12th ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HOLIDAY CLASSIC
Boys scores
De La Salle 43, McClymonds 38
St. Mary’s 61, Monte Vista 42
Salesian 58, Newark Memorial 55 (OT)
Sacred Heart Cathedral 77, Skyline 72
Girls scores
Carondelet 62, Berkeley 53
Pinole Valley 67, Alhambra 37
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
BERKELEY, Calif. — De La Salle basketball coach Frank Allocco called it a measuring stick and judging by McClymonds’ lack of production it must have been hot and pointy.
The Spartans unleashed their patented smothering and active defense to end the Warriors’ 49-game win streak and a personal three-game slide to the defending state champions with a unbearable-to-watch 43-38 victory Monday in the premier game of the 12th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Classic at Hass Pavilion.
Not a single player scored in double figures De La Salle, which held off-the-charts athletic Damon Powell scoreless and McClymonds to just 17 points through three quarters.
“We feel like defense is our strength,” De La Salle senior guard Brandon Smith said. “We never should have an off night on defense. We feel like this is one of De La Salle’s best (defensive) teams ever.”
The numbers sure back it up.
The Spartans came in giving up just 32.8 points per game. They limited six of its last eight opponents to below 30 points. Other than a 54-50 defeat to Oakland Tech, a team McClymonds beat 74-40 last week, De La Salle has been just about perfect defensively.
“We weren’t a very good team back then,” Allocco said about the loss that came exactly one month and 10 games ago. “We came out tonight knowing this was a measuring stick. It means nothing else than we’ve come a long ways and we can play at a national level. We’ll happily take it.”
About 50 percent of the some 6,000 fans who showed at the college arena dispersed early in the fourth quarter even though McClymonds cut a once 13-point deficit to single digits.
The Warriors, in fact, closed all the way to 42-38 with 29.9 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Will Cherry, but Cal-bound point guard Smith hit one free throw with 16.4 seconds left and McClymonds couldn’t connect on five highly-contested shots down the stretch.
McClymonds (17-1), which ended De La Salle’s last two seasons, made just 14 of 42 shots (33 percent). The Spartans (14-1), ranked 20th nationally in Dave Krider’s Xcellent 25, weren’t any better at 10-for-30.
But they connected at the foul line, making 17 of 21 to just 8 of 11 for McClymonds.
“It was a frustrating night for sure,” said Powell, who appeared out of sorts all night and fouled out early in the fourth quarter after playing just 14 minutes and attempt just three shots. “They play really good defense but the (referees) didn’t help for sure. Hopefully we’ll learn from this and get another shot at them.”
McClymonds senior Justin Standley, a 6-foot-3 guard who transferred from Amador Valley (Pleasanton), was the only player in double figures with 17 points, nine coming in the fourth quarter when the Warriors “exploded” for 21.
Cherry added eight but the rest of the Warriors mustered a measly 13. This from a team that averages 67 points a game and is used to getting up and down. Cherry scored on a breakaway dunk to open the game and Standley converted a fastbreak hoop with 2:23 left in the first to give McClymonds its last lead, 4-2.
De La Salle scored the quarter’s last six points on a Smith free throw, a put back by Beau Levesque and a 3-pointer from Jordan Estrada, who was an absolute monster on defense.
McClymonds scored only one transition hoop the rest of the game.
With defense like their playing, no one is feeling sorry for the Spartans who lost one of the nation’s top seniors Hollis Thompson in December.
The Georgetown-bound forward had transferred from Loyola (Los Angeles) to De La Salle in the summer when his parents split. Thompson, a 6-6 forward with massive offensive skills, then moved to Atlanta with his dad, who transferred jobs.
The Spartans could certainly have used Thompson’s offensive prowess on Monday — Smith led the team with nine points, 3-point specialist Joe Stein had eight and John McArthur and Jefferson Powers added seven each — but if they continue to strangle opposing offenses it may not matter.
“A lot of people thought De La Salle was dead, but we’re alive as ever,” Smith said. “We’re on the rise. We believe in each other and are stronger than all the doubt.”
ST. MARY’S (Berkeley) 61, MONTE VISTA (Danville) 42
Revenge was sweet for the Panthers (16-2), who got 16 points each from Chris Brew, 15 by Dom Lee and never trailed after a 10-0 run to end the third quarter.
The victory avenged a 67-56 defeat to Monte Vista on Dec. 29 at the Marin Catholic Tournament.
Monte Vista came in 15-0 and ranked 12th in the state.
“We didn’t play any defense in that game,” said Lee, a high-flying 6-5 junior who helped the Panthers to a NorCal Division IV title last season. “We’re not known for our defense period. But today we really focused on it. We made an effort to trap smart and play hard.”
The Panthers were helped when Monte Vista leading scorer Brian Barbour sprained his ankle early in the second quarter.
He had scored 11 points to that point, but went scoreless the rest of the way. The 6-1 senior point guard could run fine straight away, but appeared very gimpy trying to cut.
Taylor Brewster, a 5-11 senior, was the only other Monte Vista player to score in double figures with 16 points.
“This was our biggest win of the year,” said Brew, a 6-4 senior who signed a letter of intent to UC Santa Barbara. “We were pumped all day and it really showed on the defensive end. Last time we played no defense against them. We fell way behind and they’re really good and we couldn’t come back. Today we got them down and kept them down.”
