RIVERVIEW — Few high school rivalries in the Downriver area, if any, have historically been more intense than the one between Allen Park Cabrini and Riverview Gabriel Richard, regardless of the sport.
A late schedule addition saw the boys basketball edition renewed Thursday night when undefeated and newly state-ranked Cabrini made its way down to winless Richard.Despite the extreme difference in current resumes, Richard head coach Bobby Green was prepared for a battle that was twofold, not just on the court by the mental side of it as well.
“What they had to do was control their emotions,” Green said. “It was not letting it bigger than the game itself. We told them before the game to focus on themselves and what they’re doing, and don’t focus on (Cabrini). I thought they did a good job of that tonight.
It’s a rivalry game, we know that,” Green added. “We knew what was at stake coming into the game. That’s why, as a coach, you have to be able to reel that in before the game.”
Fortunately for Green, he not only saw his team avoid getting flustered with the added layer of intensity, he also saw them get off the schneid.
With a 44-37 victory, the host Pioneers collected their first victory of the season while subsequently handing the Division 3 No. 7-ranked Monarchs of Cabrini its first loss in 11 tries.
Thursday was the third time in as many years that Cabrini and Richard met on the hardwood, but their first regular season matchup since 2020. The result gives the Pioneers now 11 straight wins over the Monarchs, a stretch that goes back more than a decade.
And even though it was formally a wire-to-wire win for the hosts, it was another big step forward for their “maturity” level, says Green.
“They showed a lot of composure,” Green said. “It’s near the end of the game when you’re trying to close things out and show patience. That’s part of learning how to win. I know this program has done a lot of winning before but a lot of these kids don’t have a ton of experience.
“I thought we did a lot of things that I would consider ‘winning basketball,'” Green continued. “We were crashing the boards, sharing the ball, and attacking the rim. A lot of things we posted on the board, they followed through with that tonight.”
Green could not have asked for a better start for his team, who scored the game’s first 10 points and led by that much after one quarter of play.
Cabrini, who set a new season-low in points scored, could never string a run of unanswered points bigger than five at any point in the contest. Still, the Monarchs were able to slowly chip away and tie things up — the only instance of a tie score on Thursday — with a minute to go in the third.
Richard, however, was able to respond in a big way by scoring the final five points of the third. They carried that momentum over into the fourth for what ended up being a 13-2 run to create some separation.
“They understand that when (Cabrini) tied it, the game wasn’t over,” Green said. “They still had to make plays, and we did that, we immediately responded. I was most happy with how we handled those moments when it mattered most.
“As strange as it sounds, they’re learning how to win,” Green added. “It’s understanding the moment and their roles, and being unselfish. That’s winning basketball.”
A game within the game was a one-on-one battle between a pair of seniors — and all-state football honorees — in Cabrini’s Lander Emerick and Richard’s Derek Lesko. The former ended up eclipsing 1,000 career points in the fourth quarter, highlighting his team-high 20-point effort.
Lesko, though, was able to one-up his Monarch counterpart with a game-best 21 points. Lesko was an early spark for the Pioneers with 13 points in the first half alone.
The visitors elsewhere got six points each out of junior Evan Bergdoll and sophomore Declan O’Connel;, while the hosts saw sophomore Walter Lipinski join Lesko in double-figures with 10 points, all of which came after halftime.
For whatever it’s worth, while the win-loss records of both teams were on opposite spectrums, so were the respective strengths of schedules but reversed.
Coming into action on Thursday, Richard had an opponents’ win percentage of .619 according to the MHSAA MPR value. Cabrini’s such mark was below the .400 threshold.
Green said the early challenges not only played a factor into Thursday’s game, but will do so as they progress through the rest of the season.
“All of those tough games we played earlier are only going to make us better,” Green said. “It’s tough to go through those but you’re playing some of the top teams in the state. But for us, there are no excuses. That is only going to make you better.
“Our goal is to win a district title this year,” Green finished. “We need to have a schedule that is going to prepare us so that when we get there, we’re ready to play.”
UP NEXT
Richard (1-8) will have the weekend off before resuming its portion of Catholic League play on Jan 20 when they host D3 No. 3-ranked Detroit Loyola.
Cabrini (10-1) will nearly two whole weeks off before they, too, jump back into CHSL play and trek out to Chesterfield Austin Catholic on Jan 27.
