Crespi Romps Past Notre Dame, 63-47

One look at Randy Coleman was all that anyone needed to realize that just because he has been enrolled at Crespi High for only two years doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know how much a game against Notre Dame means.

Early on Friday night, Coleman traded verbal barbs with Notre Dame shooting ace Monte Marcaccini. At the game’s midpoint, Coleman rejected a shot by Marcaccini and smiled from ear to ear.

As the game wound down, Coleman scored on a thundering reverse dunk, which earned him an ovation from the Celts’ fans and a high-five from Coach Chris Nikchevich.

“I know a bunch of their guys from the playground,” said Coleman, who scored 14 points. “It just carries over.”

It was, in fact, a carry-over from last season.

The Celts belted Notre Dame, 63-47, in a Mission League opener at Crespi, which helped erase the sting of a pair of lopsided defeats at the hands of Notre Dame last season.

Crespi (6-5), which has won five of its past six games and has twice beaten Notre Dame, caught fire in the second half. Not so coincidentally, it happened when off-guard Rob Leff found the groove.

Leff, who finished with a game-high 26 points and added five assists, drilled a three-point basket with 5 minutes 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter and was fouled. Leff made the free throw to give Crespi a 30-25 lead.

“That’s what got us going, right there,” Leff said.

Leff put it in there again and again.

He scored on a fast break and nailed another three-point shot to give the Celts a 35-28 lead and Coleman then scored inside off an inbounds play.

Leff drilled another jump shot with 2:50 left in the quarter to give Crespi a 39-28 lead.

Leff, a senior who transferred to Crespi from Calabasas two years ago, was 10 of 14 from the floor and made four of six from three-point range.

“It feels good to beat those guys,” Leff said. “Especially after they routed us last year.”

Notre Dame (6-7), the defending league champion, could find nobody to match the balanced Crespi output. Other than Tom Stillwell and Marcaccini, no other Knight scored more than three points.

Marcaccini finished with a team-high 22 points, but made just eight of 23 shots, three of which came in the game’s final 50 seconds.

“He can score, inside and outside,” Nikchevich said. “In the second half, we really did the job defensively on him.”

Leff continued his hot streak until the end. In the second half, he made all four of his shots from three-point range to hold Notre Dame at bay.

“When Robbie gets going, he’s really hard to stop,” said Coleman, who played as a freshman at Cleveland, then moved to Chicago before enrolling at Crespi as a junior. “When he starts stroking, look out.”

Neither team seemed to find its niche in the first half. Marcaccini and Stillwell (16 points) carried the load by combining to score 22 points as Crespi took a 24-23 lead at halftime.