Crespi Wins, Gains Shares of Mission Title

The Celts are back.

That was the prevailing mood among Crespi High basketball players, fans and Coach Chris Nikchevich after the Celts defeated St. Paul, 80-61, in a Mission League finale Friday night at Crespi.

The win was the fourth in a row for Crespi (14-8, 9-3 in league play) and gave the Celts a share of the league championship with St. Bernard.

Crespi’s last title came during the 1985-86 season when the Celts won the Del Rey League championship outright.

They are co-champions this season, but no one was complaining after the victory over St. Paul. Especially not Rob Leff, a three-year letterman who scored a game-high 32 points.

“I just wanted to finish the regular season with a good game and win league,” Leff said. “It’s been six years since we last won a league title and that is too long.”

Crespi had compiled a 20-32 league record the past six years.

“Rob played a great game,” Nikchevich said. “He’s an (NCAA) Division I player. He shoots well, he runs the floor and he plays defense.”

Nikchevich, a 1982 graduate of Crespi, had struggled through a 9-16 record last season, his first coaching his alma mater.

“One of our goals at the start of the season was to win league and re-establish the Crespi basketball tradition. I’ve told the guys several times since I first got here that Crespi was one of the premier basketball programs in the Valley in the early ‘80s. It would be nice to get back to that level again.”

Leff, a 6-foot-4 senior, made 11 of 23 shots from the field and was seven of 14 from three-point range. He scored 20 points in the first half to help Crespi take a 34-25 lead at intermission.

Randy Coleman, a 6-6 center, and Matt Carpenter, a 6-8 forward, got the Celts rolling in the third period, each scoring six points. Coleman and Carpenter each went three for three from the field in the quarter when Crespi made 11 of 17 shots, including nine of its first 11.

“Charles (Aghaganian) did a great job forcing the ball up the court in the second half,” Leff said. “That really opened things up for us.”

Jeff Luderer had 14 points for Crespi. Carpenter had 12 and Coleman added 10.

St. Paul finished the regular season 14-9, 5-7 in league play.

Crespi made 32 of 57 field-goal attempts.

Leading, 58-34, at the end of three periods, Crespi blew the game open by hitting seven of its first eight shots and converting six of nine free throws. Brandon Ertle scored 22 points for St. Paul, but the Swordsmen were unable to keep up with Crespi when the pace quickened in the second half.

“We let them dictate the pace to us the first time we played them and it cost us,” Leff said of a 52-49 loss. “Tonight we played our kind of game and it worked.”

Leff scored 12 points in the second quarter to propel Crespi to its nine-point halftime lead. Taking no shot within 17 feet of the basket, Leff hit seven of 13 shots in the first half, including four of nine from three-point range.

Matt Lenzen added 12 points for St. Paul.