Mitty broke out to a 9-2 lead at the 4:20 mark of the first quarter, with Aaron Gordon keeping Jabari (California) Bird in check man-to-man defensively.
But that period ended with Salesian on top 14-9.
It became 31-23 at the half and then 56-34 after three quarters as the Pride led 37-23 with 7:06 remaining and 43-25 at the 4:50 mark.
The Monarchs just had no answers. Gordon tried but was always surrounded by multiple opponents. He enjoyed passing success especially in the second half when he surrounded on his dribble-drives, he kicked the ball off to a cutting or open under the basket teammate. In the first half, the Monarch offense primarily consisted of lob passes inside to Gordon but the effort to reach those passes kept him off balance upon landing. That and being smothered with Pride jerseys.
The stars of the game finished with 19 and nine (Bird) and 18 and 10 (Gordon) but the former had so much more help.
Mario (Montana) Dunn totaled 15 points on six deuces and a trey in a sharp shooting night for Salesian. At the point, Markel (Cal Poly) Leonard operated smoothly throughout and Jermaine Edmonds Jr. contributed at opportune moments in scoring and on the boards.
One Bird highlight: on a dunk, he utilized something similar to that little extra gear sprinter's employ but this time it meant going a few inches higher in elevation than first decided. Maybe acting like he enjoyed a booster rocket on his jump is the most apt description.
Also impressive about Bird was his decisions not to force shots, especially when paired against Gordon. He would go up ready to shoot, realize the attempt would not result in a high percentage attempt and kick the ball back out to a teammate.
One Gordon highlight: he scored without coming down on an out of bounds lob pass to him.
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Serra High took down St. Joseph Notre Dame 63-46 in the preceding matchup.
Serra 15 36 45 63
SJND 7 20 35 46
The Padres would feed a player right around the 10-foot mark in the paint and typically either kick it out to the corner for an open jumper or hit a cutter on the baseline for a layup attempt. It seemed like they were programmed to do so without hesitation as multiple guys performed this role very well, like a quarterback checking his pass receiving options.
Serra senior backcourter Jacqui Biggins led with 21 points while Henry (Princeton) Caruso was close behind with 18. The senior Caruso defended Pilot big Temidayo Yussef, a junior, well in preventing entry passes.
Senior Justin Brown, with his scoring and passing, was the top overall producer for St. Joseph Notre Dame.
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* St. Patrick-St. Vincent High 73, Sacred Heart Prep 54
Junior Jalen Canty with 16 points was just too big and strong inside and senior backcourter Jason Webster often had his way with dribble-drives and outside jumpshots in totaling 17 points.
6-foot-4 senior Ricky Galliano finished with 22 points for SHP.
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In other scores from the First Annual Catholic Schools Winter Classic:
* Archbishop Riordan High 79, Moreau Catholic High 63
* St. Mary's High 65, St. Francis High 52
* Central Catholic High 57, St. Elizabeth High 19 (this was the opener)
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