CIF NorCal basketball regionals: Best of Tuesday’s opening round
Boys
DIVISION I
No. 2 Clayton Valley 55, No. 15 Lincoln-Stockton 42: Three days after suffering a heartbreaking two-point loss to Salesian in the North Coast Section Open Division final, Clayton Valley was locked in for its NorCal opener at home against Lincoln.
The Ugly Eagles played stifling defense from the get-go and led 17-2 after the first quarter.
The visitors from Stockton eventually settled in but had to chase the scoreboard all game, which is never a good idea against a team coached by Frank Allocco Jr.
Cannon Simpson led Clayton Valley with 17 points and eight rebounds. The Ugly Eagles also got 12 points apiece from Zion Grissom and Vince Ellis and 10 from Chris Berry.
The victory sets up a rematch at home against Dougherty Valley on Thursday. The seventh-seeded Wildcats breezed on their home court Tuesday past Destiny Christian-Sacramento 84-58.
When Clayton Valley played host to Dougherty Valley in the NCS Open semifinals last week, the home team prevailed 55-50.
Clayton Valley is now the top remaining seed in the bracket after No. 16 seed Jesuit-Carmichael beat No. 1 Buchanan, which means the Ugly Eagles won’t have to leave their home gym to advance to the state final in Sacramento on March 13.
– Darren Sabedra
No. 9 The King’s Academy 85, No. 8 Marin Catholic 73: Given that it reached the Division III state final just last season, TKA knows what it takes to win at this time of the year.
Yes, the Knights were elevated two levels this time around, a big jump for any program. But for one night at least, they were up to the challenge.
Playing on the road against Marin Catholic, the Sunnyvale private school found itself in a track meet from the start as the teams combined for 51 points in the first quarter, which ended with the home side leading 27-24.
Marin Catholic still led at halftime, 40-37, but the second half was a different story. TKA outscored the hosts 48-33 in the final 16 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals.
Xavier Barnett finished with 20 points and Adrian Barnett had 19 to lead the Knights. Claxton Ladine added 15 points, Boss Mhoon contributed 13 and Scotty Beamish Jr had 11 as TKA improved to 24-4.
There was even more good news for the Knights when they checked the scores. With top-seeded Buchanan losing at home to No. 16 Jesuit, TKA will have an unexpected home game Thursday against Jesuit.
“We’re so excited about that,” TKA coach Cameron Bradford said in a text.
– Darren Sabedra
No. 5 Clovis North 86, No. 12 Bishop O’Dowd 77: O’Dowd’s magical season has come to an end.
The Dragons couldn’t stop McKae Amundsen, who scored 37 points and dished out eight assists to lead the home team to a win.
O’Dowd trailed by seven after three quarters, but couldn’t close the gap.
The Dragons had a resurgent season after getting bounced in the first round of the section playoffs last season as the Oakland school won a league and NCS Division I championship.
O’Dowd is slated to return star guard GJ Hill-Thomas and sharpshooter Calvin Lacsamana next season.
– Nathan Canilao
No. 6 Franklin 81, No. 11 Moreau Catholic 77, OT: The postseason can be awfully painful for teams that don’t advance. By any measure, Moreau Catholic had a great run – 23 wins and just three losses in the regular season and a berth in the NCS Open Division playoffs.
But the good vibes didn’t last.
The Mariners lost to De La Salle in overtime in the NCS Open, then fell at Marin Catholic in the Open’s fifth-place game.
With a chance to start a new chapter Tuesday, the Hayward private school lost in overtime at Franklin-Elk Grove to finish the season 23-6.
Brendan Williams went out swinging, finishing with 26 points and 20 rebounds for Moreau. Isaiah Clendinen added 18 points and Kareem Jackson Jr. had 10.
Franklin got 24 points from Benjamin Sandy, 19 from Kwali Simmons and 15 from Aiden Rollins.
– Darren Sabedra
No. 7 Dougherty Valley 84, No. 10 Destiny Christian 58: Coach Mike Hansen earned his first NorCal regional win as the Wildcats routed Sacramento’s Destiny Christian at home.
Rashod Cotton Jr. scored a game-high 30 points, and Dougherty Valley hit a school-record 15 3-pointers.
“Our defense was really good,” Hansen said. “They got some dudes, but our defense played well. Then, we started hitting shots.”
Dougherty Valley will play at second-seeded Clayton Valley on Thursday.
– Nathan Canilao
DIVISION II
No. 14 Clovis 69, No. 3 Granada 63: The Matadors were on the losing end of a huge upset in the Division II bracket.
The Livermore school’s season ends after falling to Clovis at home. The defeat comes three days after Granada lost a heartbreaker to Bishop O’Dowd in the NCS Division I final.
Granada revived its program with the return of coach Quaran Johnson Sr., who took a leave of absence to care for his newborn child. Granada won just eight games with Johnson not on the bench.
The Matadors will graduate uber athletic forwards Damien Miles and Cordell Taylor, but return star big man Brandon Hahn, shifty point guard Quaran Johnson Jr. and glue guy Ethan Mitchell.
