Basketball roundup: No. 13 Dougherty Valley uses small-ball, defeats No. 20 California at home

For the 11th consecutive time, the Battle of San Ramon belonged to Dougherty Valley. 

Behind a 28-point performance from Rashod Cotton Jr., Dougherty Valley defeated crosstown rival California 55-53 at home. 

Dougherty Valley coach Mike Hansen improved to 23-2 against California in his career with Tuesday’s win.

“We’re 23-2 in my career against them. So, I mean, you know, I look at it as the next game on the schedule. Our kids obviously look at it as a big game,” Hansen said.

Even being undersized at nearly every position, Hansen has completely leaned into a small-ball lineup that included four guards and forward Alonzo Walker III playing center. 

Walker finished with 12 points, junior Rylan Sevilla had 10 and Devyn Ranola had five. 

“We’re really hard to guard because you beat yourself up trying to get big and they gotta think about guarding us too,” Hansen said. “You put four guys around Alonzo that can all penetrate, pitch and find and score, it’s really hard to guard us. So if our small lineup could rebound, it’s really tough. But I think down the stretch here, we’re gonna have to go a little bigger, just in spurts. But there’s a good part about being big, but there’s also the aspect of having to guard people.” 

California, which has now lost five of its last six games, got 15 points from Santa Clara commit Brayde Kuykendall and 11 points each from Jaiden Jones and Emeka Ifediora. 

Dougherty Valley (16-7, 4-2) will hit the road on Friday when the Wildcats play Amador Valley, which defeated Monte Vista on Tuesday. California (11-12, 2-4) will host Foothill. 

No. 1 Salesian 57, Albany 35

Stanford commit Elias Obenyah scored a team-high 13 points and Braylon Franklin added 10 to lead Salesian to a blowout Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division victory on the road over Albany. The Panthers got a game-high 15 points from Pasha Azar. Salesian improved to 19-3, 6-0. Albany dropped to 19-4, 4-3. 

No. 2 Salesian 53, No. 3 St. Ignatius 51

San Francisco commit Andrew Hilman called game as his one-legged jumper at the buzzer lifted Riordan to victory to stay perfect in West Catholic Athletic League play. Hilman finished 11 points while JP Pihtovs led the Crusaders with 13. Nathan Canilao was in San Francisco and has the story here.

Livermore 44, No. 4 De La Salle 41 (suspended) 

This game was suspended with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter with Livermore leading by three as a fight in the gym’s hallway forced police intervention and the stoppage of the contest. The game will be resumed at a later date, according to school officials. Read more about the incident here. 

No. 5 Archbishop Mitty 72, St. Francis 46

Brady Clugage scored 17 points, Daniel Ryan had 14 and Nicholas Gklaros-Stavropoulos added 12 as Mitty breezed through St. Francis en route to its fifth WCAL win. Sophomore Weston Edwards had 16 points for St. Francis, which dropped to 8-10, 0-7. Mitty is now 11-6, 5-2. 

No. 7 The King’s Academy 85, Eastside College Prep 36

The Knights rolled through another West Bay Athletic League contest, this time defeating Eastside College prep by a whopping 49 points. Claxton Ladine led the way with 23 points, Xavier Barnett had 12, Aaden Walters scored 11 and Hezekiah Sires added 10 for TKA (16-3, 5-0). ECP (13-5, 1-4) got 10 points from Kai Ali. 

No. 8 Bellarmine 48, Valley Christian 46

The Bells escaped with a two-point win at home over Valley Christian. Chico State commit Will Corbett, shooting guard JJ Barton and senior Brennan Williams each scored 12 points for Bellarmine (12-5, 4-3 WCAL). Evan Lee had a game-high 15 points for Valley Christian, which dropped to 10-7, 2-5. 

No. 10 Amador Valley 63, No. 16 Monte Vista 56

Amador Valley’s three-guard trio was firing on all cylinders. Jaylen Smith poured in 26 points, San Jose State commit Cade Kruger had 14 and Elijah Stanley added 12 to lead the Dons to an EBAL win. Max Nishikawa had 17 points and Ian Desai added 15 for Monte Vista, which dropped to 14-9, 3-3. Amador Valley is now 15-8, 4-2.  

No. 12 Granada 70, No. 14 Dublin 63

The Gaels led by six at halftime, but the Matadors made a comeback at home to pick up another key EBAL win. Brandon Hahn had 29 points, 19 of which came in the second half, while Damien Miles added 20 and Quaran Johnson Jr. scored 11. Dublin (15-8, 2-4) got 20 points from Nick Lee and 19 from Izaiyah Romero. Granada improved to 16-6, 3-3. 

No. 15 Liberty 81, Heritage 55

Dante Vigil had a game-high 23 points, junior Jaiden Miller added 21 and Andrew Rendon had 10 as Liberty rolled past crosstown rival Heritage on the road to pick up a Bay Valley Athletic League win. Julian Njelita and Aidan Muse each had 11 for Heritage, which dropped to 13-8, 5-3. Liberty improved to 19-3, 8-0. 

