Oakland all set to have boys state finalist
It will be a first and it should be spectacular, Oakland Athletic League Commissioner Franky Navarro said.
Two OAL squads — ninthseed Oakland (25-8) and No. 3 Oakland Tech (22-11) — will play for the Northern California Division 3 boys basketball title Tuesday at Laney College. The winner advances to the state championship game at 4 p.m. Friday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Tech reached the final by defeating Justin-Siena of Napa 61-55 Saturday behind 18 points from OAL Player of the Year Ahmaree Muhammad and 16 from ArDarius Gates. In the other semifinal, Money Williams continued his scoring surge with 23 points in a 70-60 semifinal win at The King’s Academy-Sunnyvale.
A second OAL team, Oakland Tech’s girls (28-5), could reach a state final if it beats Division 1 top seed St. Mary’s-Stockton (26-9).
All NorCal title games begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The Tech girls rolled San Ramon Valley 56-46 on Saturday, getting 12 points from 6-foot-3 freshman Jhai Johnson, daughter of 49ers backup quarterback Josh Johnson, and 10 points from Jada Williams. The Bulldogs are no stranger to Golden 1, having won a Division 4 title there in 2019 and a D3 crown in 2022.
Navarro, a 1997 Castlemont graduate, said the OAL’s basketball success carries much further than the court.
“This means so much for our city,” he said. “We constantly hear the negative stories about Oakland, but to have three teams in basketball competing at the highest level is a credit to the work our schools, coaches and students are committed to. Our school district has something great to be proud of.”
Though Tech’s boys have swept three games from Oakland this season, the Bulldogs are hardly a heavy favorite. The scores were 81-79, 61-59 and 53-50.
Oakland Tech’s girls also have history with St. Mary’s, losing twice to the Rams 74-57 and 6552. Jordan Lee, a 6-foot junior guard, has combined for 56 points in the two wins.
More payback: Salesian-Richmond’s girls are on a “revenge tour,” said leading scorer Makiah Asidanya after the Pride shocked undefeated and top seed Piedmont 48-45 on Saturday in the Open Division.
Asidanya and Madalyn Kanazawa had 11 points apiece, and Salesian held Piedmont 25 points below its season average. Natalie Martinez led Piedmont (28-1) with 20 points. Salesian, the defending state D1 champion, had lost to Piedmont earlier in the season and to Folsom, which it beat Wednesday on the road 7570 in double overtime.
The Pride now travel to second seed Mitty (27-2), to which it lost twice last season 63-60 and 62-52. Salesian also eliminated then top-seeded and host Mitty in 2019, 44-41, the last high school game for Stanford All-America guard Haley Jones.
Mitty looked unbeatable Saturday with its 20th straight win, 63-43 over nationally 23rdranked Clovis West (30-2).
More surging: Salesian’s boys (26-8) also looked at the top of their game with an 81-51 D1 semifinal win over San Ramon ValleyDanville as Alvin Loving (14 points) led five teammates in double figures. Parker McClaughry (16) led SRV (26-8).
Salesian, the sixth seed, will host ninth seed Granada-Livermore (25-10), which downed visiting Riordan 69-57, thanks to another dominating performance by 7-foot center Andrew McKeever (31 points, 17 rebounds), a St. Mary’s College signee.
Riordan was without five suspended players, including three starters, because of a brawl that ended a home quarterfinal game against Inderkum-Sacramento with 1:15 left. Riordan led that game 61-52.