Division I boys
Granada coach Quaran Johnson had a message for his team Thursday night before its game with Clovis West, the No. 1 seed in NorCal Division I.
“I told the team not to look at the number in front of their name,” Johnson said.
The advice couldn’t have been more perfect as the ninth-seeded and visiting Matadors surprised Clovis West 70-62 in overtime. Andrew McKeever, Granada’s 7-footer who is bound for St. Mary’s, scored 27 points.
“An overtime thriller once again,” Johnson said. “We grinded it out. Feels dang good.”
Now the question is whether Granada (24-10) will visit No. 4 seed Archbishop Riordan on Saturday. The San Francisco school led Inderkum-Sacramento 71-62 on Thursday when the game was stopped with 1:15 to go because of a brawl on the court.
STORY: Brawl forces end of NorCal high school playoff game
The California Interscholastic Federation’s website has the game listed as a 7 p.m. tipoff, but CIF officials could decide to throw Riordan out of the playoffs.
Johnson, driving back from Fresno, said he hadn’t heard anything as of midnight.
Granada definitely wasn’t intimidated by Clovis West and its glossy 30-3 record coming in. The Matadors scored the game’s first 10 points, then hit the home team with a seven-point run to start the overtime. Regulation ended with the teams tied 55-55.
Kevin Grant scored 16 points for Granada and Tyler Harris added 11 for the winning team.
Salesian 64, University-San Francisco 39
A close first half turned into a rout in the second as Salesian outscored University 39-17 after the teams came back from recess.
“We were really good in the third quarter,” coach Bill Mellis said of his sixth-seeded Pride. “We played a lot of guys and extended our lead. To hold them to five 3’s and 39 points, that was a special defensive effort tonight.”
Salesian will bring a 25-8 record into Saturday night’s semifinal game against No. 10 seed San Ramon Valley at Contra Costa College. The Pride will also bring an 18-2 record over its last 20 games, which includes a rout of SRV in the section playoffs.
Alvin Loving led the scoring for Salesian with 22 points. Amani Johnson netted 14.
University (29-4) is no slouch. The Red Devils were a perfect 4-0 this season against opponents from the tough West Catholic Athletic League. They received 14 points from Cole Boake and 10 from Joey Kennedy.
Division III
Oakland Tech 64, Lincoln-San Francisco 59
When Oakland Tech trailed by eight …read more
Source:: The Mercury News