Without the services of All-American candidate Josiah Turner, the Sacramento Dragons were no match for Salesian in the finals of the Gridley Invitational.
Salesian dropped the Turnerless Dragons 73-45 to capture the GIBT for the second straight season. Dominic Artis scored 27 points, including four three-pointers, to lead the way while Jabari Bird added 18 points.
The second quarter proved to be the difference as Salesian outscored the Dragons 22-4 in the period. Robert Garrett led Sacramento with 17 points, but he was the only Sacramento player in double figures.
In other games, Jesuit defeated Burbank 75-58, Newark Memorial edged St. Francis 67-59 and El Cerrito topped host Gridley 76-36.
Kendall Andrews had 18 points for Newark Memorial and Yusuf Farouqi added 17. Sean Dawkins had 18 points for the Lancers.
Brian Glodowski tossed in 17 points for Jesuit while Vick West Jr. had 13 for Burbank. El Cerrito got 16 points from Jamontee Condor while Jessep MacFarlane led Gridley with 16 points.
Second Day
Sacramento and Salesian both advanced to tonight's championship game of the Gridley Invitational Basketball Tournament with wins over a pair of Sacramento area schools Friday night at Farmer's Hall.
Sacramento downed Luther Burbank 79-61 to advance to the final while Salesian took care of Jesuit (Carmichael) 71-63.
A pair of teams that won NorCal championships last year advanced to the consolation finals with easy wins. St. Francis (Mountain View) routed host Gridley 78-38 in one matchup while Newark Memorial edged El Cerrito 59-48.
Sacramento and Salesian play in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. while Burbank and Jesuit meet at 5 p.m. Newark Memorial and St. Francis clash for the consolation championship at 3:30 p.m. and Gridley takes on El Cerrito in the seventh place game at 2 p.m.
Sacramento 79, Burbank 61Josiah Turner led three Dragons in double figures with 22 points including eight in a 29-point Sacramento third quarter. Erik Kinney also came up big for the Dragons with 18 points while De'Von Boyd added 15. Robert Garrett notched12 rebounds while Kinney had 13.
Mitchell Love had 18 points for Burbank while Robert Long and Vick West Jr. each had 12.
Salesian 71, Jesuit 63Jabari Bird scored 12 points in the third quarter and finished with 26 to lead Salesian to the win. Dominic Artis added 17 points and Jeffrey Parker had 12.
Jesuit had four players in double figures, led by Brian Glodowski with 15 points, Parker Uu with 14, Akachi Okugo with 13 and Gary Melvin with 10.
Newark Memorial 59, El Cerrito 48Kendall Andrews posted 18 points and Casey Norris had 14 for Newark Memorial. El Cerrito scored just 26 points through three quarters of play, but made a push in the final quarter behind Jabri Jenkins, who had 10 of his team-high 14 points in the stanza.
St. Francis 78, Gridley 38The Lancers led 44-16 in the first half, thanks to some hot three-point shooting. St. Francis made eight three-point buckets in the first half, including four by Jarrod Diaz, to top the Bulldogs. Ivan Margaretic led 12 Lancers who scored at least a bucket as he finished with 14 points. Diaz was next with 12. Kevin Mattos led Gridley with 12 points.
Day OneThe 57th annual Gridley Invitational Basketball Tournament always features some of the toughest teams in Northern California. How tough? Consider that in Thursday's first round of action, two Northern California champions lost in the first round.
Newark Memorial, the defending Division I Northern California, lost to
Burbank (Sacramento), 53-45, in the final game of the night Thursday at Farmer's Hall. Burbank came into the game ranked No. 5 in the Sacramento Bee area preseason rankings while Newark Memorial was ranked No. 10 in Northern California by Cal-Hi Sports to start the season.
Meanwhile
Jesuit (Carmichael) clobbered defending Northern California Division II champion St. Francis (Mountain View), 83-57. The Marauders are ranked No. 6 in the Sacramento area to start the season.
Losses by Newark Memorial and St. Francis likely open the door for
Sacramento and
Salesian (Richmond), who appear headed on a crash course for the championship game. Salesian, which won the tournament last year and reached the NorCal finals before falling to St. Mary's, got off to a strong start with a blowout win against Gridley, 82-40.
Sacramento, meanwhile, finished third in the GIBT last season and is two years removed from appearing in the state finals. The Dragons have two of the state's top players in Arizona-bound
Josiah Turner and 6-foot-11
Robert Garrett, who is headed to Santa Clara. Sacramento won its opener, defeating El Cerrito, ranked No. 15 in Northern California to start the season, 72-57.
Jesuit takes on Salesian tonight at 8:30 p.m. while St. Francis meets host Gridley at 5:30 p.m. Sacramento will play Burbank at 7 p.m. and Newark Memorial and El Cerrito play at 4 p.m.
Jesuit 83, St. Francis 57
The Marauders built a 38-28 halftime lead, but really poured it on in the second half by scoring 45 points. Four Jesuit players reached double figures, topped by
Parker Uu with 20 points on four 3-point baskets.
Akachi Okugo and
Gary Melvin each had 13 points while
Brian Glodowski scored 12.
Drew Dickey led St. Francis with 12 points, but no other player was in double figures.
Salesian 82, Gridley 40
Despite missing some players due to the football team still being active in the North Coast Section playoffs, the Chieftans still blew out the host Bulldogs, scoring 51 points in the first half, including 30 in the opening stanza.
The 2009 state champions got 17 points from Jeffrey Parker, 14 points from Markel Leonard, 13 from Bryce Thompson, 12 from Jabari Bird and 11 from
Dominic Artis.
Kevin Mattos topped Gridley with 17 points while
Travis Powell had nine points.
Sacramento 72, El Cerrito 57
One of the top recruits in the country, Josiah Turner tossed in 24 points to lead Sacramento to a convincing 72-57 win over El Cerrito.
De'von Boyd added 13 points and
Simmie Shelton had 11 for the Dragons.
Jamontee Condor had 22, including 11 from the line, for El Cerrito.
Justin Johnson added 16.
Luther Burbank 53, Newark Memorial 45
The Titans took advantage at the free throw line, converting 21 of 29 charity tosses, including 10 of 12 in the fourth quarter.
Rob Long and
Mitchell Love each had 13 points while
Deshean Hill added 12.
Newark Memorial had a tougher time at the line, connecting on just 13 of 26 free throws. Casey Norris led all scorers in the game with 20 points while Kendall Andrews had 15.
