NCS basketball playoffs: The best of Wednesday’s opening round
On Night 2 of the North Coast Section boys and girls basketball playoffs, teams in Divisions II, IV and VI were in action for opening-round games.
There were 30-point games by multiple players. There were dominant wins by a number of teams and a few surprises as well.
Here are the highlights:
GAMES OF THE NIGHT
Boys
Selleaze’s triple-double carries San Lorenzo past Heritage: There was no doubt who the best player was on the floor.
San Lorenzo guard Ronnie Selleaze posted an absurd 35-point triple-double to lead the seventh-seeded Grizzlies to a 65-55 win over No. 10 Heritage at home in the Division II bracket.
The Salesian transfer grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out 10 assists while playing all 32 minutes. He nearly posted a quadruple-double as he had seven steals, five of which came in the first half.
“To have a guy like that who can drop a triple-double in a playoff game shows how diverse of a player he can be,” San Lorenzo coach Toby Merchant said.
San Lorenzo built a 10-point lead at halftime and built its advantage to as big as 17 early in the third quarter.
But a spirited 8-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters brought the Brentwood school to within two points of the lead.
From there, it was all Selleaze.
San Lorenzo went on a 10-0 run as Selleaze scored or assisted on every basket. The Grizzlies outscored Heritage 14-6 in the final four minutes to seal the win.
“I was trying to play the game the right way,” Selleaze said. “I was looking to get my teammates involved and focusing on how we can get the win. I was willing to do whatever it took to win.”
San Lorenzo will travel to No. 2 Cardinal Newman for its second round matchup.
Heritage ended its season 15-12.
Mission San Jose returns to quarterfinals: A year ago at this time, Mission San Jose was feeling pretty good after beating St. Helena in the opening round of the Division IV playoffs.
For a program that had suffered mostly losing seasons since MaxPreps began archiving results two decades ago, MSJ was suddenly in a section quarterfinal.
The Warriors lost a heartbreaker, on the road to Middletown, 43-40.
But that didn’t end their story.
A year later, MSJ is back in the D-IV quarterfinals after winning at home on Wednesday over Tamalpais 57-52.
Seeded fourth, the Warriors will return to their home court on Saturday to face fifth-seeded Bethel, an 87-77 winner over Tennyson on Wednesday.
In its win over Tamalpais, MSJ built a 37-27 lead by halftime, stretched the margin to 11 after three quarters and held on down the stretch.
Piedmont off and rolling: Will there be another run to the state playoffs for Piedmont? If so, the Highlanders will have to navigate through a higher classification.
One year after losing to St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the NCS Division IV final – which was good enough for a CIF state berth – Piedmont is in Division II this time around.
The fourth-seeded Highlanders opened at home on Wednesday with a 55-46 victory over 13th-seeded Urban.
Beach Lorin scored 16 points to lead the way. Piedmont also got 13 points from PJ Brayer, 11 from Dillon Casey and 10 from Lucian Fang Ring as the Highlanders improved to 19-8.
They led 19-10 after the first quarter, 34-26 at halftime and 41-34 through three periods to advance to play fifth-seeded Albany, which routed Ygnacio Valley 65-47.
Albany fends off Ygnacio Valley: In a back-and-forth game between two of the Bay Area’s most underrated teams, Albany found a way to pull out a win at home.
The teams battled throughout the first three quarters, but the Cougars caught fire in the fourth quarter to run away with a 65-47 victory.
“They’ve got a couple of really good guards who scored some points, but for the most part, we were able to keep them from totally getting loose and our guys rebounded pretty hard,” Albany coach Bill Tressler said.
Albany was given the short end of the stick last season as it received the No. 13 seed in the Division I bracket, falling to East Bay powerhouse Clayton Valley by 18 points.
But the Cougars got a favorable placement this season as the fifth seed in Division II, which guaranteed them at least one home playoff game.
“I think that kind of charged the guys up a little bit and made them feel like we had a chance to do some damage,” Tressler said of Albany’s placement in Division II.
Now Albany will make the 10-mile drive to Piedmont on Saturday in a matchup of two very similar teams stylistically.
