No. 1 Dublin boys 11th in topflight tourney
Dublin’s boys basketball team, The Chronicle’s No. 1 squad in the Bay Area, left the highly competitive Damien Classic tournament in La Verne (Los Angeles County) on a high note Monday, winning 6951 over St. BernardPlaya del Rey to take 11th place.
In the top Platinum Division, the Gaels (102) also defeated DamienHonolulu (9165) and might have played even better in losses to stateranked Rancho Christian-Temecula (7365) and Fairfax-Los Angeles (7469), the former featuring the nation’s No. 1 senior recruit in USC-bound 6foot11 post Evan Mobley.
“We’ve had a lot of success the last few years, but fell a little short at the end of the season,” said Dublin coach Tom Costello, whose team won 103 games over the previous four seasons but did not win a section title in that period. “We felt like we needed to change things up this year against some really exceptional teams. These were like free playoff games in December. I like how we responded.”
The Gaels showed plenty of grit while playing with extremely heavy hearts.
As the team drove to Southern California on Christmas, four classmates died in a car accident in Pleasanton. All the players knew the deceased, many of them quite well, Costello said.
“A lot of blank stares and watery eyes,” Costello said when he delivered the news Thursday, a few hours before the team’s firstround game with Rancho Christian. “It was very tough being so far away from home, but in some ways perhaps it was better for them. They had each other. And they had the games.”
The downtothewire game with Rancho Christian (132 heading into Monday) was especially gritty considering Mobley went for 24 points and 14 rebounds and the winners shot 18 free throws (making 12) and Dublin shot none. Anthony Roy, the MVP of the Gridley Tournament, had 23 to lead Dublin.
After the blowout of Damien, the Gaels couldn’t overcome a 238 secondquarter run by Fairfax and lost Saturday. Fairfax (112) is ranked 18th in the state. Patrick Renane had 15 points and Roy and Jaden Saunders added 14 apiece.
On Monday, Elijah Alonso had 20 points, Roy 15 and Devon Jackson 10 for Dublin.
“It was a good distraction for sure to be down here, and we grew a lot on and off the court,” Costello said. “But this isn’t about our plight. It pales in comparison to what those families are going through. It’s going to be really tough getting back home.”
Salesian results: Also in the Platinum division in La Verne, thirdranked SalesianRichmond won three of four games to take home fifth place, following a 6158 win over WindwardLos Angeles. After opening with a 7170 win over St. Bernard, the Pride (83) lost to Etiwanda (7058) before beating BirminghamLake Balboa 6155 on Saturday. Te’Jon Sawyer had 12 points, one of 11 Salesian players to score against Birmingham. Sand Dune Classic: Despite 20 points from freshman guard King Jhsanni-Wilhite and 10 each by Toledo Rivera and Ethan Jew, host St. Ignatius (45) lost to LoyolaLos Angeles 5958 in the championship game Saturday. Loyola fought back from an 11point thirdquarter deficit a night after coming back from a 14point deficit to defeat Monte VistaDanville 5650 in the semifinals.
St. Ignatius next plays Sacred Heart Cathedral (42) in the BruceMahoney game at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Cow Palace. The girls varsity game between the same schools tips off at 5:30 p.m. Sacred Heart Cathedral is 38 and St. Ignatius is 83. West Coast Jamboree: In the Platinum Division, topranked Mitty was impressive Monday as it rolled past fourthranked St. Joseph Notre DameAlameda 7539 at College ParkPleasant Hill. The Monarchs (83) opened the tournament with a 7528 win over Clovis North (133), which won fifth place in the Platinum with a 4544 win over Cardinal NewmanSanta Rosa (112). In the semifinals, however, Mitty dropped a 4741 game to Mater DeiSanta Ana, ranked fifth nationally. Ashley Hiraki had 14 points, but no one else scored in double figures for Mitty, which made just 3 of 11 free throws. … Mater Dei (121) played Sierra CanyonChatsworth (122), ranked eighth nationally, in the championship game Monday night. ... In the Diamond Division championship at HeritageBrentwood, alltournament selection Via Fonongaloa had 20 points and nine rebounds as SalesianRichmond (101) defeated MiramonteOrinda 7565. Alltourney pick Alyssa Jackson had 10 points, as did Alley Alvarado and Anisa Fillo. Jordan Allred led all scorers with 28 points for Miramonte (101), which couldn’t overcome a 224 deficit after the first quarter.