SAN PABLO — For 11 days, Salesian’s boys basketball had practiced every aspect of the sport, honing their skills and their minds during an almost two-week hiatus between games for the North Coast Section’s top seed in Open.
That preparation translated into defensive domination on Wednesday night as the Pride felled No. 4 seed San Ramon Valley 60-45 and advanced to the title game against De La Salle.
“It’s hard, because there’s no right answer for how to stay sharp on an 11-day layoff,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. “But obviously, it worked out pretty good.”
The game was moved from Salesian’s cozy gym to the larger venue at Contra Costa College to accommodate a large number of fans.
But once the game tipped off, the Pride made it look like San Ramon Valley was trying to run its offense in a shoebox in a first-quarter run that saw Salesian lead 12-0 after five minutes.
Elias Obenyah swerved in for a spinning layup, Alvin Loving IV splashed a three-pointer from the corner and De’Undrae Perteete slipped inside for another layup, all plays sandwiched between stellar defensive stands.
This 7-0 start forced coach Brian Botteen to burn an early timeout, but it had little effect as the Pride stretched their lead to 16-2 late in the first quarter.
“Their defensive intensity is the best that we’ve seen,” Botteen said after his team was held to under 50 points for the first time all season. “They’re gonna wear you down to the point where you’re really gonna find out what you have at the end of the game.”
Salesian had not participated in a competitive basketball game in a month, and the Pride were making a very strong SRV team look like league fodder early on. With one rout after the other, Mellis’ team ran through the Tri-County Athletic League by beating every team by at least 20 points.
Luke Isaak, who led SRV with 14 points, ignited a SRV run with two free throws and a triple from the wing. After trailing by 14, the Wolves took a page out of Salesian’s playbook and forced some turnovers.
The Danville school, which was coming off an East Bay Athletic League tournament championship against De La Salle, went on an 18-5 run to cut Salesian’s lead to 21-20. The highlights included a Matthew Diekmann poster dunk and Isaak’s absurd and-1 layup in the open court on back-to-back possessions.
SAN PABLO — San Ramon Valley guard Luke Isaak greets teammates during pregame introductions. San Ramon Valley and Salesian played in an NCS Open Division boys basketball playoff game at Contra Costa College in San Pablo Calif. on Feb. 21, 2024 (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
But the momentum wouldn’t last as Claytor created one Loving layup out of thin air with an absurd bounce-pass from midcourt, and then finished a layup himself to help give the hosts a 28-20 lead at halftime.
“We really get after it, and in this 11-day span, we focused on defense and competing,” Claytor said. “We have a good scout team and a bench, so when we compete against each other, we make each other better.”
Salesian took control in the third quarter, taking a 36-24 lead when Perteete hurled a fullcourt pass to a streaking Obenyah for a “touchdown” toss that had the senior forward mimicking Patrick Mahomes with a raised-arms celebration after the score.
A 12-point deficit against Salesian in the second half might as well be a 22-point hole, and San Ramon Valley couldn’t dig itself out twice in one game.
The entire game was reminiscent of the last two times the teams played in 2023. Salesian smothered SRV in last year’s NCS Open tournament, and then the Pride ended the Wolves’ season a couple of weeks later in NorCal play.
SAN PABLO — Salesian forward De’Undrae Perteete (0) dribbles past San Ramon Valley forward Seamus Deely (15). San Ramon Valley and Salesian played in an NCS Open Division boys basketball playoff game at Contra Costa College in San Pablo Calif. on Feb. 21, 2024 (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
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San Ramon Valley’s season did not end at Contra Costa College though. The Wolves (25-6) are guaranteed a spot in NorCal play by being in the Section Open division.
Meanwhile, Salesian (28-1) is looking forward to adding to its 10 NCS trophies, and first in the Open. Salesian’s last section crown came in Divison II in 2022. Mellis said the game will take place on Friday at Contra Costa College.
“This is a pretty resilient group, and we’ve played a lot of high-level teams that have made runs on us,” Mellis said. “We’ve weathered those stroms pretty, pretty well.”