Head-Royce beats Athenian for its first NCS title
Ryan Diew couldn't hold in his excitement.
The first-year Head-Royce boys basketball coach was already hugging his family and saying “we did it,” with five minutes left in Friday night's North Coast Section Division V title game on his team's home court in Oakland against league rival Athenian.
While the celebration might have seemed premature, everyone in the gym — including Athenian — knew what the outcome of the game was going to be.
After struggling to find its rhythm in the first half, HeadRoyce exploded in the fourth quarter to beat Athenian 66-46 and capture the crown — the first section title in school history.
“This means a lot,” senior Marcel Pierre-Louis said. “We've been trying to win a section title here for a while and we're the only team to do it. It means the world to us.”
Bryce Clepper led Head-Royce with 15 points, Pierre-Louis scored 13 points.
Evan Lucas had a game-high 18 points for Athenian.
Division II boys
No. 6Benicia 53, No. 1Montgomery 50: Benicia's Cinderella run had the perfect storybook ending as the Panthers upset the top team in NCS Division II on the road to win the section title.
Benicia fell behind early, ending the first quarter down 20-10. But the Panthers played Montgomery even for the next two quarters and took the lead in the fourth. Bencia's defense held strong down the stretch, not allowing Montgomery to get back into the game.
Montgomery scored just eight points in the fourth quarter and missed three shots to cut the fourpoint lead Benicia had with under 30 seconds left in the game. Kenneth Brown had a game-high 15 points for Benicia and Ayden Thompson scored 14.
Steven Carter, who is in his 13th year as head coach of Benicia, won his first championship.
Division III boys
No. 1 University 65, No. 3 Piedmont 55: In a back-and-forth game, University turned back an upset bid from Piedmont, winning the Division III title at USF.
Ravi Silverberg scored 23 points and Brit Burden added 16 points for Piedmont. Gus Fried and Lucas Lau each scored 16 for University.
Piedmont led 10-9 after the first quarter but trailed 29-20 at halftime. The Highlanders closed to within 41-39 after three quarters before fading in the final period.
In an email to the Bay Area News Group, Piedmont coach Ben Spencer wrote, “Proud of our guys and how we battled tonight! Our depth was an issue against their press. We ran out of gas in the 4th quarter and came up a little short vs an outstanding and extremely well coached team.”
Division II girls
No. 1 Redwood 50, No. 6 Northgate 41: Northgate's magical run through the NCS Division II girls playoffs did not end with the Walnut Creek program hoisting its first section trophy.
The Broncos gave it their best shot though. Although the visitors were down by as much as 10 in the third quarter, Northgate was able to cut the deficit to two points midway through the fourth.
However, Redwood was able to pull away again thanks to a big night from leading scorer Kitty White, who had a gamehigh 23 points.
Amelia Schrag scored a teamhigh 22 points for the Broncos.
Northgate (23-10) will learn today where it is seeded in NorCal play.