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Game of the night: Mt. Eden beats Logan in OT
Mt. Eden had to be a bit concerned as its opening-round Division I game at home against No. 10 seed James Logan went deep into nail-biting time, especially after Makaio Mims answered Kenyatta Fudge’s 3-pointer with a 3 of his own to pull Logan even and send the game to overtime tied 52-52. Mt. Eden had lost its previous five games — two by a point and another in OT. The extra session Tuesday was all defense as the refs let them play. Bryce Wells’ jumper gave Mt. Eden a 54-52 lead and Karl Chaves padded the advantage to three when he nailed two free throws in a 1-and-1 situation with 11.1 seconds left. Logan star Brah’Jon Thompson missed a 3-pointer off the backboard and by the time the Colts retrieved the long rebound, time expired.
Final: Mt. Eden 56, Logan 53.
“We’ve lost a lot of games just like this and we’ve won a lot of games like this,” said Mt Eden coach Aaron O’Brien, whose seventh-seeded team advances to play at No. 2 seed Granada on Friday night. “We’ve been in virtually every game we’ve played this year. It feels great. Logan’s a great team. Proud program. We just made one more play.”
Mt. Eden’s Wells heats up down the stretch
Wells scored half of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, the reward for the hours spent running on the track next to the gym. “Our coach has been telling us all year we’re the best-conditioned team,” Wells said. “We’ve been at it for seven months on that track.”
Chaves hits clutch foul shots for Mt. Eden
Nobody had to tell Chaves about the importance of the moment when he stepped to the foul line in the waning seconds of overtime.
The Monarchs led by only one point.
“I knew it was 1-and-1, so I said, ‘OK, I cannot miss the first one,’” Chaves said, noting the work he’d put in at practice. “I shot it. It went in. The second one, I shot it. I made it. All right. I get back on defense. No threes. No fouls. And we pulled out the game.”
A familiar path for Logan
Four seasons ago, James Logan won the Northern California Division I championship and played in a state title game. The next season, the Colts lost in the first round of the NCS Division I playoffs. Last season, Logan won the NorCal D-I title and played in a state final. Tuesday, the team’s season ended in the first round of the NCS playoffs.
This one was particularly tough because it ended Thompson’s high school career. The high-energy guard never found his shooting rhythm from the perimeter Tuesday, finishing with eight points.
Coby Hawkins led Logan with 15 points and relentless hustle near the basket. Mims added 14 points and Teo Inciong finished with 10.
“It’s tough when you lose like that,” coach Melvin Easley said.
Moreau, Washington, Newark Memorial carry MVAL banner
If Logan had won, it would have been a perfect night for the Mission Valley Athletic League boys. No. 4 seed Moreau Catholic toppled Liberty 73-57 in Division I and third-seeded Washington ousted Vintage 71-55 in Division II. Sixth-seeded Newark Memorial also won in D-II, edging San Lorenzo 71-69. Newark’s survival sets up an all-MVAL quarterfinal Friday night as the Cougars travel to Washington. The teams split the regular-season series. Moreau will be at home Friday night against No. 5 seed Monte Vista.
Heritage, Deer Valley make it a night of upsets for BVAL
If you looked at the first-round matchups in Division I, it appeared the NCS playoffs would be a one-night postseason for the Bay Valley Athletic League. Four BVAL teams were invited to the dance, but they were seeded 11-14. The only lower seed was No. 15 Arroyo.
Well, the BVAL muscled up on Tuesday night. No. 11 Deer Valley surprised No. 6 Amador Valley 54-45, but that was a mild upset compared to No. 14 Heritage getting the best of No. 3 Clayton Valley Charter 56-52.
The Patriots have a proud heritage in basketball. As recently as two years ago, they were NCS champs under coach Pat Cruickshank, who is now the section commissioner. They had three straight seasons of 20-plus wins before last year when they were 18-9.
This season has been a struggle for Heritage. It’s 12-15 under second-year coach Carly Perales. But on Friday, Heritage will host league rival Deer Valley (18-9) at 7 p.m.
Deer Valley is the BVAL’s champ, but it is ineligible to host because it exceeded the maximum amount of ejections allowed in a season.
Heritage beat Clayton Valley with a big second half, scoring 38 points after managing only 18 before the intermission. Junior guard Lamar Murphy came up huge, scoring 11 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Sebastian Duran had all 15 of his points in the third and fourth quarters, and junior Isaiah Hinds had eight of his 12 points after recess.
The victories by Heritage and Deer Valley helped the BVAL go 2-2 for the night. No. 12 Pittsburg was routed by Monte Vista 75-38 and 13th-seeded Liberty dropped a 73-57 decision to No. 4 Moreau Catholic.
Top seed San Ramon Valley wins on road
San Ramon Valley is seeded No. 1 in Division II. But because the Wolves did not win a league championship, they hit the road Tuesday against No. 16 seed Vallejo, which won its league. (League champs in the NCS host in the first round against non-league champs.) SRV prevailed 61-46, then celebrated with a “winner, winner, chicken dinner” stop at Chick-fil-A. The Wolves will be back at home for the quarterfinals Friday, against No. 8 seed Tamalpais.
The boys needed a late dinner. Where else would you want to go but @ChickfilA #winnerwinnerchickendinner pic.twitter.com/LabW7RsD9W
— SRVBasketball (@BasketballSrv) February 19, 2020
Monte Vista girls make fast work of Amador Valley
After No. 8 seed Monte Vista rolled past ninth-seeded Amador Valley 74-39 in the first round Tuesday night, the only question was if Division I should have been limited to eight teams.
The top eight seeds all won in the first round — by an average of 26 points. The closest game was No. 6 Carondelet’s 51-39 victory over No. 6 Freedom.
Monte Vista led Amador Valley 23-3 at the end of the first quarter, and 45-14 at the half. Perhaps this should have been expected. The Mustangs won in the regular season against Amador Valley 53-36. They are 17-9 going into Friday night’s quarterfinal contest against top seed American.
Amador Valley finished the season 13-15.
In a sense, you had to feel good for the Mustangs, a team that’s grieving the loss of their coach, Jim Lemmon, who died of cancer two weeks ago.
Alhambra girls win by forfeit
It isn’t often that a team wins by forfeit in a section playoff game. But that was the case Tuesday night when Albany called in sick and forfeited to Alhambra in a Division III contest. The score goes into the books as 2-0.
Alhambra athletic director Pat Ertola got an e-mail from Albany saying it had “too many injured players to field a team.” The e-mail also went to the NCS, which accepted the forfeit and told Ertola the Bulldogs would play Friday night in the quarterfinals.
Ertola admitted he was surprised by the forfeit. Maybe he shouldn’t have been. Albany was the last seed in the 13-team bracket and finished the season 8-16. Alhambra, seeded fourth, is 16-10.
