Boys’ Basketball: CdM’s St. Geme rediscovers his shot

Something was off with Bo St. Geme down the stretch in Pacific Coast League play. The Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball team kept winning, even though one of its best players wasn’t scoring.

No one knew why St. Geme struggled with his left-handed shot. The floaters, the jumpers and the threes wouldn’t go in, leaving him with five, six, two, one and three as his point totals in the last five league games. The low production troubled Coach Ryan Schachter, and he tried to figure out what was wrong with St. Geme.

“Did your girlfriend dump you?” Schachter asked St. Geme.

St. Geme laughed, knowing Schachter was concerned with his game on the court. The problem was his shot wasn’t falling, and Schachter told St. Geme to shoot his way out of the slump.

St. Geme had to after CdM claimed its third undefeated league title during Schachter’s nine seasons in charge. Two and a half weeks ago, before the start of the CIF Southern Section Division 3A playoffs, Schachter pulled St. Geme aside.

“This team is going to go as far as you take us,” Schachter told St. Geme. “You as the leader need to know that.”

If there’s one player at CdM who has that championship pedigree, it’s St. Geme. In the past, he’s won three CIF Southern Section titles and a CIF State title with the Sea Kings, albeit in football. The mentality he played with on the football field is the same one St. Geme brings to the basketball court.

St. Geme isn’t a complainer. The senior comes to work, and he’s willing to grind, do whatever to help CdM win. The 5-foot-11 point guard now has the school’s basketball team on the verge of winning a section title.

In the postseason, St. Geme has turned it on offensively, averaging 10 points per game in the past three rounds, and as a result, No. 2-seeded CdM (24-6) plays No. 1 Beverly Hills (24-5) in the section final on Friday at Azusa Pacific University at 9 p.m. Out of all the championship runs St. Geme has been a part of at CdM, he said this has been the toughest.

“We all know how long it’s been since we’ve been here,” said St. Geme, referring to the basketball program making its first section finals appearance since the 2006-07 season. “We were close a couple of years ago, [when we lost to La Verne Damien in the semifinals at home], but to finally to be back, it’s really exciting.

“For us to win all these games and make this run to the championship, it’s something special. Don’t take anything away from the football [title runs], but the last three years we’ve been trying in basketball, so we realized how difficult it is to make it [to the final].”

St. Geme finding his shot in the playoffs has put CdM in its 10th section championship game in the program’s history. He’s coming off a 13-point performance in CdM’s 57-50 semifinal win at home against No. 3 Hemet Tahquitz. St. Geme knocked down three shots from beyond the arc, his most since a four three-point effort on Jan. 20.

Seeing St. Geme finish in double figures for the second time in three games shows how far he has come along. Before the playoffs, there were times St. Geme didn’t look for his shot because it was so off. St. Geme won’t admit it, but the elbow injury he suffered two days after Christmas plagued him.

When St. Geme got hurt in the first half against San Mateo Serra in the second game of the Don Bambauer Memorial Holiday Classic at Kentfield Marin Catholic, Schachter had no idea until late in the contest. With Serra trailing, it fouled CdM, sending St. Geme to the free-throw line. Schachter noticed something was up with St. Geme. For someone who shot 84% from the free-throw line last season, St. Geme air-balled the first foul shot and he barely hit the rim on the second attempt.

Schachter saw St. Geme trying to move his left elbow, the one he hyper-extended earlier in the game. The injury happened when St. Geme drove in for a layup, and then fell over a player. He tried to brace for the fall by putting his hand down, but someone struck St. Geme’s elbow, bending it forward.

When Schachter called St. Geme over, St. Geme finally informed Schachter of his elbow. He couldn’t move it.

“What’s the matter?” Schachter asked.

“I hurt my elbow,” St. Geme said.

“OK,” Schachter said. “Just shoot the free throws. I’m not taking you out. I need you to defend and handle the ball.”

“OK,” St. Geme said, before staying in the game, which CdM won, 68-64, to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.

Schachter remembers St. Geme converting only one of five free throws late, but he needed St. Geme on the court to take care of the ball and defend. It took some time for St. Geme’s elbow to heal, and it affected his shot.

Despite St. Geme’s shooting woes, Schachter continued to start him. There were other ways St. Geme sparked CdM.

“The thing with Bo is he’s so smart he can still lead the team and be one of our best players without shooting the ball, just by playing defense, by getting us into our offense, and by making plays for other people,” Schachter said. “He’s the smartest basketball player we’ve ever had. His basketball IQ is off the charts.”

St. Geme has a knack for finding the right open player. He’s unselfish, and he would rather have Ryan Stone, Sam Kobrine or Matt Ctvrtlik take a wide-open three, or feed Kevin Fults or Ctvrtlik in the paint, or throw an alley-oop pass to Ryan Moss than force a shot.

On the basketball court, St. Geme is the quarterback. In football, he was the one catching passes from the quarterback, and he hauled in a lot, finishing as CdM’s career leader in receptions (154) and receiving yards (2,113), and No. 2 in receiving touchdowns (17).

While football is the sport St. Geme plans to play in college, adding that UCLA and USC are interested in him as a possible walk-on player, his time with the CdM basketball team this season has been quite the experience. He’s gone from not being able to hit shots to coming through for CdM, which looks to claim its sixth section crown.

“The coaches and the other guys still had confidence in me,” St. Geme said. “I was just kind of struggling to find the bottom of the hoop. I’m lucky that the other guys on our team picked me up and we were able to win those [10] games in league. I’ve kind of started to find my rhythm again. We’re hitting our stride at the right time.”

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Bo St. Geme

Born: Dec. 18, 1995

Hometown: Palo Alto

Height: 5-foot-11

Weight: 160 pounds

Year: Senior

Coach: Ryan Schachter

Favorite food: Cheeseburger

Favorite movie: “Remember the Titans”

Favorite athletic moment: Winning the CIF State Division III Bowl Game with the CdM football team in 2013.

Week in review: St. Geme hit three three-pointers and finished with 13 points, helping the No. 2-seeded Sea Kings beat No. 3 Hemet Tahquitz, 57-50, in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 3A playoffs.