St. Augustine routs Montgomery, captures second straight San Diego Section Open Division championship

SAN DIEGO— In the 10-year history of the Open Division playoffs in the San Diego Section, no team had repeated as champions until Saturday night.

Top-seeded St. Augustine, winners of 33 straight against San Diego Section opponents, rolled past Montgomery 85-53, winning their fourth Open Division championship.

“Very, very special, proud of them,” St. Augustine head coach Mike Haupt said of the accomplishment. “It’s also two years of being on top and that’s hard.”

The Saints trailed 9-3 in the early going before several scoring runs led to a 46-29 halftime lead. St. Augustine kept up the pressure in the second half, expanding the final margin to 32 points.

For the second straight game, the Saints took over in the second half to put the game out of reach while showcasing their endurance.

“That’s how we practice,” Haupt said. “We practice hard, and they look at me crazy sometimes why are we pushing this hard.”

“He’s just trying to put us in stressful situations and see how we react,” senior Jurian Dixon said of the practices. “When it comes to games like this it helps us out, the crowd is into it, and we pull away and win.”

Montgomery, playing in their first Open Division championship game, entered the game allowing just 52 points per game on the season and had not surrendered 80 points to any team over their first 30 games this year.

The Saints were able to speed the game up, getting out in transition offense which led to several dunks including four from Dixon.

“We knew they couldn’t handle our defense, especially trapping,” junior point guard Lolo Rudolph said. “And dominating inside was our biggest thing and that’s what we did tonight.”

St. Augustine did exactly that, outrebounding the Aztecs by 22. One of the biggest contributors on the backboards was senior Vincent Ricchiuti, arguably San Diego’s best sixth man. He came in off the bench and knocked down four three-pointers, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds.

“That’s the hard part, he’s a starter,” Haupt said of Ricchiuti. “It’s hard for him and he’s had to accept that role and he’s handled it well.”

Rudolph did his fair share of rebounding, nearly missing a triple double after ending the night with 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

Jurian Dixon, the reigning San Diego Section Player of the Year, led the Saints with 18 points. Dixon won a CIF title as a freshman at San Ysidro before transferring to St. Augustine and winning twice more.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” Dixon said. “Me and my mom were talking about it, I don’t know a lot of guys who have three.”

The Saints will be seeded in the CIF State Open Division bracket with pairings set to be released on Sunday afternoon.

Check out the photos from Saturday's game below.

(All photos by Justin Fine)