosa with a pedigree like Mitty’s. They’re the No. 3 team in the Bay Area in the Mercury News’ rankings and came in at No. 11 in the state in CalHi Sports’ preseason rankings. They return all but one senior starter and will be led by 6-foot-1 senior forward Silvia Fonongaloa, an all-state player as a junior who averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game in the spring.

The Pride went 14-1 in the spring, their only loss 69-50 to St. Mary’s-Stockton. They’re 1-0 on the season after a 74-49 win over Oakland Tech where junior Makiah Asidanya had 13 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.

Like Galena in the Peterich, Damonte Ranch also did not have a season last school year. In 2019-20, they went 13-9 overall. Their No. 2 and 3 scorers from that year, Khalilah Corley (10.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 steals per game) and Seini Tuipulotu (7.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.2 steals per game), are back for their junior seasons.

Girls Gold Rush Classic VI

First-round schedule

Game 1: Middletown vs. Casa Grande, 4 p.m.

Game 2: Healdsburg vs. Novato, 5:30 p.m.

Game 3: Piner vs. Elsie Allen, 7 p.m.

Game 4: Rancho Cotate vs. Mt. Eden, 8:30 p.m.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.