CONCORD >> The players at The Branson School have heard a lot about the storied De La Salle boys basketball program over the years. The Bulls have been writing their own storyline, which finally brought them face to face with the Spartans in Wednesday’s North Coast Section Open Division semifinal.
The No. 3 Bulls were feeding off the energy from University of Illinois-bound senior Jase Butler, who closed the third quarter with a dunk from an alley-oop pass from Semetri Carr to tie the game. But the No. 2 Spartans behind big Alec Blair turned away the charge in the fourth quarter to stop the Bulls, 62-54, and advance to the Open Division finals for the third season in a row.
Branson (22-7) will face No. 4 San Ramon Valley at 7 p.m. Saturday at College of Marin in the third-place game. San Ramon Valley lost to top-seeded Salesian, 60-45, in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
“The ball didn’t bounce our way a few times near the end, and some calls didn’t go our way,” Branson head coach Demetrius Roquemore said. “I told the guys before the game that we have to win by at least 10 points just to offset the home-court advantage, the crowd and the officiating.”
The momentum seemed to be building for the Bulls heading into the final 8 minutes, but somewhere along the way, things started to go haywire.
Carr intercepted a pass under the Spartans net and, like lightning, sprinted to the other end of the court and, slicing through the De La Salle defense, soared to the hoop for the tying basket — or so the Bulls thought. Officials waved off the basket to Carr’s dismay, leaving the Bulls trailing 51-49 with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left to play.
The Bulls got the ball right back, but Carr missed an off-balance 3-pointer. With both teams scrambling for control of the loose ball, officials called a timeout and gave the ball to the Spartans, unleashing a chorus of boos from the Branson fans in the stands.
The Spartans scored twice more before Branson’s Pierce Curtin hit a 3-pointer to keep the contest just a one-shot game, with the Bulls trailing 55-52 and 2:10 left to play. The Bulls had the Spartans looking for answers, and they found the solution in Blair’s hands.
After Blair hit a late layup for the Spartans, the Bulls desperately tried to erase the five-point deficit, but their shots missed the mark time and again as time slipped away. The Spartans’ Leo Ricketts scored five points at the free-throw line in the closing seconds to clinch the win for De La Salle.
Carr, the MCAL Player of the Year, led the Bulls with 25 points, despite being kept scoreless in the first quarter. He added 10 rebounds to his line. Butler finished with 14 points for the Bulls, who also got six points from Curtin, four points from Finley Keeffe, a 3-pointer from Ty Landers and a bucket from DJ Armstrong.
Branson, the NCS D-III champion the past two seasons, was promoted to the elite Open Division for this season’s playoffs, and prepared for the challenge by seeking out the best teams in the country it could find.
“I feel like over the past year, we’ve proved all we need to prove,” Roquemore said. “This was a matchup between two great teams.”
Branson briefly led twice in the first quarter, but was mostly playing catchup with De La Salle, a finalist in the Open Division the past two seasons, and a 14-time NCS Division I champion before that.
“It’s hard playing from behind like that,” Carr said.
The Bulls held the host Spartans to just a three-point lead at halftime, with Carr and Butler combining for 18 points along the way. Meanwhile, Blair scored 14 points for the Spartans, on his way to a 24-point night with 11 rebounds.
Keeffe drew the assignment of defending Blair early on, but the Spartans’ Swiss Army knife player found ways to score from almost everywhere on the floor.
“Blair made some big shots. It’s hard to stop a guy like that,” said Roquemore, who changed things up and put Butler on Blair in the second half. “We just wanted to give them some different looks, to see what works.”
De La Salle’s other big man, David Balogun, finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, against a Branson squad that sometimes struggled with the Spartans’ size and physical play.
The Spartans had their own defensive woes against the Bulls’ speed and daring shooting skills. Carr lit up the scoreboard for 10 points in the third quarter. His 3-pointer with 3 minutes left in the third tied the game at 36-36. Carr’s shooting was rock solid, and the Bulls got a boost from Armstrong, who cruised under the hoop for a reverse layup to bring the Bulls to within a basket. The Bulls ran their offense to a tee, getting the ball in Carr’s hands near the arc as Butler cut toward the hoop. Carr hurled the ball to the airborne Butler, who rammed it home to tie the game 42-42 as the horn sounded.
“This was a fun game,” Carr said. “This is the Open Division. This is the level of competition we wanted.”
