By Richard Paolinelli
MaxPreps.com
No. 1 met No. 2 on the court Saturday during the Central Coast Section's Boys Division IV championship game at Santa Clara University.
The No. 2 team never had a chance.
Palma High slammed the door on Menlo School's offense, holding the Knights to just 25 percent shooting from the floor in a 61-47 victory.
The victory handed the Chieftains their sixth CCS Division IV crown and denied Menlo, the Peninsula Athletic League tournament champions and co-PAL South champions with Menlo-Atherton, its bid for a fifth title.
Loyola Marymount-bound Orlando Johnson led Palma with 23 points and 12 rebounds as the Chieftains never trailed in the entire contest. Palma (26-2) closed out the third quarter with a nine-point run for a commanding 41-26 lead going into the final eight minutes and never looked back.
Menlo (26-6) was led in scoring by Beau Heidrich who finished with 14 points.
In Division V action, David did manage to defeat Goliath Saturday when tiny No. 6 seeded Bridgemont (San Francisco) - boasting a student-body population of just 48 - used its full-court press to upset top-seeded Woodside Priory, 42-39, for the Central Coast Section Division V title.
Priory (25-4) committed 32 turnovers and even 7-2 Hungarian exchange student Greg Somogyi's 13 blocked shots couldn't over come Priory's sloppy ball handling.
Bridgemont (17-2), in only its third year of CCS play, opened the final quarter down by four points before running off 11-straight points to all but decide the outcome.
Still, Priory had one last chance to tie the game following two missed free throws by Bridgemont but Priory committed its final turnover of the game off of the rebound to end the game.
It was Woodside Priory's second CCS title game appearance as the Panthers fell to 0-2 in title game appearances.
Oak Grove held off Piedmont Hills to capture the Division I championship, 50-45, on Saturday but it certainly wasn't as easy a victory for Oak Grove as the last time the two league rivals met.
Oak Grove (27-1) had avenged its only loss of the season with a 72-35 rout, but found that Piedmont Hills had set aside any memory of that crushing defeat on Saturday.
Oak Grove earned its first Central Coast Section title in five years as Tyree McCrary led the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles.
Leading by 11 going into the final quarter, it looked like Oak Grove had an easy eight minutes left to the title. But Piedmont Hills mounted one last challenge to close to with four with just under three minutes left.
But a crucial steal and layup seconds later sealed the win for Oak Grove.
Archbishop Mitty easily dispatched Menlo-Atherton, 56-45, as the division's No. 1 seed rolled to the Division II title. St. Ignatius edged Archbishop Riordan, 51-48, to capture the Division III crown.
Girls
Top-seeded Carlmont had little trouble dispatching No. 7 Milpitas 50-39 Saturday at Santa Clara University to capture the CCS Division I girls championship.
It was the second championship in the last three years for Carlmont (20-8) and avenged last year's semifinal loss to Milpitas.
Melissa Ho led all scorers with 21 points, draining a CCS section championship game record six three-pointers for Carlmont in the win over the defending section champions.
In Division II, Mitty High made it a clean sweep for boys and girls basketball with a 59-39 rout over St. Francis.
In Division III, top-seeded Sacred Heart Cathedral edged St. Ignatius, 48-43, for the section championship.
In Division IV, top-seeded Valley Christian (San Jose) dispatched Santa Cruz, 53-37, to claim the section title.
In Division V action, Sacred Heart Prep did all it could to deny Pinewood its bid for a 10th-straight section championship, taking a 21-15 lead at halftime.
Unfortunately for Sacred Heart, there were still 16 minutes to play and Pinewood was not going to be denied.
Pinewood stormed back for a 54-30 victory and its 10th-consecutive CCS title thanks to a 20-0 run in the second half.