Clovis will make its second trip to the Bay Area on Thursday when it plays Oakland Tech.
– Nathan Canilao
No. 7 Amador Valley 62, No. 10 Serra 58: This East Bay Athletic League-West Catholic Athletic League crossover belonged to the Dons, who got 26 points from star point guard Jaylen Smith.
“WCAL teams are like EBAL teams. I knew it was going to be a dog fight coming into this game,” Amador Valley coach Willis Gardner said. “Serra played great until the end. But I still think we can play better than we did tonight.”
Elijah Stanley added 12 points and San Jose State commit Cade Krueger had 11.
Amador Valley earned its spot into the playoffs after beating Liberty in the NCS Division I third-place game. The Dons will now travel to No. 2 Sacramento on Thursday.
“We have to be disciplined and control the temp,” Gardner said of Sacramento. “It’s going to be a hostile environment and they’re rolling right now.”
– Nathan Canilao
Girls
DIVISION I
No. 15 Bishop O’Dowd 66, No. 2 Archbishop Riordan 56: In one of the upsets of the night – at least by seed – O’Dowd prevailed in San Francisco behind 16 points from Jayla Stokes.
The Dragons have been a perennial NorCal power under longtime coach Malik McCord, so it’s quite possible the Oakland school was seeded too low.
O’Dowd (17-10) advanced to play at seventh-seeded St. Francis in the quarterfinals Thursday.
Nylah Dyson led Riordan with 23 points. The Crusaders also got 10 points apiece from Tallyah Nasol and Mafalda Fontan Rodriguez.
Riordan, the CCS Open runner-up, finished 18-9.
– Darren Sabedra
No. 5 Priory 40, No. 12 Immanuel 22: The defenses dominated this first-round game as Priory advanced to play host to Clayton Valley on Thursday.
The Portola Valley private school trailed Immanuel-Reedley 12-9 after the first quarter, then clamped down the rest of the way.
Priory led 19-14 at halftime and 33-19 after three quarters. The Panthers held the visitors to eight second-half points and 10 points over the final three periods.
Ugreat Daniels finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and Gabby Wickham added 11 points, four steals and four rebounds to lead Priory, which also got seven points, 11 rebounds and five steals from Jordyn Moss.
Priory improved to 22-6. Immanuel finished 27-5.
– Darren Sabedra
No. 3 Piedmont 63, No. 14 Antelope 57: In a game that was tight from start to finish, Piedmont moved on thanks to sophomore Andrea Martin, who scored more than half of the Highlanders’ points.
She finished with 32 on 10-of-16 shooting and added nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals in a brilliant performance for the home team.
Freshman Alexa Ba (11 points) was the only other Piedmont player to score in double figures.
The Highlanders (22-4) will play host to sixth-seeded Central East on Thursday. Antelope finished 25-6.
– Darren Sabedra
DIVISION II
No. 4 Oakland Tech 67, No. 13 Moreau Catholic 52: It took a while for Tech to get going, but once it did, there was no stopping the Bulldogs.
Tech weathered an early double-digit deficit to defeat visiting Moreau Catholic and advance to the second round.
Vanderbilt commit Jhai Johnson scored 20 points and grabbed 22 rebounds. UNLV-bound forward Terri’A Russell bounced back after committing three fouls within the first three minutes of the game, scoring 19 of her 21 points in the second half while grabbing 12 rebounds.
Moreau led for most of the first half and held an advantage as big as 12. But once Tech got Russell back in the game to start the third quarter, the Bulldogs outscored the Mariners 23-4 to take a 15-point lead going into the final quarter.
Tech will get to host another playoff game in the next round when it plays No. 12 Del Oro, which upset No. 5 Acalanes in Lafayette.
– Nathan Canilao
No. 8 Salesian 61, No. 9 Oak Ridge 57, OT: Fresh off winning the NCS Division II championship on Saturday, Salesian had no opportunity to ease into the NorCal regionals as Oak Ridge gave the Pride all it could handle.
But Salesian found a way to win in overtime to advance to play at top-seeded McClatchy on Thursday.
Ezra Palec scored 22 points for Salesian. Emma Bryant added 10 points and Caileigh Edwards contributed nine as the Pride improved to 22-10.
– Darren Sabedra
BUZZER-BEATERS
– The Willow Glen boys had no letdown in their first game since capturing the program’s first section title in 57 years. The CCS Division II champions, seeded second in NorCal D-III, beat No. 15 East Union 65-59 to set up a Thursday quarterfinal at home against seventh-seeded Los Gatos.
– The opening round of NorCals was brutal for the WCAL boys. The league went 0-6 on Tuesday, with Mitty, Bellarmine, Valley Christian, Serra, St. Francis and Sacred Heart Cathedral all watching their season end.
– The WCAL has two boys teams still alive, both in the Open Division. Riordan is the Open’s top seeded and St. Ignatius is seeded third.
— Valley Christian senior Bryant Clark scored 39 points in his final game for the San Jose school, which lost at home in overtime to Woodcreek 65-58 in the Division II bracket.
— Darren Sabedra