OAKLAND – Dougherty Valley should have been reeling with 45 seconds left in the game. Host Bishop O’Dowd had just tied the score up and the home fans stomping and clapping to accentuate their roaring cheers.
The top-seeded Dragons were ready to take control.
That was until Aadi Malali pushed the ball into the Wildcat’s side of the court, chiseled out space on the baseline and buried a clinical 15-foot pullup jumper. That dagger retook a lead the San Ramon school would not relinquish in Dougherty’s 72-69 North Coast Section Division I semifinal victory.
“I was super confident, because in the last game against Monte Vista I had a few big shots,” Malali said after he scored a game-high 20 points on Tuesday. “It was just like there was ice in my veins.”
It’s no surprise that the senior with years of big-game experience came through in the clutch.
A year ago, Dougherty Valley’s backcourt of Ryan Beasley, Conner Sevilla and Blake Hudson captivated the Bay Area en-route to East Bay Athletic League and NCS Open titles.
Having graduated all but Malali and Chris Fallgren in the Spring, little was expected of Dougherty Valley.
“With four starters gone, we obviously had a ton of doubters, and it just fueled us more,” Malali said.
After No. 4 seed Dougherty Valley outlasted No. 1 O’Dowd, coach Mike Hansen re-emphasized that his team felt slighted by the lack of preseason hype, and had dedicated the season to proving doubters wrong.
“People thought we lost everything, but we’ve got dudes,” Hansen said after his team reached its third consecutive NCS title game, and second Division I bout. “The machine keeps running. We have guys now playing Division I basketball, but we’ve also got dudes learning and getting better.”
Standing in Dougherty Valley’s way for a section crown is a familiar foe: East Bay Athletic League rival Dublin, led by Hansen’s friend Tom Costello.
“I’m very confident,” Dougherty forward Azan Evans said about playing the team that beat Dougherty in the league tournament. “We’ve seen their stuff and we know what’s coming. We have what it takes to beat them.”
Last year’s unit was a blur of high-scoring guards and up-tempo offense. This year’s team dedicated itself to defense, although that wasn’t obvious in the first quarter, when O’Dowd took a 19-18 lead after an up-and-down eight minutes.
The rest of the game was a slower affair, where Hansen matched wits with O’Dowd’s longtime coach Lou Richie. Though Richie called brilliant plays and mixed up his defensive coverages, he rued his team’s inability to execute the game’s most simple action.
“When you shoot around 50 percent and they shoot 90 percent, it definitely hurts,” Richie said after his team went 17 for 29 from the free throw line.
Led by Jayden Doty’s five quick points to end the first half, including a buzzer-beating coast-to-coast scoop layup through multiple defenders, Dougherty took a 36-34 lead into halftime.
A Malali 30-foot 3-pointer from the left wing to beat the shot clock punctuated another 8-0 run to give Dougherty Valley the 45-38 lead midway through the third.
O’Dowd stuck around thanks to great shotmaking by shooting specialist Josh Green (22 points) and Leo Chapman.
“It hurts, but I think we just have to move forward and be ready, because I think we have a good chance to go to state,” Green said.
Samuel Chavarin made a triple and O’Dowd teammate Terrell Gray Jr knifed in for a layup to take a 61-60 lead with two minutes left. Dougherty’s Jayden Doty and Azan Evans answered with a layup and free throw respectively to regain the lead at 63-61 with 1:15 left.
When football star Miles Dixon became the rare O’Dowd player to make both of his free throws with one minute remaining, Malali hit the biggest shot of the night to to put DV on top 65-63.
Dougherty made both of its following free throws, but Chapman drained a 3-pointer with 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining to cut the Dougherty lead to 67-66.
But when O’Dowd flagrantly fouled Malali a few seconds later, Doty knocked down both free throws to give him 17 points on the game, and then Evans hit three of his next four to render Green’s half-court buzzer-beater a harmless shot.
Dougherty Valley, regardless of whether it beats Dublin or not, has punched its ticket into NorCal play due to reaching the final. Top-seeded O’Dowd’s season may not be over thanks to bylaws that could see the Dragons make it as an at-large team. O’Dowd needs Moreau Catholic to beat Montgomery to guarantee a spot.
“We’re going to go home, try to reflect, take the day off, watch some film and be a student,,” Richie said. “Hopefully we live to fight another day.”
Evans, a Monte Vista transfer, wasn’t around for Dougherty’s run last season, but he is enjoying this one. It’s a run that Hansen has seen coming since November.
“I said all along that you don’t want to play us in February,” Hansen said.
