The Salesian boys came up short in Saturday’s Open Division state title game, falling 78-70 to Sierra Canyon.
Eric Taylor
Mitty teammates embrace in the final moments of Saturday’s 56-49 loss to Ontario Christian in the Open Division state title game in Sacramento.
Eric Taylor
SACRAMENTO — The Bay Area patterns at the state high school basketball championships continued Friday and Saturday at the Golden 1 Center.
Strong efforts, but disappointing finishes at the top (Open Division defeats for the Mitty girls and Salesian-Richmond boys) followed unexpected lower-division wins for first-time boys titleist Cornerstone Christian-Antioch (Division 3), resilient Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton (Division 4) and surging San Marin-Novato (Division 5).
BOYS
Open Division
Sierra Canyon 78, Salesian 70
Division 1
Damien 58, Folsom 55
Division 2
San Joaquin Memorial 46, Bakersfield Christian 45
Division 3
Cornerstone Christian 74, Birmingham 64
Division 4
Sacred Heart Prep 47, San Juan Hills 45
Division 5
San Marin 89, Sylmar 64
GIRLS
Open Division
Ontario Christian 56, Mitty 49
Division 1
Centennial 73, Clovis 66
Division 2
Sierra Pacific 56, St. Joseph 47
Division 3
El Dorado 42, Valley Christian 40
Division 4
Faith Christian 51, Palisades 37
Division 5
Woodland Christian 63, Laguna Hills 30
“There’s not too many people (who) gave us a chance in this game,” said Salesian coach Bill Mellis following his team’s 78-70 loss to nationally ranked Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth. “Not too many gave us a chance (NorCal championship) against Riordan, either. And we just kept proving people wrong.”
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Over their four season as starters, no one questioned the efforts and talents of Elias Obenyah and Carlton Perrilliat Jr., who led the Pride with 27 and 21 points, respectively.
Obenyah, a 6-foot-5 guard headed to Stanford, made 10 of 18 shots — including four 3-pointers — leading to an early 16-10 lead and then a late rally that cut an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit down to six with 27 seconds to play. Obenyah’s four-point play brought many of the fans who were walking to the exits back to their seats.
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In a wild sequence, a long inbounds pass was intercepted, but then thrown out of bounds and when JJ Sati-Grier (11 points) sank two free throws with 18 seconds left, the Pride finally relented.
Sierra Canyon’s Brandon McCoy, an Oakland native and McDonald’s All-American, had 20 points, six rebounds, three steals and four blocks, while Brannon Martinsen added 13 points and Steph Kankole (12 points) hit four key 3-pointers, which keyed a 46-28 edge in the middle quarters.
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Perrilliat was 8-for-14 from the floor and had a game-high seven rebounds. Teammate Asante Johnson added 11 points. Salesian surprisingly outrebounded the taller Trailblazers 33-24. Sierra Canyon was missing North Carolina-bound 6-7 wing Maximo Adams for all but three minutes after he injured his leg early on and never returned.
“That’s a really good team and just so tough because they’re deep and they keep coming at you in waves,” Mellis said. “But I think that we caught the attention of a lot of people at the outset, that we could defend them and play with them.”
Said Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier, whose program, which has featured a half dozen current NBA players including Bronny James, won a record third Open Division title: “I just want to give kudos to (Salesian) because the level on which they push us, the intensity in which they started the game, the way that the coach coached the game — much respect to them, to him, for what they did to us today.”
Ontario Christian coach Aundre Cummings gave similar kudos to Mitty Hall of Fame coach Sue Phillips, who probably had a tough time hearing it. Her team fell to 0-6 in Open Division championship games with a fifth straight loss there, this on by a 56-49 count despite 19 points and 10 rebounds from Iowa-signee McKenna Woliczko and 11 points and seven rebounds by Maliya Hunter.
The Monarchs (28-3) simply couldn’t contain Kaleena Smith, who Cummings called the “best player in the country regardless of class.” The 5-6 junior guard had 24 points and five assists and made four 3-pointers to help the Knights (34-2) wipe out an eight-point second-quarter deficit. Mitty actually held her seven points below her season average and Ontario Christian, which played without fourth-leading scorer and top rebounder Chloe Jenkins (concussion), 31 points below their average.
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“Kaleena was the difference maker,” said Phillips. “She’s one of the most dynamic scorers I’ve ever seen.”
Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton 47, San Juan Hills-San Juan Capistrano (Orange County) 45: For the second straight game, Alex Osterloh made two free throws with less than a second to win a game, four days after it happened against Half Moon Bay in a 53-51 victory in the NorCal final. On Tuesday, they came with 0.7 of a second left. On Saturday, it was 0.3.
He finished with 15 points, four assists and four rebounds. Point guard Pat Bala had 13 points.
“I just took a deep breath,” Osterloh said. “I’ve shot (free throws) forever. I knew if I shot it, the ball would go in.”
Cornerstone Christian-Antioch 74, Birmingham-Lake Balboa (Los Angeles County) 64: Benjamin Lukacs made 11 of 14 shots, had 26 points, eight assists and six rebounds as the school of 130 students won East Contra Costa County’s first state title. The school went 2-53 in its first three seasons (beginning in 2008-09), but has won at least 23 games seven times since 2011. James Perry added 16 points, eight rebounds, six blocks and four dunks. Amari Woodard (four 3-pointers) had 12 points for the Cougars (29-8).
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San Marin-Novato 89, Sylmar 64: Miller Morgan scored 25 points, Kellen Dunning 16 in 13 minutes, Jackson Young had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Grant Means contributed 12 points as the Mustangs (22-13) beat Sylmar at its own game. Even though Sylmar had scored more than 100 six times and more than 90 16 times, 73-year-old coach Chris Lavdiotis had his team push the pace as the Mustangs scored a season-high 31 points in the first quarter. San Marin shot 56% from the field, mostly on fastbreak layups, scoring 68 points in the paint. “The last six weeks have been a dream and today was a culmination of these guys’ dedication,” said Lavdiotis.
El Dorado-Placentia girls 42, Valley Christian 40: In Division 3, El Dorado (24-14) withstood the efforts of Kennedi Nomura, who scored 16 straight points (she finished with 18) for the Warriors, who finished 16-16. The West Catholic Athletic League fifth-place squad came in with seven straight wins.