Two freshmen spark run to help No. 4 De La Salle top No. 3 Dublin

Two ranked squads with identical 23-3 records played a remarkably close East Bay Athletic League boys basketball championship playoff game on Saturday night.

Thanks to a 10-0 run in the middle of the fourth quarter spurred by a couple of freshmen, fourth-ranked De La Salle-Concord escaped with a 64-62 victory at No. 3 Dublin.

There were seven lead changes and five ties in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but De La Salle took a 55-51 lead with 4:16 left and never relinquished it, though the Gaels had their chances.

Both will be high seeds heading into the North Coast Section Division I playoffs next week. Seedings and pairings will be announced Sunday.

A 6-0 run, finished off with a driving layup by Devon Jackson, gave Dublin (23-4) its biggest lead at 51-45 with 6:49 left in the fourth, before De La Salle’s 6-foot-5, 230-pound freshman, Noah Clifford, began his team’s 10-0 run with a putback and free throw.

A 3-pointer by Cade Arbogast tied it at 51-51, and Jeremiah Dargan, another freshman, fed Clifford for a layup to put De La Salle (24-3) up for good, 53-51. Thomas Gregorios capped the rally with an outside jumper.

From there, the game became a free-throw contest. De La Salle was 8-for-10 in the final four minutes and the Gaels (23-4) were 12-for-13, but the one miss was critical.

With two seconds left and his team down 63-60, Robby Beasley (team-high 17 points) was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer. He made the first foul shot, but missed the second. Instead of missing the third on purpose, he swished it. The Gaels fouled Gregorios, who made the first but missed the second. A desperation shot by Jaden Saunders past midcourt didn’t draw iron.

Tim Kostolansky scored 13 points and Andrew Flannigan 11 for De La Salle. Anthony Roy came off the bench to score 16 points for the Gaels.

#1 Salesian-Richmond 60, Albany 43:

Te’Jon Sawyer had 17 points, Shane Bell 14 and JoVon McClanahan 11 and the Pride (27-0) ended the game on a 22-4 run to take the Tri-County Athletic League playoff title at De Anza-Richmond. Avery Finch had 14 points and A.J. Gilbert added 10 for Albany (21-8). The 6-foot-7 Sawyer had eight points in the fourth quarter.

#17 Stuart Hall 54, University 49: Nigel Burris scored 18 points and Miles Amos 13 as the Knights (24-4) captured the Bay Counties League West playoff final at Kezar Pavilion. Stuart Hall fought back from a 17-point deficit to win its 15th straight game. Max Fried had 15 points and 10 rebounds for University (19-9).

GIRLS

#7 Riordan 54, #11 Bellarmine 42:

At Kezar Pavilion, Je’Lani Clark had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Donte Henderson added 10 points to lead the Crusaders (16-7, 9-4 West Catholic Athletic League) over the Bells (17-6, 8-5), who got 15 points by Quinn Denker and 12 by Kiran Kruse. Bellarmine had eight points in the second and fourth quarters combined.

In other WCAL games,

Sacred Heart Cathedral (10-12, 3-9) won 82-71 at Valley Christian (10-12, 1-11) and No. 20 St. Ignatius (10-10, 6-6) won 55-38 at St. Francis (11-11, 3-9).

#10 St. Patrick-St. VincentVallejo 54, #3 Salesian 53:

Junior guard Tameiya Sadler had 22 points as the Bruins (24-3) defeated Salesian (20-8) for the first time in 20 tries with a victory in the TCAL Rock Division playoff final at De Anza.USC-bound Angel Jackson and Makayla Edwards had 13 points apiece for Salesian.

Lick-Wilmerding 60, Urban 50:

In the BCL West championship game at Kezar Pavilion, freshman Annabel Schneiberg had 20 points and Samantha Foong 13 as the Tigers (22-5) won their second title in a row. Maia Pedrosa had 16 points and Rain Sheh 14 for Urban (16-10).

Max Preps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for the San Francisco Chronicle.