Granada holds off Inderkum in NorCal Division I opener
After taking charge early, things seemed to be slipping away from host Granada High in its Northern California Division I playoff game Tuesday night against Inderkum.
The Matadors, winners of the NorCal Division I title a year ago, had led from the outset. But their leading scorer, Cortavious Taylor, was on the bench with four fouls and the Tigers of the Sac-Joaquin Section came charging back in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Inderkum finally had the lead at 42-41 on two free throws from Malik Johnson. They were up 45-43 after a 3-point basket from Sincere Hudson with 5:50 remaining.
It was then that the fourth-seeded Matadors summoned whatever it is that comes from going through the gauntlet that is the East Bay Athletic League, reasserted themselves, and prevailed 5853 to move into the second round today against St. Ignatius, a 67-51 winner over Rocklin.
Spencer Langowski added 14 points for Granada, with NaVaughn Long adding 10 and Lennon Lomba eight.
“The EBAL is one of the best leagues in California,” Taylor said after scoring a game-high 22 points. “It gets us ready for stuff like this.”
– Jerry McDonald
BISHOP O'DOWD 76, LOS GATOS 49 >> Every single Josh Green jump shot seemed to go in as the O'Dowd senior scored a game-high 21 points and made five third-quarter 3-pointers for the dominant Dragons. Aside from Green's big night, Miles Dixon provided
a spark off the bench with 10 points, and Leo Chapman scored 14 points and hit four threes. Nolan Koch scored 16 points and shifty guard Max Brin scored 11 for the CCS Division I champion Wildcats. O'Dowd stretched its 35-31 halftime lead into a 62-38 advantage by the end of the third quarter.
– Joseph Dycus ARCHBISHOP MITTY 75, DOUGHERTY VALLEY 54 >> Behind the dominance of 6-foot-8 University of San Diego-bound power forward Gavin Ripp and his 20 points, Mitty led by 15 after the first quarter and 26 at halftime of its NorCal Division I game. In addition to Ripp's output, Mitty got 13 points from Caeden Hutcherson and 11 from Grayson
Jalal. Chris Fallgren had 17 points and Malali added eight points in their final game for 14th-seeded Dougherty Valley.
– Darren Sabedra CLAYTON VALLEY CHARTER 63, SACRED HEART PREP 50 >> When Clayton Valley's three-guard trio of James Moore, Elijah Perryman and Chase Robertson get going, it's hard to stop the Ugly Eagles. Moore, Perryman and Robertson combined for 53 points in the first round of the NorCal D-I playoffs. J.P Kerrigan led SHP with 13 points and Drew Wagner had eight.
– Nathan Canilao
Division I
SAN RAMON VALLEY 67, VANDEN 64 >> San Ramon Valley, playing at home in Danville, survived a nail-biter as 15thseeded Vanden gave the Wolves all they could handle in the opening round of regional play. Mason Thomas (18 points), Luke Isaak (14 points) and Seamus Deely (12 points) were SRV's leading scorers. Tyler Thompson had 25 points for Vanden. “Vanden deserved much better than this 15 seed,” SRV coach Brian Botteen said in a text. “We are fortunate to be moving on!”
– Darren Sabedra
SERRA 63, LINCOLN-STOCKTON 61 >>
Serra guard Ryan Pettis scored 23 points on the road as Serra rallied from 17 down to defeat No. 9 Lincoln in Stockton. Alex Naber made three late free throws to give Serra the lead, and then Chris Philpot secured the victory by blocking Lincoln's potential game-winning 3-pointer. Serra will travel to No. 1 Clovis West today.
Division II CLOVIS EAST 78, BRANHAM 69 >>
Twenty points down at halftime, Branham made a good run at Clovis East in the second half but simply had too much to make up, falling 78-69 Tuesday in the first round of the NorCal Division II playoffs. Wyatt Sparling had a team-high 16 points. Ben Lim scored 15, Cayden Tanger 14 and sophomore big man Nick Mego had 10.
– Glenn Reeves BELLARMINE 49, MONTGOMERY 41 >>
Battle-tested Bellarmine showed that it is much better than its record as the Bells prevailed at home over Montgomery in a firstround regional game.
Will Corbett had 18 points and six assists to lead the Bells, who improved to 11-17. Bellarmine also got 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists from Julian Gospich.