RICHMOND – Salesian’s boys basketball team is the class of the Bay Area hoops scene, a juggernaut that goes 10-deep on the depth chart, every player a threat to score, and suffocates on defense with a switch-heavy scheme.
The Pride are 29-1 and have won 17 consecutive games.
Defeating top-seeded Salesian in the NorCal Open Division semifinals will be a herculean task.
But for perennial Open powerhouse Modesto Christian, pulling off such a stunner would be far from unprecedented for coach Brice Fantazia’s program.
Salesian was 33-0 and seeded No. 1 in the Open in 2019, the Richmond school’s last appearance in the state’s top division.
The players who orchestrated Modesto Christian’s 66-48 rout have all graduated by now, but the coaching staff, and belief it can stun the local basketball world again, remain.
“We’re going to put that game on and show our guys that Salesian is a monster, but not a monster that can’t be slayed,” Fantazia said after Modesto downed De La Salle 51-49 at the buzzer in the first round of the Open on Wednesday.
Modesto Christian’s Gavin Sykes (11) and his teammates celebrate his 51-49 buzzer beater win against De La Salle High in the second half of a NorCal Open basketball playoff game at De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Meanwhile, Modesto Christian has reached the semifinals in each of its nine appearances in the Open playoffs and won the NorCal Open in 2022. If the Crusaders win on Saturday, they will advance to their sixth regional Open final and third in a row.
“I know people give (Salesian coach Bill) Mellis a lot of crap because he’s never won an Open game, but people don’t understand how hard it is to win,” Fantazia said. “I know we’ve won a bunch, but years go off your life after each win.”
Fantazia has a deep respect for Salesian’s longtime coach.
“He’s one of the best coaches in California history, and I hate that it has to be him that we play on Saturday because I want it for him,” Fantazia said. “But I can’t want it for him at the expense of my team and my guys.”
Modesto Christian (28-5) should have the size advantage over Salesian, which doesn’t have a player taller than 6-foot-6.
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But Salesian has proven that a defense led by pesky guards Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, Amani Johnson, Alvin Loving IV and De’Undrae Perteete doesn’t need a massive shot-blocker to stifle elite teams.
“If you can’t get to the rim, rim-protection doesn’t matter,” Fantazia said. “Their philosophy is that they’re going to keep the ball out of the paint. They’re dogs, and they play bigger than they are.”
Salesian hasn’t lost in two months, but after beating De La Salle in the opening round, Modesto’s best player thinks his team has what it takes to topple a giant on Saturday night at Contra Costa College.
“They’re the No. 1 seed, but we expect to win,” guard Gavin Sykes said. “We know them, they know us, so it should be a good game.”