No. 20 San Ramon Valley 63, Foothill 30

All but two players who checked into Tuesday’s game scored for SRV in a dominant EBAL win. Tyler Smith and Tommy Ambidge each had 10 points to lead SRV (11-12, 4-2). No player scored more than six points for Foothill, which dropped to 12-10, 0-6. 

Carlmont 50, Burlingame 43

The Scots avenged a one-point loss to the Panthers earlier this season by defeating Burlingame convincingly on the road in a Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division matchup. Dynamic scorer Jordan Rice scored a team-high 17 points while Luke Brown added 16 for Carlmont (9-9, 4-3). Burlingame (12-6, 4-3) got 23 points from sophomore Lucca Maher. 

Christopher 58, Evergreen Valley 48

The Gilroy school cruised to another Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division victory behind 22 points from Quinn Ledesma-Old Elk and 11 from Anton Mendoza. Evergreen Valley (11-6, 3-4) got 21 points from Ananth Kothapalli. Christopher improved to 14-5, 5-2. 

Cornerstone Christian 70, Head-Royce 57

The Antioch school continued to roll through the Bay Counties East League with a 13-point victory on the road. James Perry had a game-high 20 points and Amari Woodard chipped in 13. Freshman Tucker Peay scored 18 points for Head-Royce, which dropped to 10-11, 2-4. Cornerstone Christian improved to 15-8, 7-0. 

Los Gatos 56, Homestead 28

Zach Otoupal scored a game-high 12 points and Dionysis Maroudas added 11 for Los Gatos (15-4, 6-1 SCVAL De Anza) as the Wildcats cruised to a league win. Senior Kyle McDivitt led Homestead (9-10, 3-4) with seven points. 

Priory 81, Harker 44

Priory cruised to WBAL victory, defeating Harker at home to improve to 13-5, 4-1. Jai Gerrodette scored 20 points and Mate Palotai added 18 for the Panthers. Harker (5-13, 0-5) got 15 points from Caden Ruan and 10 from Rishaan Thoppay. 

Sacred Heart Prep 67, Crystal Springs Uplands 45

SHP (10-8, 3-2 WBAL) won its second straight game behind 11 points from Brady Grossman and 10 from Alberto De Bernardis. Senior Gavin Diaz scored a game-high 15 points and Marcus Kueh added 13 for Crystal Springs Uplands, which dropped to 13-4, 3-2. 

GIRLS BASKETBALL

No. 1 Archbishop Mitty 76, No. 8 St. Francis 17

Mitty (16-2, 5-0) put together maybe its most impressive win yet in West Catholic Athletic League play, holding an opponent under 20 points for the first time since a game against Flossmoor (Ill.) on Dec. 18. The Monarchs were led by McKenna Woliczko with 25 points and eight rebounds. Ze’Ni Patterson posted 12 points, while Maliya Hunter and Abi James each had 11. Grace Curley led St. Francis (16-4, 2-3) with 10 points. 

No. 4 Priory 64, Notre Dame-Belmont 29

Priory (13-5, 5-0) made quick work of a NDB (14-2, 3-2) that had a strong record coming in. Gabby Wickham led Priory with 18 points, four rebounds and three steals. Sasha Johnson had 16 points, four rebounds and two steals. Ugreat Daniels had 12 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two assists. Sammy Kakala led NDB with 17 points.

No. 5 Riordan 51, No. 6 St. Ignatius 39

Riordan (12-5, 4-1) put forth an impressive performance to stake its claim as the second-best team in the WCAL after SI (15-4, 3-2) began knocking on the door after a strong week of wins. Riordan led 30-18 at the half and never trailed. Zion McGuire led Riordan with 12 points, Trenia Dunbar had 11, Nylah Dyson had nine, Mafalda Fontan had five and Chay Collins had five. Haley McGee led SI with 17 points, Lulu Giometti had 10, Sophia Sanchez had five and Julia Alcantara had four.

No. 18 Menlo-Atherton 35, San Mateo 24

A slugfest in San Mateo ended with M-A (15-3, 6-1) on top as the Bears got six points each from Molly Gray, Lita Fakapelea and Bella Gormsen. Kaitlyn Schuh paced San Mateo (12-7, 2-5) with 11 points.

California 59, No. 20 Dougherty Valley 45

An upset in the East Bay ended with Cal (14-7, 4-2) topping DV at home. Keira Tom led Dougherty Valley with 21 points, seven rebounds, three steals and an assist. Vanessa Nguyen had 10 points.

Capuchino 39, Woodside 35

Cap (14-2, 7-0) picked up a nice win to remain unbeaten in Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division play and seize sole control of first place from the Wildcats (12-5, 6-1). Lorelai Shinn led Cap with 19 points, Kailee Gonzales added 13 and Alana Koenig had seven. Lyla Rich led Woodside with 12 points, followed by Meadow Long with 11.