Any hope Milpitas had to make history again was crushed by St. Ignatius on Monday night.

The San Francisco school dominated from start to finish to beat sixth-seeded Milpitas 54-41 at home in the second game of the Central Coast Section Open Division pool play and clinch its spot in the title game Friday night at Santa Clara University.

The final score did not do this game justice.

Second-seeded St. Ignatius led by as much as 26 points in the second half and cleared its benches midway through the fourth quarter. Milpitas was looking to notch its second win over a West Catholic Athletic League team, three days after defeating Bellarmine and becoming the first public school to beat a WCAL team in the CCS Open Division pool play format, which started in 2022.

But the Wildcats made it a point not to become part of what would have been a historic playoff run for Milpitas.

“We knew they were really excited because they were the first school in history to beat a WCAL school” in pool play, St. Ignatius coach Jason Greenfield said. “We had to take away that confidence.”

Vince Crisp had a game-high 13 points for the Wildcats, followed by Shawn Boquiren with 11 and Alex Moore and Raymond Whitley, who each had eight.

After taking a 10-point lead into the second quarter, the Wildcats blew the game open midway through the period. A 9-0 run capped off by a Boquiren 3-pointer gave the Wildcats a 19-point lead.

At halftime, St. Ignatius led 36-18.

St. Ignatius has now won its first two pool play games in dominant fashion, beating Serra and Milpitas by 13 points.

“I think since our first CCS game against Serra, we kind of just locked in and knew it was playoff time and it was time to handle business,” Boquiren said.

Though their spot has already been clinched, the Wildcats still intend to come out of their pool undefeated with a game at home against Bellarmine tonight. The Bells are out of the title game mix after losses to Milpitas on Friday and Serra on Monday.

“Regardless of the outcome for CCS, we can’t go 0-3 against Bellarmine,” said Greenfield, whose team dropped two games to Bellarmine in the regular season. “We owe them and so I think we’ll be up and ready for that game.”

Milpitas will have another shot to beat a WCAL school when the Trojans play Serra tonight to close out pool play.

— Nathan Canilao

MITTY GIRLS ONE WIN FROM ANOTHER FINAL >> If Mitty is vulnerable without five-star junior McKenna Woliczko, who was lost for the season in early January with an ACL injury, somebody forgot to tell the Monarchs.

Mitty cruised on Monday through another playoff opponent, this time St. Ignatius, 81-49 at home to set up a winner-take-all showdown when Archbishop Riordan pays a visit to the Monarchs’ gym tonight.

Riordan, like Mitty, is 2-0 in the CCS Open Division’s Pool A. The winner tonight will move on to the Open final on Friday at SCU.

Mitty routed St. Ignatius on Monday and flattened Valley Christian 75-19 on Friday. Riordan beat St. Ignatius 49-45 on Friday and Valley Christian 58-28 on Monday.

If those results, plus two previous meetings this season between Mitty and Riordan, are an indication, the Monarchs should roll into the final.

Mitty won at Riordan 56-42 on Jan. 21 and at home over Riordan 71-50 on Feb. 11.

— Darren Sabedra

RIORDAN CRUSHES MENLO-ATHERTON >> Following a “wake-up” call game against Mitty on Friday night, when Riordan won by just 14 points, the top-seeded San Francisco school obliterated visiting No. 5 Menlo-Atherton 79-29 in its second game of CCS Open Division pool play.

Riordan led 45-5 at halftime and didn’t let up in the second half.

Junior guard DJ Armstrong led Riordan with 12 points. Texas A&M commit Jasir Rencher totaled 11 points and Ryder Bush had 10.

Riordan can punch its ticket to the CCS Open Division title game with a win over No. 4 Valley Christian tonight.

— Nathan Canilao

PINEWOOD, PRIORY MEET AGAIN >> Pinewood’s quest for a 10th trip to the CCS Open Division girls final in 11 seasons will have to go through a familiar foe — Priory.

The West Bay Athletic League teams have met 18 times since 2017, with Pinewood winning 17 of them.

Each of the 17 victories have come by double digits except the most record one. On Jan. 31, Priory put up a battle on the road in Los Altos Hills before falling 57-50.

That was quite a turnaround from the teams’ previous meeting 17 days earlier. In that one, played at Priory, Pinewood dominated 63-38.

Now, after both teams prevailed through two rounds of CCS pool play, they’ll meet at Pinewood tonight for first place in Pool B and the right to play for the section’s Open Division title on Friday night at Santa Clara University, most likely against top-seeded Archbishop Mitty.

On Monday, Pinewood and Priory looked the part of title contender. Pinewood routed St. Francis 65-31. Priory thumped Sacred Heart Cathedral 62-42.

— Darren Sabedra

MITTY BOYS WIN IN GRITTY FASHION >> Despite being held to fewer than 40 points, Mitty found a way to win a road playoff game.

The Monarchs, the No. 8 seed in the CCS Open Division, topped No. 4 Valley Christian 37-36.

Mitty has been playing good basketball as of late. The Monarchs held Riordan to 59 points on Friday in a 14-point loss – the closest game Riordan has had against a WCAL school all season.

But no matter what happens in the final round of pool play, Mitty won’t be in Friday’s final.

If Riordan beats Valley Christian tonight, as expected, the San Francisco school will play for the title.

If Valley Christian wins, the San Jose school will advance to the final.

Here is why:

Valley would win a two-way tie with Riordan because of the head-to-head victory and a three-way tie with Riordan and Mitty because of the tiebreaker rules.

Three-way ties are determined by the lowest amount of seed points a team accumulates in its pool play victories.

Mitty would have wins over No. 4 seed Valley Christian and No. 5 seed Menlo-Atherton for nine points, Riordan would have wins over No. 8 seed Mitty and No. 5 seed M-A for 13 points and Valley would have wins over No. 5 seed M-A and No. 1 seed Riordan for six points.

Valley’s would be the lowest, which would put the Warriors in the final against SI.

Don’t look for that to happen. When Riordan visited Valley on Feb. 14, the visitors won 83-36.

— Nathan Canilao