The West Alameda County Conference got a lot of respect from the North Coast Section seeding committee when the brackets were announced on Feb. 11. Maybe too much respect. Bishop O’Dowd was seeded No. 1 in Division I. Berkeley, the runner-up to O’Dowd in the WACC Foothill Division, was seeded No. 2. Neither will play for a championship. The final is now set as two East Bay Athletic League teams – third-seeded Dublin and fourth-seeded Dougherty Valley – won tight semifinal games Tuesday night to set up a rubber match between the teams. Dublin edged Liberty 58-55, a Liberty team that upset Berkeley in the quarterfinals. Dougherty Valley beat O’Dowd 72-69 to reach its third consecutive section final. The San Ramon school won the Open Division championship last season and lost to Clayton Valley Charter in the Division I final two years ago. The EBAL also has two teams in the Open Division semifinals – second-seeded De La Salle and fourth-seeded San Ramon Valley. They play semifinals Wednesday.
The biggest surprise has unfolded in Division V as the seventh-seeded Athenian boys from Danville made their way to the title game. They hammered sixth-seeded International 73-38 on Tuesday. In the previous round, Athenian upset second-seeded Stuart Hall 64-60. In the final, Athenian will play top-seeded Head-Royce of Oakland.
Division I boys
No. 3 Dublin 58, No. 7 Liberty 55: Dublin junior Jalen Stokes nailed a clutch jump shot with only a few seconds left to punch Dublin’s ticket to the section championship. Nathan Canilao was in Dublin and has the full story here.
No. 4 Dougherty Valley 72, No. 1 Bishop O’Dowd 69: Aadi Malali scored 20 points and hit a crucial jump shot down the stretch to send the Wildcats to the Division I final against Dublin. Joseph Dycus was in Oakland and has the full story here.
Division III boys
No. 3 Piedmont 67, No. 2 Archie Williams 61: Piedmont survived an incredible 47-point night from Archie Williams senior Owen Bugas to advance to the Division III final vs. University-SF. Brit Burden, who recently joined the 1,000-point club, scored a team-high 19 points for Piedmont. Dillon Casey had 14 and Declan Linnane scored 11 as Piedmont improved to 20-9.
Division III boys
No. 1 University 71, No. 4 Miramonte 47: Miramonte’s bid for an upset ended in the third quarter as University outscored the Matadors 24-6 over the eight minutes to put away this semifinal game at Kezar Pavilion. In the period, University stretched a 29-19 halftime advantage to 53-25, securing its spot in the final this weekend against third-seeded Piedmont. Chase Miller (14 points), Marcus Robinson (13 points) and Jack Quinnild (10 points) scored in double figures for Miramonte, which finished 19-12. University got 16 points from Cole Boake, 13 from Lucas Lau and 12 from Gus Fried as it improved to 26-5.
Division I girls
No. 1 California 56, No. 4 Alameda 37: The Grizzlies held Alameda to just 15 points total in the second half to cruise to a 19-point win at home. California guard Lauren Yee led all scorers with 20 points and added four assists while Trinity Chu chipped in 12 points and had two steals. Desiree Shoblo led Alameda with 10 points. California (25-4) will face Salesian in the NCS championship finals.
No. 3 Salesian 51, No. 2 Heritage 47: Salesian overcame a 10-point halftime deficit and came back in the second half to beat Heritage by four. Salesian scored 33 points and allowed just 19 in the second half to come out with the win. Madalyn Kanazawa had 15 points and was perfect from the free throw line. Janiya Sawyer added 14 points and Ayla Rege had 13. Senior Abby Livermore led Heritage with 11 points and Zion Patterson had 10.
Semifinals in the Open Division and Divisions II, IV and VI will be played. The winners advance to championship games this weekend.