Ygnacio Valley finished 13-15.
El Cerrito pulls off upset: El Cerrito made the five-hour trip to McKinleyville worth every mile.
The 11th-seeded Gauchos upset No. 6 McKinleyville 59-53 to advance to the second round of the Division II playoffs.
El Cerrito led by 12 with two minutes remaining, then fended off a mini comeback from the Panthers to advance.
“We drove about five, six hours this morning to get here,” El Cerrito coach Nick Brown said. “I think it was just a testament to the type of team that we are. We’re not used to being the underdog in every situation. I think it just showed that we’re traveling any distance to go out and compete and compete at a high level.”
El Cerrito sophomore Mahal McBride had a team-high 20 points. The Gauchos will play St. Mary’s-Berkeley in Round 2 on Saturday.
Girls
Moreau Catholic gets a rematch: In some ways, the stakes will be just as high as they were last season when Moreau Catholic and Marin Catholic meet in a Division II quarterfinal Saturday.
One team’s season is about to end.
In the CIF NorCal Division III semifinals last year, Marin Catholic, playing at home, eliminated Moreau 50-36.
Saturday, the rematch will be at Moreau’s gym in Hayward.
Second-seeded Moreau advanced on Wednesday with a dominant performance against 15th-seeded Fortuna, winning 72-36.
Mahlaysia Atkins was spectacular for the home team, almost outscoring Fortuna by herself. The senior finished with 33 points on 13-of-18 shooting.
“She came out second half and converted steals and ran transition for lay-ups,” coach Toni West wrote in a text. “I am just looking at this. Wow 72% from the field!!!!”
Marin Catholic is the seventh seed in the D-II bracket. It moved on Wednesday with a 49-41 win over No. 10 Ukiah 49-41.
Las Lomas finding its groove: The Knights ended their regular season on a four-game losing streak, but that didn’t stop the Walnut Creek school from finding its groove for the playoffs.
Las Lomas defeated Kennedy-Fremont 51-40 in the second matchup between the two teams. Three players scored in double figures with Tenaya Cooley leading the way with 12 points.
“I knew going into this year that we had a good team,” Las Lomas coach Ventura Armenta said. “It’s just about them getting together, working together and taking care of business on the court and wanting it more than the other team.”
STARS OF THE NIGHT
– Ronnie Selleaze posted a 35-point, 15 rebound, 10 assist triple-double to lead San Lorenzo to a 10-point win over Heritage.
– El Cerrito sophomore Mahal McBride hit every big shot down the stretch, finishing with 20 points in the Gauchos’ upset win over McKinleyville.
– Las Lomas’ Tenaya Cooley played lockdown defense and scored 12 points as Las Lomas bested Kennedy-Fremont
– Moreau Catholic’s Mahlaysia Atkins scored 22 of her 33 points in the second half to lead the Mariners to a rout of Fortuna.
BUZZER BEATERS
Girls
– The battle of Walnut Creek Part II will go down at Las Lomas as the Knights host rival Northgate in the quarterfinals of the Division IV girls bracket
– After upsetting Urban in San Francisco, Mission San Jose will have to travel 134 miles to play Kelseyville in the second round.
Boys
– Mission San Jose will host Bethel in the quarterfinals of the Division II playoffs. Bethel put up 87 points on Tennyson in its first-round game. This will be the first matchup between the two teams in the MaxPreps era
– Benicia and Alhambra will meet for the second time this season after both got out of their opening-round matchups. Benicia routed Alhambra 60-33 in January.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Open Division gets underway Thursday, with two boys and two girls games. Top boys seeds Salesian and Clayton Valley and top girls seeds San Ramon Valley and Carondelet have opening-round byes.
Quarterfinals in Divisions I, III and V are scheduled for Friday, with matchups such as No. 9 Acalanes at No. 1 Bishop O’Dowd and No. 6 Monte Vista at No. 3 Granada in boys D-I and No. 5 Alameda at No. 4 Acalanes and No. 7 Heritage at No. 2 Dublin in girls D-1.