Boys basketball
Upset-minded Clayton Valley Charter rushed the court after Jeremiah Dargan squeezed through a double team off an inbound with 4.3 seconds left to drain a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
But that only forced overtime against visiting Campolindo, the top-ranked team in the Bay Area News Group rankings.
The Cougars regrouped to pull off a 52-45 victory on the road behind a game-high 22 points from St. Mary’s-bound Aidan Mahaney.
“I’m not sure if we’ve ever been through a situation like that, but we’re definitely known for being a team not getting rattled, not being fazed,” Campolindo coach Steven Dyer said. “That’s what we preach, so I calmly said in the huddle, ‘Four more minutes here, we should’ve closed out, but we have another chance.’ And the guys did a really good job.”
He added: “We want every possible situation thrown at us before the playoffs.”
The Cougars improved to 19-1 overall, 7-1 in the Diablo Valley Athletic League Foothill Division.
Shane O’Reilly also cracked double digits with 10 points as Campolindo prevailed for a 13th straight time, with wins in 38 of 39 games dating back to Feb. 26, 2020.
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But points were hard to come by in the first half, as the Cougars led 21-15 at intermission.
“They slowed down tempo, which was fine,” Dyer said. “We can play at a slow tempo, too. But I think we struggled offensively to make shots. But I thought, for the most part, we defended pretty well, which stabilized us – especially in the first half.”
No. 14 Clayton Valley (14-8, 4-4) was fresh off a 54-49 victory over No. 10 Northgate on Monday.
Trailing 41-38 with 4.9 seconds left, the Ugly Eagles advanced the ball to midcourt and CVC coach Frank Allocco Jr. called a timeout.
“I’d like to tell you what I drew up happened,” he said. “But they doubled Jeremiah and he just made a play. Frankly, we’ve seen Jeremiah do that a million times at practice. He always finds a way to pull something out like that and he did it at the right time.”
Dargan finished with a team-high 10 points, while Jason Zimmer contributed eight.
It wasn’t the outcome the Ugly Eagles envisioned, but over the past month Allocco feels the team’s growth is a positive sign heading into the postseason.
“We haven’t even focused on wins and losses,” Allocco said. “I know that sounds crazy at the high school level. … We’re still developing our culture and I feel like this team is evolving every week. I’ve never seen a team this late in the season improving this much.”
Bellarmine 52, No. 9 Serra 44
In a stunner, the unranked Bells pulled off an upset at home behind a double-double by Nick Corbett – 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Bellarmine also got 11 points from Brody Pearson, along with eight rebounds and six assists from Theoren Brouillette to improve to 10-8 overall, 3-6 in the West Catholic Athletic League.
The Padres dropped in the race for first place, now sitting at 13-6, 6-4 in the standings.
No. 8 St. Ignatius 77, No. 18 St. Francis 49
A trio of Wildcats cracked double digits in a blowout of the visiting Lancers.
St. Ignatius improved to 15-4 overall, 6-3 WCAL behind 17 points from Sean Quanico, plus another 13 from Giancarlo Toledo.
John Squire delivered 12 points and seven boards, and Roy Kenneally dished out seven assists.
St. Francis, which fell to 12-8 overall and 4-6 in league, got a team-high 13 points from Isaiah Kerr, with another 12 from Boladale Erogbogbo.
Girls basketball
No 11 Palo Alto 69, Wilcox 16
Palo Alto, playing at home, built a 20-point lead after the first quarter on the way to winning its 14th consecutive game.
The Vikings improved to 16-1 overall and 7-0 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division.
Wilcox is 4-14, 0-7.
Nadia Brown (13 points), Itzel Torres (12 points) and Natalie Neumann (11 points) scored in double figures for Palo Alto.
No. 16 Heritage 86, Antioch 17
A road trip proved no challenge for the Patriots, who saw junior Amanda Muse record 28 points, nine rebounds and six blocks.
Gabby Martini added 12 points and six steals, just besting teammate Kendall McClure – 12 points and five steals.
Caitlynn Smith chipped in with nine points, Zeni Purge dished out six assist as Heritage improved to 13-5 overall, 2-1 in the Bay Valley Athletic League.