DANVILLE — In a battle between two East Bay powerhouses, 32 minutes wasn’t enough to decide a victor.
With a NorCal Open Division title game appearance on the line, last year’s Division II state champion Oakland Tech and San Ramon Valley, the 2024 Division I runner-up, fought to the very end. The result was one of the best NorCal playoff games the Bay Area has seen in a long time.
But something had to give.
After SRV senior Elliot Conley swished a go-ahead 3-pointer with three seconds left in overtime, the game looked all but won for SRV as Tech had to go the length of the floor to try and tie the game. But in classic Tech fashion, senior ArDarius Grayson found a sliver of daylight near the halfcourt line and heaved a 40-footer with two defenders draped on him.
Grayson’s shot bounced off the backboard, rolled around the rim and … just bounced out as SRV escaped with a 77-74 win at home.
The Wolves advanced to their second consecutive NorCal Division I final where they will travel to the Central Valley to play Lincoln-Stockton for the right to go to the state championship game.
“This was a heavyweight battle between a defending state champion and a team that made the state championship last year,” SRV coach Brian Botteen said. “What a great atmosphere this was.”
UC Irvine-bound senior Luke Isaak led SRV with 33 points and 14 rebounds. Thomas Conley totaled and Mason Thomas each had 15 points.
In a valiant effort, Grayson led all scorers with 36 points and added nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals and four blocks.
“ArDarius Grayson has been nothing short of exceptional. He’s spectacular, man,” Tech coach Karega Hart said. “He’s been one of the hardest workers I ever coached, one of the most coachable kids and the ultimate competitor.”
Two days after dropping 37 points on Liberty in the previous round, Isaak picked off right where he left off.
He scored nine points in the first quarter and totaled 14 for the half.
SRV controlled the game for most of the first three quarters and led by as much as 14 in the third period.
But Tech just wouldn’t go away.
A 7-2 run to start the fourth quarter got the Bulldogs to within five. After surrendering a 5-0 flurry, Tech scored eight unanswered, ending on an acrobatic finish from Grayson that tied the game at 64 with 88 seconds left in the game.
Grayson willed his team back into the game as he scored or assisted on each of Tech’s 17 points in the fourth quarter.
“He can do it all,” Thomas said of Grayson. “He can get to the paint, he’s got pull ups. He can shoot it from deep. We just tried to slow him down and he was still getting his buckets. We got to give him credit.”
Grayson sinked two free throws with just over 40 seconds left to tie the game at 66. Tech had the final possession of regulation, but couldn’t find a clean look to win the game as the two teams went into overtime.
Both teams went back and forth in the extra quarter and things seemed to be heading into another overtime period. As SRV got a crucial stop with just under 15 seconds left, Isaak found Elliot Conley in transition.
Catching the ball on the right wing, Elliot didn’t have a clean look when he first received Isaak’s pass. The senior hadn’t shot the ball well all game, totaling just three points up to that point.
But there was no way he was going to pass up that shot.
Elliot jabbed toward the paint to move a Tech defender back and rose up to shoot the jumper behind the arc.
Swish.
As the ball went through the net, the gym went wild. Elliot said he knew the shot was good as soon as it left his hand.
“I knew it was money right when I let it go,” Elliot said. “The whole game I wasn’t shooting very well. I wasn’t playing very confidently, but my guys trusted me and they know I can hit a shot like that, so I had no problem letting it fly at the end.”
Isaak added, “I was so excited for Elliot. He’s worked his butt off all four years and this is a big moment for him. I was so happy that he got to experience what it’s like to hit a game-winning shot.”
But as Tech turned to Grayson one last time with seconds on the clock, his shot just barely missed. With two defenders on him, he somehow got the ball in the air as it ricocheted off the backboard, spun around the cylinder and rimmed out.
For SRV, a sigh of relief followed by a feeling of joy.
“I thought we were looking at double overtime,” Botteen said. “What a clutch-looking shot that was.”
For Tech, the emotions started to show quickly when the clock hit zeroes. The tears flowed for both Tech players and fans as the Bulldogs’ season came to an end.
Grayson, which won a state title as a junior and was an integral piece of Tech’s dominance since he was a freshman.
“We made it far,” Grayson said. “We lost in the third round on a shot that rimmed out for me, but I’m proud of our team and proud of how far we came.”
SRV will now turn its attention to Lincoln. The Wolves opened the year with a loss to Lincoln on a buzzer beater in overtime.
“I think it’s fitting that the NorCal season started with us and them and it will end with us and them,” Botteen said. “We couldn’t ask for a better opponent.”
