BRENTWOOD — It took a full team effort for Dublin on Thursday night.
In front of a raucous crowd, No. 4 Dublin held the high-powered Liberty offense to just five points in the fourth quarter en route to a 65-47 win in the first round of the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs. Dublin will play De La Salle in the Open Division semifinals on Wednesday.
“That’s a good team right there,” Dublin coach Tom Costello said. “We made a lot of winning plays and I thought we weathered the storm well.”
Dublin junior forward Jaiden Jones led the Gaels with 18 points and six rebounds. Cameron Anderson scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Miles Pollard totaled 14 points and senior Ramir Raymore had 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
Senior forward Andrew Vixon led No. 5 Liberty with 18 points and five rebounds.
“A key thing with this team is that our chemistry is so great,” Jones said. “We played for each other for so long and just coming together makes a huge difference.”
After taking a 31-25 lead at halftime, Dublin found a second gear at the end of the third quarter.
Pollard knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the period, giving Dublin a 50-42 lead entering the final eight minutes.
In the fourth, it was all Dublin.
A pair of free throws from Raymore capped off a 9-3 run to open the quarter. After a quick layup from AJ Jones, Liberty cut the Dublin lead to 12 with just over three minutes to go. But that would turn out to be the Lions’ final points of the game.
A two-handed slam from Anderson to push the Dublin lead to 14 was the dagger as the Gaels locked up the home team in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
“It was about mental toughness,” Raymore said about stopping Liberty in the fourth quarter. “The toughness was going to be there at the end of the day. We just had to be together as a team.”
While Liberty will not be in contention for an Open Division title, the Lions will have another playoff game on Wednesday when they play California in the fifth place match. The game will be crucial in deciding where they will be seeded in the CIF NorCal playoffs.
Dublin advances to the semifinals where it will play De La Salle. The Spartans beat Dublin both times this season, but each team was not at full strength when they played each other.
De La Salle edged out Dublin 53-49 in its first matchup, but did not have Oklahoma commit Alec Blair. In the second matchup that took place in the EBAL playoffs, Dublin fell 54-41 without Anderson.
Jones believes the Gaels have learned from their mistakes and will be much better going into Wednesday’s game.
“We have to get them this time, but we’re going to come for them,” Jones said. “We’re going to gameplan and adjust and just get ready for this one. We just got to go out and conquer. We got to beat that green school.”