A Brewster 3-pointer gave Monte Vista its last lead 31-29 with 5:05 left in the third quarter, when Lee hit a jumper and Brew sent down an emphatic dunk to put the Panthers up for good.
Freshman Glenn Baral made two free throws, San Jose State-bound Aalim Moore made a beautiful spin shot and Lee powered in a deuce and St. Mary’s was rolling.
When Brew opened the fourth with consecutive mid-range jumpers to open the fourth quarter this one was essentially done.
“The kids looked forward to playing in this setting and getting another shot (at Monte Vista),” St. Mary’s coach Manny Nodar said. “We have a very good and friendly rivalry with them. I think we just wore them down at both ends of the court. This was a very satisfying win.”
SALESIAN (Richmond) 58, NEWARK MEMORIAL 55 (OT)
Earlier in the year, the young Pride (14-3) might have crumbled after watching a last-second fall to force overtime.
But Salesian, which starts a pair of freshmen and two sophomores, regrouped quickly, scored the first five points in overtime and got a combined 36 points from Jabari Brown (19 points) and Desmond Simmons to pull out the gritty, albeit inartistic victory.
Khion Sankey had 16 points and Ifeanyl Ezeofor 10 for Newark Memorial (15-4), which went 0-for-16 on 3-pointers and was just 11-for-22 from the foul line.
“We’ll take it,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. “We’re growing up and figuring out ways to win. That was a tough one.”
Down 44-39 midway through the fourth quarter, Salesian scored eight straight on a layups by Jordan Lau and Kendall Andrews and two free throws and layup from Simmons.
Salesian would lead the rest of the way until on a pretty inbounds play with 3.2 seconds left in regulation, Sankey caught the ball in the key, never came down with it and fired in a four-footer off the backboard to send the game into overtime.
“That’s one thing we executed pretty well,” Newark Memorial coach Craig Ashmore said. “The rest we didn’t do very well.”
In overtime, sophomore Kendall Andrews scored a layup off of offense and Brown drilled two free throws and Dominic Artis one.
A layup by Ezeofor closed the gap to 56-54 with 42.1 seconds left, but Newark Memorial missed four straight shots down the stretch.
With 4.9 seconds left and leading 57-54, Salesian was called for a foul on a 3-point attempt by Evan Kobori, but he missed his free throw. After making the second, he missed the third on purpose, but Andrews secured the rebound and made one of two free throws.
A length-of-the-court heave by Ezeofor was well short and Salesian had prevailed.
“We made a lot of stops down the stretch and that was the difference,” Simmons said.
SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL (San Francisco) 77, SKYLINE (Oakland) 72
Fresno State Jerry Brown scored 28 points and the Irish made eight straight free throws in the final 40.2 to win the highly-entertaining cross-bay contest.
Sacred Heart (11-3), coming off a humbling league loss to St. Francis, used a 14-4 run starting late in the third quarter to take a 57-50 lead, one it would never relinquish.
Skyline (11-8), which led most of the first half, eventually closed to 69-67 on consecutive three-point plays by Damon Jones.
But Kenny Cavness and Daryl Cooper each swished four free throws down the stretch and the Irish had earned the victory.
Nate Gartrell had 12 points for the winners and Cooper 10.
Greg Brown, a 6-6 senior, and 19 points, Kevin Jackson 16, Nefi Perdomo 14 and Jones 12 for Skyline, which made 16 of 26 free throws. Up until the last stretch, the Irish had struggled from the line making 13 of 22.
“It was really important for us to win this game and regain some confidence,” Brown said. “We played much better the second quarter than the first.”
During the decisive run late in the third quarter, Kevin Greene, who Saturday made a football recruiting trip to USC, started it with a putback followed by a nice reverse layup by Brown.
After two Skyline free throws, Conrad Fox had a rebound bucket, Gatrell scored on a pair of fastbreak hoops to give the Irish a 53-50 lead. Greene followed with another hoop and Brown made a free throw before Brown scored five consecutive points to close to 57-55.
Skyline would never get over the hump however.
“We were right where we wanted to be, but couldn’t get it done,” Skyline coach Terrence Ransom said. “I’m proud of how we competed and how hard we played, but we didn’t do all the little things we needed to pull it out.”
Said Gatrell: “We didn’t play our best but we fought hard and got stops down the stretch. It’s a good win.”
GIRLS
CARONDELET (Concord) 62, BERKELEY 53
Morgan Fitterer, a 5-10 junior, had 17 points leading four Cougars in double figures and to the decisive victory over the defending NorCal Division I champions.
The Cougars (14-2), ranked 10th in the state, also got 13 points from Erica Payne and 10 points each by Ricki Radonavich and Hannah Huffman. Dominique Williams-McNae had 17 points and Elisha Davis 15 for Berkeley (11-5).
PINOLE VALLEY 67, ALHAMBRA (Martinez) 37
The remarkable Denesha Stallwroth had 37 points and Pinole Valley (12-3) rolled to an easy victory. The 6-3 Stallworth, who has signed a letter of intent to Cal, leads the state in scoring at 30.5 points per game.
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.