The West Catholic Athletic League, opened their basketball season with two of the most storied high schools in the Bay Area going head to head in what was dubbed “Holy Wars Part 1.” Bellarmine College Prep traveled to Mt. View to tip off against the Lancers of St. Francis High School. On paper, the 9-1 Bellarmine Bells appeared to be the clear favorite against the 4-5 Lancers. However, that would not be the case as 6’11” Senior center, Alex Gklaros-Stavropoulos took control of the opening tip, and pushed an up-tempo game to shooting guard Chris Verceles.
The first two quarters proved to be very contentious between the two teams, getting balanced scoring from their respective power forwards, #23 Derek Johnson and #30 James Jordan for St. Francis and #34 JJ Barton and #2 Brennan Williams for Bellarmine. St. Francis took a 1-point lead into halftime with a 28-27 score over the visiting Bells.
After switching leads, Bellarmine started the fourth quarter with a 41-40 lead, with standout Junior guard, #5 Will Corbett providing timely scoring on several key drives to the basket along with finding Junior forward, #32 Ethan Lyles open in the corner baseline for a much needed three-pointer. St. Francis’ James Jordan came through in two clutch possessions with two threes of his own to give the Lancers a 52-50 lead over the Bells with 1:34 left in the game. With the game coming down to the wire, Corbett found an open Lyles in front of the Bellarmine bench, who drained a rhythm three to give the Bells a 53-52 lead with less than a minute to go. The Lancers came up empty on their next possession, leading to Bellarmine’s JJ Barton finding himself with a key rebound and put back under the Bell hoop to give his team a 55-52 lead, enough to secure a win to open the WCAL season.
