Welcome to the Bay Area News Group (Mercury News & East Bay Times) roundup of the best action in high school sports. Check back each Monday through Saturday for our morning reports.
Boys basketball
If this month’s section basketball playoffs are anything like the opening round of the East Bay Athletic League tournament, get ready for some drama.
Tuesday night, Granada traveled to San Ramon and beat Dougherty Valley 68-58, sending the host Wildcats to a fourth consecutive loss.
De La Salle, playing at home in Concord, scratched and clawed to turn back Foothill 38-31.
Then there was Dublin.
The Gaels, playing on their home court, trailed Monte Vista by 12 points with a little more than three minutes left before roaring back to win 62-60.
“It doesn’t matter the number next to your name,” Dublin coach Tom Costello said. “This is our fifth year in the EBAL. I haven’t seen anything like this. One through nine can beat anybody.”
It certainly seemed that way Tuesday.
Top-seeded Dublin appeared all but done when Monte Vista, the eighth seed, went ahead 55-43 with 3:10 left.
But Dublin didn’t go 8-1 in one of the Bay Area’s strongest leagues by accident. The comeback started when Donovan Cooks, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, buried a 3-pointer.
After an errant Monte Vista pass went out of bounds, Dublin’s Mehki Thomas drew a foul. He made the first free throw and missed the second. TJ Costello — the coach’s son — grabbed the rebound for Dublin and Cooks nailed another 3-pointer, cutting the margin to 55-50 with 2:25 left.
Courtney Anderson Jr.’s 3-pointer with 32 seconds to go made it 60-57, and Dublin’s press forced a held ball. With the possession arrow favoring Dublin, Thomas drove for a basket that pulled the home team to within 60-59 with 19.5 seconds left.
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Jalen Stokes’ steal led to Adam Moore drawing a foul and making two free throws – he hit the front of the rim on the first and rattled in the second – to give Dublin a 61-60 lead with 12.7 seconds left.
Cooks added another free throw with seven-tenths of a second on the clock to complete the scoring and stunning rally.
Anderson led Dublin (16-4) with 22 points. Thomas finished with 11.
Jack Endries scored 21 points to lead Monte Vista. Luke Spies added 13 points and Jake Fields had 11 points for the Mustangs (11-14).
Dublin advanced to play host to fifth-seeded Granada in the semifinals on Thursday. In the other semifinal, No. 3 seed San Ramon Valley will visit second-seeded De La Salle.
The winners will play for the league title Saturday.
Elsewhere in the EBAL
In a defensive grind, De La Salle held off Foothill 38-31 to extend its winning streak to nine games. Johnny Semany led DLS with 14 points. John Flannigan added 13 rebounds for the Spartans (19-4). Isaiah Minor had 14 points for Foothill (14-10). DLS led 7-3 after the first quarter, 15-9 at halftime and 25-16 after the third quarter. … Granada toppled Dougherty Valley 68-58 to advance to the semifinals. The Matadors led 23-15 after the first quarter and 38-29 at halftime. They stretched the advantage to 53-40 heading to the fourth quarter. … San Ramon Valley advanced to the semifinals with a 49-27 victory at home over Amador Valley. The Wolves improved to 14-7. Amador is 12-10.
Mountain View 54, No. 15 Los Altos 49
In a matchup between two of the three contenders in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division, Mountain View completed a season sweep of Los Altos, leaving both teams in a position to share the league title
Mountain View is 9-2 in the De Anza standings.
Los Altos is 8-2.
Los Altos visits Milpitas on Friday and plays host to Palo Alto on Tuesday. Mountain View closes its league schedule at home Friday against Cupertino.
Palo Alto also has two league losses. If the Vikings win their final three games — at home Friday against Santa Clara and Saturday against Milpitas and Tuesday at Los Altos — they can do no worse than share first place with Mountain View.
In Tuesday’s game at Los Altos, Mountain View led by 13 points before the home team made a big run to cut the margin to one.
Mountain View held on as Joey Peir (14 points), Patrick Kane (12 points) and Jack Pillsbury (11 points) led the way for the Spartans.
Andrew Reilly finished with 18 points and Jake Skaggs had 11 points for Los Altos.
Fremont-Sunnyvale 45, Los Gatos 42
Fremont, playing at home, stayed in contention for the SCVAL’s El Camino Division title with a nail-biting victory over Los Gatos.
Milandev Chatha scored 28 points to lead Fremont.
With one week to play, Los Gatos, Lynbrook, Saratoga and Fremont all have three league losses.
Los Gatos has one game left, Lynbrook two and Fremont and Saratoga three each.
No. 14 Moreau Catholic 76, Kennedy-Fremont 47
Moreau clinched the Mission Valley Athletic League championship with a victory at home over Kennedy, the Hayward school’s sixth league crown since 2015.
Owen Arnst (17 points), Trey Knight (16 points, six assists) and Kellen Hampton (11 points) led the Mariners.
Moreau is 20-4 overall and 12-0 in the league.
Kennedy is 9-13, 5-8.
Girst basketball
No. 16 Evergreen Valley 92, Oak Grove 82
Playing for the first time in 12 days, Evergreen Valley showed absolutely no signs of rust on offense, particularly sophomore standout Ryka Aprameyan.
In a wild game on the road against Oak Grove, Aprameyan sank 11-pointers and finished with a season-high 44 points as Evergreen overcame a four-point deficit after three quarters to stretch its winning streak to 12 games.
Aprameyan shot 11 for 15 from beyond the arc and 16 of 30 overall. She is averaging 23.7 points per game on the season.
Evergreen improved to 17-1 overall and 7-0 in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mt. Hamilton Division.
Oak Grove fell to 11-8, 3-6.
Seniors Sophia Williams (28 points) and Riya Sanampudi (18 points) also helped propel Evergreen.
Elsewhere
In the EBAL tournament, San Ramon Valley beat Foothill 64-24, Amador Valley edged Granada 41-39, Carondelet rolled past California 88-34 and Monte Vista defeated Dublin 66-30. In Thursday’s semifinals, No. 3 seed Monte Vista travels to No. 2 seed Carondelet and top seed SRV plays host to No. 5 seed Amador Valley. The final is Saturday. … Archbishop Mitty stayed on pace for a West Catholic Athletic League championship, cruising past Presentation 72-10. … Valley Christian avenged a tough loss at St. Francis last month, beating the Lancers 42-37. … Acalanes stretched its winning streak to 19 games with a 73-53 win over Northgate. … Elle Ladine scored 23 points in Pinewood’s 73-23 victory over The King’s Academy. … San Leandro edged Alameda 45-43 to stay even with Piedmont atop the West Alameda County Conference Foothill League standings.
Source: www.mercurynews.com