Salesian too much for De La Salle, wins first NCS Open championship
SAN PABLO >> They could see the signs over the summer, maybe even late last season, the coach and players said. The signs that led to what unfolded on Friday night, the suffocating defense that swallowed De La Salle in the biggest of games to date, the egoless basketball that has made the Salesian boys team so difficult to beat.
The Richmond private school captured its first North Coast
Section Open Division championship, prevailing 52-43 before an overflow crowd at Contra Costa College.
Salesian became the fourth different champion in the four seasons the NCS has had an Open playoff for basketball, joining Bishop O'Dowd, Campolindo and Dougherty Valley.
De La Salle fell in the Open final for the third consecutive year, all against the bracket's top seed.
“It's special,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. “This group deserves for it to happen to them.
They've just worked so hard. I just couldn't be more proud for them and happy for them.”
This one played out as expected, a physical grind in which the ball seemed like a magnet for defenders. Points were difficult to come by from the outset as Salesian led 8-6 after the first quarter and 20-17 at halftime.
The Pride (29-1) widened their lead to 34-28 after three quarters, still too close for comfort.
But any signs of a De La Salle comeback ended when