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CONCORD — Ever since the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal regional playoffs began one week ago, the Campolindo boys basketball team has insisted it was disrespected by being seeded seventh in the Division I bracket.
Whether the Cougars were or not depends on whom you talk to. As for the team, it backed its words Tuesday night, beating De La Salle 54-49 to claim back-to-back NorCal titles.
Campolindo now goes for its second straight CIF state crown Friday night when it plays Ribet Academy-Los Angeles at 8 p.m. at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Last season the Cougars beat Colony-Ontario for the Division II championship.
It was a tough past few days for both Campo and De La Salle leading up to Tuesday’s contest.
Fourth-seeded DLS was supposed to play at No. 1 seed Riordan on Saturday, but that game was postponed because of a possible coronavirus case at the San Francisco school. The Spartans had already arrived for the game when Riordan officials asked for a delay until Monday.
When one of the school’s students — not a basketball player — tested positive, Riordan withdrew from the tournament.
That set up Tuesday night’s meeting at De La Salle.
“You feel bad for them,” Campolindo coach Steven Dyer said of Riordan, which beat Campo 76-62 in mid-December. “It sucks to have your season end without a game. But it’s something you can’t control. We won at Capital Christian, we won at Salesian, we won here. Anyone who tries to minimize what we did, I don’t think it’s fair.”
Campolindo (26-6) opened the playoffs by beating a battle-tested Serra team in Moraga. Then it took down the second, third and fourth seeds on the road by a grand total of eight points.
“One of our problems during the first part of the year was winning close games,” Dyer said. “But we needed to go through those struggles to win these games.”
The Cougars led 41-23 in the third quarter, but De La Salle mounted a comeback, outscoring Campo 11-4 for the rest of the period to make it 45-34. DLS (24-7) then went on a 13-5 run to start the fourth period, closing to 50-47.
Junior guard Miles Daniels returned to the game after missing much of the third quarter while nursing a sore knee. He scored six of his 10 points in the final period. Noah Clifford had 12 points for the Spartans and Jack Byers added 11.
But sophomore Aidan Mahaney hit four straight free throws in the final minute to seal the win for the Cougars.
Mahaney finished the game with nine points. His older brother Carter Mahaney contributed 15 and Emmanuel Callas led all scorers with 18.
“Campolindo was physical, they didn’t foul, they are really experienced. You could tell,” De La Salle coach Justin Argenal said. “When we made our run, they didn’t get rattled.”
Much of that credit belonged to Carter Mahaney. When the ball was in his hands, you could see calmness in the other Campo players. It didn’t hurt that he dropped 10 of his 15 points in the first half.
“He’s quick and strong with the ball,” Argenal said. “That’s what a senior looks like.”
Mahaney said he had to score because the De La Salle defense was focusing on Aidan.
“I shot it well,” Carter Mahaney said. “I had to step up and be aggressive.”
Callas, a 6-5 junior, has been equally impressive in the postseason, especially the last two games. He scored 33 points in a two-point victory over Capital Christian in the quarterfinals.
“I had three 3’s in both games,” Callas said. “I’ve been feeling good from long range. But we have three or four guys who can score. Whoever has the hot hand is who we go to.”
Both teams expressed sympathy for Riordan.
“It’s really unfortunate,” Carter Mahaney said. “Basketball means so much to us kids. I know some of those guys. I would have loved to have played them.”
“It’s heartbreaking,” Argenal said.
The De La Salle gym, which seats about 900, was packed, with about half the crowd from Campolindo. DLS athletic director Leo Lopoz was asked if there was ever any concern about Tuesday night’s game coming off, or if there was a possibility it would have to be played in an empty gym.
“At no point was it ever discussed not having any spectators,” Lopoz said. “At the same time there were reports coming out every hour. We were all following the lead of the experts, following CIF and following (Contra Costa) county health.”
