Oakland finishes strongly to defeat pesky Fremont
The Oakland boys basketball team celebrated its seniors before they faced Fremont-Oakland. But it took until the final quarter for most of those fourth-year players to make the kind of impact that led to a Division III state championship last year.
Still, it was senior transfer Isaac Johnson who provided the biggest boost in host Oakland's 61-47 victory on Wednesday.
Fremont's pressure, spearheaded by guard Jaylen Wheeler (11 points), helped cut Oakland's lead to 37-36 with six minutes to go. Johnson then flashed to the middle of the floor, caught the ball in open space, passed to a guard, cut into the lane for an alley-oop dunk with 5:45 left.
Johnson scored nine of his team-high 15 in the fourth quarter for Oakland (206, 7-1 OAL).
Now winners of four straight, Oakland is on track to play Oakland Tech in the final game of the regular season next week with the OAL title on the line.
DUBLIN 64, DOUGHERTY VALLEY 53 >> Led by Cameron Anderson's and-one threepoint play to start the third quarter, Dublin overcame a sluggish start and beat Dougherty Valley 64-53 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals of the East Bay Athletic League tournament. Dougherty Valley played at top-seeded De La Salle on Thursday, after this edition went to press. San Ramon Valley played at Granada in the other semifinal.
Anderson took charge coming out of the locker room, scoring the first seven points in a 12-0 run that gave the visitors a lead they did not surrender. — Darren Sabedra
Girls basketball
MONTE VISTA 54, DUBLIN 53 >> Monte Vista narrowly escaped Dublin at home in the EBAL quarterfinals. With four seconds left, Mustangs sophomore Alyssa Rudd drove to the basket and converted a layup plus a free throw to put Monte Vista up for good.
Rudd finished with 28 points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter. Sophia Ignacio led Dublin with 15 points.
JAMES LOGAN 58, MISSION SAN JOSE 52 >> Vanessa Parilla scored 24 points and the Colts overcame an 18-point halftime deficit to win their 10th consecutive game. Patricia Wu scored 17 points in the loss.
PRIORY 66, MENLO SCHOOL 46 >> The Panthers moved to within one game of first place in the West Bay-Foothill standings with a win over Menlo School. Vienn Sheng led Priory (13-9, 7-1) with 25 points while making seven 3-pointers and recording four steals. Sophomore Jordyn Moss added 15 points and three steals.
Priory plays Notre Dame-Belmont today and finishes the season against Pinewood on Tuesday in a game that could have the league title on the line.