St. Bernard Ends Playoff Run of Redlands Adventist

St. Bernard High School has advanced to the second round of the state tournament and will play Thursday night after beating the Redlands Adventist Academy boys’ varsity basketball team

The Vikings advanced to the next round after scoring a lopsided 81-37 win Tuesday night against the short-handed Bulldogs, which made school history by being the first team  to compete in the state finals.

The Bulldogs' senior shooting guard Mikael Anderson, the team's leading scorer, played through the Southern Section playoffs with a bruised thigh, but did not dress for Tuesday’s game. The injury had worsened through the postseason, said Redlands head coach Jason Hinkle. Hinkle said he did not want to take the chance of jeopardizing Anderson’s promising future by playing him in what proved to be a David-meets-Goliath-like contest, without the uplifting conclusion.

“It was going to be tough for us today with or without him. We knew coming into this game that these guys were good, really good,” Hinkle said.

And good they were. Through their season the Vikings consistently scored in the 70-100 point range, while the Bulldogs averaged 60-70 points per game and topped out around 80 points.

Without Anderson’s leadership on the court and his points on the scoreboard, the Bulldogs struggled to find both their offensive and defensive footing. The Bulldogs scored their first points four minutes into the first quarter on Tino Mkorombindo’s two successful free throws. By that time the Vikings were up 19-2. The quarter ended with Redlands trailing St. Bernard 37-4.

Sparked by Mkorombindo’s play in the second quarter, the Bulldogs gained some footing. On a fast break, Mkorombindo found junior small forward Kamaal Thomas under the basket to give the Bulldogs their third score of the game.

“We’re down by 40 points and he’s still out there running his heart out. He’s been an anchor for us all year doing just that,” Hinkle said.

Despite some sputtering starts on offense, Redlands continued to struggle to shutdown the ever-attacking Vikings, who somehow seemed to find open men in empty lanes in any and all directions.

St. Bernard dominated the inside game both in size and height, which forced Redlands to double and triple team any man near the basket. The Bulldogs played zone defense, but crashed two or three men into any Viking with the ball in the paint. However, a quick pass back out to an open man on the perimeter kept the Bulldogs scrambling and inevitably led to an inside shot opening up.

The Vikings will face Flintridge Prep on Thursday night at St. Francis High School, which is across the street from Flintridge Prep. 

St. Bernard will face a a Rebels team that crushed visiting Tranquillity of Fresno County, 98-32, in the opening round.

Tuesday’s game was the first for Flintridge Prep since defeating .

The Rebels (24-6) opened the game by scoring 21 unanswered points.

They went on to lead 32-7 at the end of the first quarter and built a 66-19 lead at halftime.

Flintridge Prep coach Garrett Ohara kept his starters in until the 4:31 mark of the third quarter with his team up 79-21.

But even the reserves for the Rebels were too much for the visiting Tigers, who finish the season at 7-21.

The entire fourth quarter was played with a running clock. That was the only thing that prevented the Rebels from hitting the century mark on the scoreboard.

“We moved up four junior varsity guys,” Ohara said. “In this atmosphere and environment it’s good for them to get up and see what it is like at the varsity level.”

Flintridge Prep was led by Smith, who had a game-high 18 points. Junior Kory Hamane finished with 16 points, and freshman point guard Robert Cartwright had 15. Sophomore Jedrick Eugenio and freshman Kyle Hamane each had nine points.

Ohara said he is aware of his next opponent.

”They are a strong team, ranked top five in the state,” Ohara said of St. Bernard.

Patch contributor Jim Riggio added to this report.