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Division IV: Piedmont boys avenge NCS loss — 91 years later
Piedmont’s nine-decade wait for another trip to a North Coast Section boys basketball final wasn’t going so well Saturday.
The Highlanders trailed St. Mary’s-Berkekey by as many as 13 points in the first half, didn’t grab their first lead until late in the third quarter and didn’t take the advantage for good until DaRon Benson’s three-point play with 2:27 to go.
All that made the celebration at Pinole Valley High that much sweeter.
Piedmont sank nearly all of its free throws down the stretch — make that nearly all for the game — to claim the Division IV championship with a 77-67 victory.
The two Lukes, as they have been all season, were special for the champs.
Luke Harris finished with 29 points, many on hustle plays near the basket. Big guy Luke Barrett was just as important, scoring 17 of his 24 points after halftime and pulling down 11 rebounds.
Challenged by coach Ben Spencer, Barrett more than answered the call.
“I stopped and told him in the locker room at halftime, ‘You’re the best player on the court, start acting like it,'” Spencer said. “He went out there and performed in the second half.”
Then there was Benson, a former starter, who provided lock-down defense off the bench and the game’s last lead change.
A collective effort — or, as the coach noted, contributions from the first guy to the last.
“It’s a great feeling right now,” Spencer said. “That’s what you coach for, to give all those kids the opportunity to play the game they love at a high level and we did that the entire season. We’ve had some lofty goals since the spring and one of those was to win another banner. We were able to do that.”
Slow start nothing new for Piedmont
Ninety-one years earlier, against Palo Alto in an NCS final back when there was no Central Coast Section, Piedmont fell behind 9-0 on its way to a 25-21 defeat.
Saturday, the Highlanders trailed 25-12 in the first quarter before turning things around.
“We just had to realize we were in a championship game,” Barrett said. “We didn’t have energy to start. They were hitting every shot. But we knew they probably had the best start they had all year, and we were only down six (at halftime). We average almost 80 points. We knew we were going to do better offensively in the second half. That’s what happened.”
Division I: SRV girls finally get to display their banner
It’s been a slow climb for the San Ramon Valley girls basketball team — one step at a time. But the Wolves finally reached the top of the mountain Saturday, beating San Leandro 60-44 in the NCS Division I championship game.
You might say SRV shot the lights out in the Dublin High gym while running its record to 25-4. The Wolves hit 14 3-pointers, led by Anne Marie Santich with eight, including five treys in the third quarter. She finished the night with 26 points.
“That’s pretty much my game,” she said of her hot shooting beyond the 3-point line. “I’m never afraid to shoot the ball.”
Audrey Bayston had three 3-pointers and contributed 15 points.
San Ramon Valley only fell behind once, when San Leandro (24-5) scored the first basket. The Wolves led 15-13 at the end of one quarter, 33-23 at the half, and by 19 points when the third quarter ended.
The first eight buckets by San Ramon Valley were 3-pointers. That streak finally ended in the second period when Bayston scored from under the basket.
“Our offensive plan was if they kept (Tovale Tupouata) down low, we’d have some open shots,” San Ramon Valley coach John Cristiano said.
San Leandro’s 6-foot-1 power forward didn’t venture away from the basket much, and San Ramon Valley started shooting outside.
The victory completed a journey for the Wolves that started when they lost to American in the first round of the playoffs in 2016-17. The last two years SRV played for section titles but lost to Carondelet and Heritage. That’s why Saturday’s win felt so good.
“For four years we’ve been building this program up,” Paige Gerhart said. “We’ve constantly been setting goals. When we didn’t make it to the EBAL championship (this season), we knew we wanted to win NCS.”
Division III: Inexperience isn’t stopping Moreau Catholic girls
Moreau Catholic dominated San Marin in a 66-29 victory in the Division III NCS girls championship, also played at Dublin High. The Mariners led 35-19 at the half and expanded that lead to 56-24 after three quarters.
Moreau Catholic (18-10) is a young team with six freshmen on the roster. Three of them start. One of the freshmen, guard Dymonique Maxie, was the game’s leading scorer with 19 points. Sophomores Gabby Mira and Kamara Pitts had 16 and 12 points, respectively.
With so much inexperience on his squad, coach Jose Alvarez wonders if his players realize what they’re accomplishing.
“They’re so young, I wonder if they understand the moment, or if they’re just having fun?” Alvarez asked.
Etc.
The second-seeded De Anza boys hadn’t won an NCS championship in 31 years. The drought ended Saturday as the Dons turned back fifth-seeded Alameda 57-48 for the Division II crown. … Branson, the top seed in the Division III boys bracket, opted to move up from Division IV in hopes of being selected for the NCS’s Open Division. The Bulls were left out of the Open and Saturday they were denied the D-III title, losing to second seed St. Patrick-St. Vincent 43-40. The championship was SPSV’s second in three seasons. … The Alameda girls won their program’s first NCS title in dominant fashion, toppling second seed Montgomery 58-39. … Top seed St. Mary’s-Berkeley won its sixth NCS girls title — all since 2009 — with a 60-49 victory over second seed St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the Division IV final.