Boys and girls: Huge Division I doubleheader in Danville
For high school basketball fans, there may not be a better place to be than San Ramon Valley on Thursday night. The boys team hosts Sacred Heart Prep at 5 p.m. and the girls welcome longtime rival Carondelet at 7 p.m.
The boys game features two unlikely foes from Division I. SHP, the No. 15 seed, went on the road to No. 2 Folsom and stunned the traditional power 63-62 when Sam Norris’ layup off the lob went in with only a few seconds remaining.
Meanwhile, San Ramon Valley’s boys traveled to Clovis North as the No. 10 seed, and came away with a 63-57 victory. Senior point guard Parker McClaughry made big plays down the stretch to help SRV pull away.
“He made some big baskets to get us the win,” San Ramon Valley coach Brian Botteen told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday night.
Carondelet has been one of the elite programs in the Bay Area for years, but the San Ramon Valley girls have had their number as of late. Since 2020, SRV is 5-2 against Carondelet, which includes a 76-69 victory on Jan. 17.
Amanda Kerner led SRV (27-4) with 13 points in its 63-54 victory over Sacred Heart Cathedral, and Jamie Kent’s 17 points propelled Carondelet to the win over Antelope on Tuesday.
Girls: Pinewood sharpshooters have the firepower to upset No. 2 Oakland Tech
Oakland Tech has not lost a playoff game of any kind since 2018, when Oakland High slipped by the Bulldogs 45-43 in the Oakland Section playoffs.
Since then, Tech has won two Division III state titles, one NorCal Division II championship in a 2020 season ended by the pandemic, and is currently the No. 2 seed in NorCal Division I. The Bulldogs handled McClatchey 62-50, but it took until the fourth quarter for Tech to pull away.
Up next is another tough team that seems to be peaking at the right time—Doc Scheppler’s Pinewood unit that went 3-0 in CCS Open Division pool play and played the closest thing Archbishop Mitty has had to a competitive game in weeks.
Tech and Pinewood tip off at 5 p.m., and the Tech boys host Lincoln-San Francisco at 7 p.m. in a Division III game as the second part of the double-header.
Oakland Tech, with 6-2 Sophia Askew-Goncalves and 6-3 Jhai Johnson in the middle, have the size advantage over a Pinewood team which doesn’t have a player taller than 5-11.
But Pinewood, as always, is loaded with players who can light it up from distance, far away from Tech’s talented frontcourt.
The best of the bunch is junior guard Alex Facelo, a 5-3 gunner who made seven three-pointers in Pinewood’s 58-50 victory at Acalanes.
Though Tech beat them 69-59 on Jan. 16, if there’s any team that can beat the Bulldogs, it’s Pinewood. The team is known for impressive shotmaking, but its coach made it clear the team’s ethos is more than just spray and pray from anywhere.
““We can shoot the ball,” Scheppler said on Tuesday night. “Our whole philosophy is threes, floaters and finishes. We don’t shoot any mid-range shots.”
Boys: How long can the Carlmont, Bellarmine runs last?
On a night when upsets abounded, the Carlmont boys’ 70-66 stunner over Division III top seed Las Lomas was perhaps the most-surprising. Las Lomas had won 10 straight games before the Nate Wong-led Scots went into Walnut Creek and snapped the streak.
“Nate is our floor general,” Carlmont coach Ron Ozorio told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday. “He has a great touch.”
Up next is a trip to Oakland High, which went on the road as the No. 9 seed and smacked Ponderosa 78-50. Wong and Carlmont’s other guards will have their hands full with Montana commit Money Williams, who scored 24 points on Tuesday.
But another upset is not out of the question. Oakland High does not boast overwhelming size, and can be pushed around by more physical teams, as Oakland Tech has shown in section play. If Carlmont can bring grit to the school on McArthur Blvd, it could leave with a victory.
Down in San Jose, Bellarmine entered Division II play with a 14-13 record and a game at No. 4 seed Moreau Catholic on the docket. After 32 frenetic minutes and a last-second Tariq Weiser layup, Bellarmine won 62-60 and survived to play another night.
“I’ve hit a couple of game-winners before, but they’ve never been on this big of a stage,” Weiser said on Tuesday night.
Bellarmine travels to Vanden on Thursday, and brings a five-game winning streak with it. It will be the first matchup between the two schools since MaxPreps began tracking records in 2004.
Weiser and Brayden Harris, both listed at 6-3, give Bellarmine a tall backcourt that can compete with a Vanden team which has only three players listed under 6-0.
Source: www.mercurynews.com