Granada puts up a valiant effort, but loses title game to Notre Dame
The backand-gold-clad Granada fans arrived early Friday night. They cheered on the girls from Oakland Tech in the previous game, then gave their own team the roars they hoped would end in championship jubilation. There was celebrating. But on this night, Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks was doing most of it at the end as Duke-bound Caleb Foster put an exclamation point on a spectacular senior season, scoring 33 points to lead the Southern California school to a 67-58 victory in the Division I state championship game at Golden 1 Center.
Foster, a transfer from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, broke the D-I final scoring record of 32 points that Castlemont's Michael Manning held since 1981.
“He was very difficult,” Granada coach Quaran Johnson said while addressing the challenges the 6-foot-4 guard presented. “He's a talented kid. He plays with poise. He's strong. Shoots the basketball. Can get to the basket and pass. He's a good player.”
Notre Dame (27-10) took charge in the second quarter, withstood a Granada rally in the third period that brought the Livermore school to within six and then put the score out of reach in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
The game ended with Granada's Matai Faiaipa'u hitting a three-quarterslength shot at the buzzer. But it was too little, too late.
Johnson, in a postgame news conference, needed a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking emotionally about his team's journey.
The Matadors (26-11) were a battle-tested bunch from the East Bay Athletic League — the Bay Area's strongest this season — that reached the final of their league tournament, made the semifinals of the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs and then defeated four higher-seeded teams in the regionals to advance to a state final for the first time in program history.
But they fell one game short of the ultimate goal.
“It hurts, as you can imagine,” Johnson said. “The team fought extremely hard all year. There are a lot of people who probably ruled us out back at the beginning of the year after we lost some games that people may have thought that we should have won.”
But, Johnson added about the players, “They kept believing. They kept believing in me. They kept believing in each other. For that, they always will be champions to me in my eyes. Sad we couldn't pull it off, but we had a hell of a journey. I am proud of the team.”
Tyler Harris led Granada with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Nate Keaney added 16 on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
St. Mary's-bound 7-foot center Andrew McKeever finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. The Granada star picked up two fouls late in the third quarter, giving him four for the game.
He fouled out with 4:42 to play, ending his high school career.
“It was tough,” McKeever said of sitting for those final minutes. “We weren't going to pull it out. But I was just thinking about us getting here, how hard we worked through the summer, through the preseason. Everyone doubting us. It meant a lot just to be here.”
Notre Dame, which routed Bronny James' Sierra Canyon team in the SoCal final, led Granada by 12 points at halftime. The Knights shot a staggering 66.7% through the first two quarters.
Mercy Miller finished with 17 points and Dante Ogbu had 10 points for Notre Dame.
The Knights cooled off in the second half — they finished at 49.0% — but had more than enough to turn back Granada.
“It has been quite the year, Notre Dame coach Matt Sargeant said. “Couldn't be more proud of every person on our squad.”