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
De'Undrae Perteete buried back-to-back corner 3-pointers in front of Salesian's cheering section that stretched the margin to 40-31. The 6-foot-5 senior led Salesian with 12 points.
“He was calling for the ball, too,” Mellis said. “We called his number and he knocked them in. He's a special player.”
Alec Blair tried to keep De La Salle in it, scoring 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. But the star junior, who also had 14 rebounds, had to work incredibly hard for everything he got.
In the end, it proved to be too tall of a task.
“They just compete really, really hard,” Blair said. “They play good defense and we turned the ball over a little too much.”
De La Salle closed to within 42-37 on two baskets by Blair, but Perteete answered with a bucket down low and Isaiah Davis scored on a drive that extended the advantage back to nine with 2:11 left.
At that point, De La Salle needed a miracle, which went unanswered.
Salesian won its 11th NCS championship overall — the previous 10 in the Divisions II to IV — while extending its winning streak to 17 games.
The Pride's only loss was in overtime to Southern California heavyweight St. John Bosco 6866 at a prestigious holiday tournament.
Since then, Salesian sailed through the TriCounty Athletic League's Rock Division and beat newly crowned Central Coast Section Open Division champion Archbishop Riordan 61-48 in an MLK showcase at De La Salle last month, a result that should elevate Salesian to the No. 1 seed in the Northern California Open Division regionals when the brackets are announced today.
Mellis saw signs that his team could be special last season, even through some growing pains. Senior Aaron Hunkin-Claytor said he knew for sure a few months later.
“I think it was in the summer when we saw that every player on the team was unselfish,” HunkinClaytor said. “We didn't care who scored more points or got the accolades. We just wanted to win.”
Trailing 20-17 at halftime, De La Salle evened the score three times in the third quarter but never held the lead.
“They're really good,” De La Salle coach Marcus Schroeder said about Salesian. “They're No. 1 in Northern California for a reason. I thought we did some good stuff. But you can't turn the ball over like that. We did a good job in the first half. But they got to us eventually.”