DANVILLE — Nothing comes easy in the California high school basketball playoffs.
Not since the state powers overhauled the format five years ago, putting teams of equal abilities into the same bracket rather than grouping them by enrollment.
In the competitive equity era, the thrills of a hard-fought victory can’t last long.
The turnaround is quick.
Such was the case for San Ramon Valley and Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday night.
Both double-digit seeds, they went on the road Tuesday for the first round of the Northern California Division I regional and beat higher seeds to set up a quarterfinal two days later in Danville.
Sacred Heart Prep, the 15th seed, got off to a quick start against the home team. But the game evolved into a battle of physical wills and was eventually decided in overtime.
San Ramon Valley, the 10th seed, scored the first six points of the extra period and held on for a 59-57 victory.
The Wolves know the drill.
They will have no time to cherish the fruits of their latest win, which followed a victory at defending Division I champion Clovis North in the opening round.
SRV advanced to the semifinals Saturday against sixth-seeded Salesian, which moved on with a win over No. 14 seed University-San Francisco.
The semifinal will be a rematch of Salesian’s rout of SRV in the first round of the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs two weeks ago.
SRV had to scratch and claw against Sacred Heart Prep to get a second shot at Salesian.
“We just did this two days earlier,” SRV coach Brian Boteen said. “We were down 10 against Clovis North and kind of wondering, ‘Why do we feel so generous?’ And yet, again, the boys still responded.”
Trailing by six at halftime, SRV (26-7) stormed out of the locker room and scored the first nine points to grab a 34-31 advantage. But during the run, guard Mason Thomas went down, possibly aggravating a dislocated ankle injury he suffered in the fall. He did not return.
The injury happened a couple of possessions after Will Ambidge stayed down after driving to the basket. He had to be helped to the sideline but eventually returned.
“It was a really physical game,” said Ambidge, who scored 13 of his 18 points after halftime. “But I like physical play. I like to bang. Scared Heart is a great team. Really physical. Well-coached. Shout out to them. But I think I handled their physicality.”
Scared Heart. coming off a victory Tuesday over second-seeded Folsom, did a lot of things well against SRV. JP Kerrigan made five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points. Sam Norris had 10 of his 14 points in the first half as the visitors led 31-25.
The Gators (20-8) even made a stop in the final seconds as San Ramon Valley had a last shot to win the game in regulation. Luke Issak drove to the basket but his shot was swatted away by Norris.
The game went to overtime and SRV built a big enough cushion to offset its struggles at the foul line in the closing minutes.
The game ended with Kerrigan making a 3-pointer that cut the margin to two.
“I think down the stretch, they were getting a lot more inside,” Kerrigan said. “They were being more aggressive hitting the boards than we were. I think we got a little discouraged when we got taken out of our offense a little bit. I think we should have just taken that pressure and given it back to them at the other end.”
Seamus Deely gave the Wolves the lead for good, scoring near the basket in the first minute of the four-minute overtime period.
Ambidge’s basket pushed the advantage to four and Deely’s basket with 1:35 left widened the lead to six.
“It took a lot of grit,” Deely said. “They’re a physical team. We knew that coming in. We just had to get the rebounds. Keep fighting. Outside shots weren’t hitting. We had to pound the paint. Attack their bigs. It was a battle all the way through and thankfully we came out on top.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com