Campolindo fends off Las Lomas for NCS title

LAFAYETTE >> Aidan Mahaney is now playing his basketball for Saint Mary's College, 2 miles away from Campolindo High, but the winning hasn't stopped for the Cougars.

Campolindo ever so slightly kept the lid on a 4847 win over Las Lomas to secure a North Coast Section Division II championship at Acalanes High on Saturday night.

It was a prove-it game for the Cougars, a team that has had an unprecedented run of success over the last five years, four of which came with Mahaney, the Bay Area News Group Player of the Year a season ago.

This time around there wasn't a single player who stole the show, but they had three guys, Logan Robeson (13 points), Shane O'Reilly (13) and Dylan Mansour (10) in double digits and a defensive unit that was able to “out-tough” the opponent, Campolindo coach Steven Dyer said.

“We don't have Aidan Mahaney, Emmanuel Callas or Carter Mahaney, but we have a lot of damn good players,” Dyer said. “We have a lot of guys who have won a lot of games with these other guys, and it's their turn now. They're hungry for it.”

Campolindo scored just seven points in the fourth quarter but escaped a crazy finish in the final minutes.

Las Lomas was playing from behind most of the night, but finally took a lead with 1:20 remaining in the fourth. Junior Drew Gozelski, subbed in for his first taste of action, came up with a heroic rebound and put away a layup to give the Knights a 47-46 lead.

The next possession, Robeson drove through traffic to score the final bucket for Campolindo with 1:07 remaining.

Las Lomas would get three more possessions to find a game-winner, but it never happened. The Knights inbounded their final possession with two seconds left and got the ball to their best player, Jake Davis, who launched a Hail Mary from halfcourt that bounced off the rim.

“It was unreal,” Robeson said. “I just thought to myself, `someone has to make a play here.' Thankfully we stepped up and did enough to get it done. But I can't lie, that shot at the end had my heart stopped for a minute.”