For the first time in 10 years, Ripon Christian has been eliminated in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
While the Knights may be lamenting some missed opportunities from their Division IV opener on Wednesday, ninth-seeded Union Mine is likely still buzzing after stealing a 63-62 win thanks to a couple big-time makes on broken plays in the final minute.
“I don’t think we shot that great,” RC coach Mark Hofman said. His Knights were 11-of-19 from the free-throw line and missed all of their 3-point attempts in the first half, many of them uncontested.
“And then, if the game’s close, a desperation 3 off the backboard is going to hurt you.”
The Diamondbacks (19-10) trailed by four points when coach Ryan Williams called a timeout with 51 seconds to go. Eighth-seeded Ripon Christian (18-11) played great defense on the possession, but Jeremiah Otte ended it with a banked-in, fall-away 3-pointer from the right wing as the shot-clock buzzer sounded.
“If he misses, we get that rebound and it’s over,” Hofman said.
After Jake Vander Veen made one of two free throws for RC, Union Mine again called timeout with 23.3 seconds to go. The Diamondbacks went the length of the floor to set up their offense. In the end, Benjamin Pritchard dished it to the right wing for Cole Patterson, who got his shot up with a quick release and hit all net for the go-ahead 3.
“It was designed to go to Cole, but not like that,” Union Mine coach Ryan Williams said. “It got a little bit jumbled; they did a really good job on trailing the down-screen on the back end. We were just trying to burn clock before running it, but it got all messed up. That was really just him hitting the big shot.”
Otte finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while Patterson added 16 points. Sophomore Rowen Durgan scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half. The trio accounted for eight of Union Mine’s nine made 3-pointers.
Vander Veen led all scorers with 25 points. He’s one of three senior guards who were starters on the 2024 SJS Division V championship team.
Chase Bunnell netted 13 points and 10 rebounds. Amos Cady pitched in with 11 points, and Mason Tameling had nine to go with four assists.
“It’s tough; some of them have been with me for four years,” Hofman said. “They have section championships and (Trans Valley) league championships. The seniors have had some great careers and were a big part our success.”
Some of his younger players have earned valuable experience this season and continued to show flashes in their first postseason game. Freshman Jeremiah Lambdin (four points, nine rebounds) did not start the game but did so in the second half to help provide some needed energy and one-on-one defense. The Knights trailed for much of the first half and were down 35-27 at halftime.
Senior reserve Luke Walton started alongside Lambdin in the second half and also gave RC a spark. Junior Dylan Segaar also made some key plays in the third quarter, when Ripon Christian went on a 15-3 run over a 5-minute stretch.
“We start the process again,” Hofman said of having to replace his accomplished senior core. “It starts with training.”
Meanwhile, Union Mine is preparing to square off with top-seeded Natomas (20-9), which routed Highlands, 117-33.
Until then, the Diamondbacks will bask in this moment, knowing they took out one of the section’s most storied small-school programs.
“Ripon Christian has been doing this for a minute,” Williams said. “We’ve been following them since last year. We watched them against Casa (Roble in the semifinals). We’ve watched Jake (Vander Veen). We knew it was going to be really, really tough.
“Our whole motto is that it’s not a seven-game series — you don’t have to beat them four times out of seven games, you just have to play better than them for 32 minutes.”
