No. 12 Freedom romps

In a game filled with athletic tweeners, Bailey Jones clearly stood tallest Friday night.

Freedom-Oakley’s 6-foot-3 senior had 30 points and 16 rebounds as the No. 12 Falcons won their Bay Valley Athletic League opener, beating visiting Deer Valley-Antioch 70-54.

In a game with no player taller than 6-4, Jones made 12 of 18 shots — all in the lane, where he’s best known as a screener, Freedom coach Drew Torres said.

“He’s too small to play post and not a good enough shooter to play from the perimeter. He’s a midpost guy who frees up others going to the basket,” Torres said. “But he’s our alpha dog. He’s our vocal leader and strong as they come. You can’t move him out.”

Jones got position all night, either for putbacks or for passes from point guard Baylei Coston.

Coston, a 5-11 junior, had nine points to go with nine assists.

Deer Valley (13-4), which got 15 points off the bench from Dior Walker and 11 from Raydale Robinson, focused much of its defensive efforts on Freedom’s leading scorer, Andrew Mork.

The Wolverines, under firstyear coach Mark Hurtado, held Mork to seven shots, but the 6-2 senior still managed 13 points.

But concentrating on Mork left space for Jones, who had seven baskets in the second half, including five in the fourth quarter. After a sluggish second quarter, Freedom (13-3) scored 41 points in the second half.

“We had a really good week of practice,” Jones said. “It didn’t really show in the first half. We struggled, but we showed some of our potential in the second half.”

Deer Valley, a combined 26-52 the previous three seasons, provided several highlights in its loss. Among them: Walker sent a fastbreak pass off the backboard for 6-2 sophomore Keenami Maggard, who dunked.

“I’ve seen them do that on film several times so I wasn’t that surprised,” Torres said. “But some of the guys on our bench were definitely taken aback. They have some impressive athletes and they play very hard.”

No. 6 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland 75, Mt. Eden-Hayward 57:

Naseem Gaskin scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, B.J. Shaw added 15 pounds and 14 rebounds, and Elijah Hardy had 10 rebounds and 12 assists as the Dragons (7-6, 1-0) won their West Alameda County league opener at Mt. Eden (10-5, 0-2).

Other games:

Chris Wright scored 14 points and Will Cummins added 11 as host Campolindo-Moraga (11-5) opened Diablo-Foothill Athletic League play with a 47-31 victory over Miramonte-Orinda (10-5). Ethan Fischler led Miramonte with 12 points. … Ethan Menzies had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Ryan Yerby had 17 points as Half Moon Bay (8-5, 3-0 Peninsula Athletic League North) won at Jefferson (66-54). Mark Petalver had 11 points for Jefferson (8-7, 2-1).

No. 1 Mitty 77, No. 8 Sacred Heart Cathedral 51:

Madeline Holland had 15 points, Tahlia Garza 14 and Haley Jones 12 points and 10 rebounds as the host Monarchs (12-2, 2-0 WCAL) won going away against the Irish (7-6, 1-1), who got 21 points from IImar’I Thomas. No other SHC player scored in double figures.

Other games:

Clair Steele scored 22 points and Elle Louie and Rebecca Welsh each had 18 as No. 4 Miramonte (14-2) pulled away for a 77-59 road win over 15th-ranked Campolindo (11-5) which got 17 points from Haley Van Dyke. … Maggie Burke had 17 points and Ayzhiana Basallo added 15 as No. 9 St. Ignatius (13-2, 1-1 WCAL) won 56-41 at No. 20 Presentation (12-4, 0-2).