Beasley, Dougherty Valley earn win over De La Salle
The stakes were too important, the atmosphere too electric for Ryan Beasley to sit this game out.
After missing a week because of a high-ankle sprain, the highenergy USF-bound guard returned to the Dougherty Valley lineup on Tuesday and helped ignite the home team to a 69-55 East Bay Athletic League victory over De La Salle on Senior Night.
Beasley finished with 22 points and countless hustle plays as the Wildcats — ranked No. 1 by the Bay Area News Group — broke open a tight game against No. 2 De La Salle with a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter.
“Senior Night, I knew I had to come back for this one,” Beasley said, noting that he felt good after undergoing physical therapy. “I had to come out and get a dub tonight.”
The victory sets up another huge game for Dougherty Valley (22-3, 7-1 EBAL) on Friday at Dublin to close their league regular-season schedule. The winner will be the top seed in next week's league tournament, which includes home-court advantage.
De La Salle (19-6, 6-2) lost its second straight game by double digits after falling to Southern California powerhouse HarvardWestlake 63-42 on Saturday.
Foul trouble affected De La Salle on Tuesday as its sophomore star, Alec Blair, was whistled for two in the first quarter and a third in the second period.
He sat for much of the opening half and still led the Spartans in scoring through two periods with six points and for the game with 17.
CAMPOLINDO 60, CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER 53 >> Campolindo senior guard Shane O'Reilly made a three-pointer, a layup in transition and a poster dunk from the left wing, all within the first four minutes of a home victory over the Ugly Eagles.
With O'Reilly leading the way, Campolindo jumped out to a 12-2 lead. The Cougars maintained at least a five-point advantage the rest of the way, delighting a crowd that included former Campo star Aidan Mahaney, now a freshman standout at Saint Mary's.
The victory pulled Campo (176, 8-1) even with Clayton Valley atop the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division standings and snapped the Ugly Eagles' 12-game winning streak.
Campo's defense forced Clayton Valley (20-3, 8-1) to often settle for contested midrange jumpers. On the end of the court, the home team seemed to get any shot it wanted while building a 35-22 halftime advantage.
Clay Naffziger, whose constant motion got him open looks from the perimeter, finished with 20 points. Logan Robeson added 19. Both players had four 3-pointers. ARCHBISHOP RIORDAN 61, SERRA 58 >> West Catholic Athletic League co-leader Archbishop Riordan led Serra by as many as 18 points on Tuesday night, but a late Padres charge nearly tied a game that would end in controversy, as a confusing decision by officials marred the finish of Riordan's road victory.
Riordan — ranked No. 6 by Bay Area News Group — had the ball up 57-55 with the clock ticking down from 30 seconds when two Serra players forced a Riordan ball-handler to the corner near midcourt. The three players and one referee converged near Riordan head coach Joey Curtin, with the referee pointing, signaling out of bounds towards Riordan's bench.
But around the same time, someone in the gymnasium yelled, “Timeout,” which caused players on both teams to head to their respective benches.
Officials said the timeout was called by Serra, which was the fifth and final timeout — even though they couldn't call it as the defending team if the timeout was awarded during live ball play.
“I can't call a timeout if the other team has the ball, right?” Serra coach Chuck Rapp asked rhetorically after the game.
Curtin said he didn't call a timeout, but that he was about to call one when the referees ruled that it was called on Serra.
After the timeout, Riordan made two free throws, Serra missed a shot and Riordan made two more free throws to push the lead to six. But the Padres raced up the court for a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to three with 6.5 seconds left, prompting Rapp to say at the ref, “That's my timeout.”
Riordan was able to run four seconds off the clock before inbounding the ball, getting fouled with 2.5 seconds left. Still in the one-and-one bonus, Riordan missed the front-end and Serra's Alex Naber came up with the rebound.
But instead of trying to get up a quick buzzer-beating shot, Naber signaled for a timeout — one Serra (10-9, 3-6) didn't have. He was assessed a technical foul, which effectively ended the game.
“I think we all kind of figured we had (a timeout]),” Rapp said. “It changed the whole trajectory.”
Curtin only found out Rapp didn't call a timeout after the game in the handshake line from his opposing coach and expressed sympathy — both to his opponents and to the referees.
“It happens. It's kind of a highintensity game, a wild game,” Curtin said. “Nobody's perfect.” CALIFORNIA 66, MONTE VISTA 62 >> Damarcus Collins and Amari Gray each scored 15 points in California's EBAL win over host Monte Vista. Also scoring in double figures for California (178, 5-3 EBAL) were Adam Zalami with 15 points, and Ethan Browne and Kellen Torrey each with 10 points. The win marked the Grizzlies' first over the Mustangs (187, 5-3) in Danville in 10 years. Monte Vista had victories over No. 1 Dougherty Valley and No. 2 De La Salle at home this season. SALESIAN 85, ST. PATRICK-ST. VINCENT 37 >> Alvin Loving had 19 points in Salesian's Tri-County Athletic League Rock Divison win over visiting St. Patrick-St. Vincent. Amani Johnson and Emerson Jones each had 14 points in the win.