Boys basketball: San Domenico building on playoff experience, success

San Domenico still has some of the glow from its NorCal boys basketball championship appearance in March, and the Panthers are stoking that fire with an early run in this season.

The Panthers were still rounding their game into form during Thursday’s 61-46 victory over Skyline of Oakland, but their effort was good enough to stretch their winning streak to five games as they advance to Friday’s semifinals of the Carl “Red” Brown Tournament, hosted by neighboring Archie Williams. San Domenico will face Justin-Siena on Friday, after the Braves held off Miramonte, 52-43.

“We never put a number out there, or an expectation of a certain number of wins,” said San Domenico head coach Tyler Gaffaney, whose Panthers went 20-12 last year before falling to Athenian, 57-46, in the NorCal Division V finals. “As much of a cliche as that is, we’re older and there’s more experience. A lot of these guys got meaningful, competitive minutes last year. Just that year of experience has changed a lot.”

San Domenico (5-1) has a rematch with Athenian, this time in San Anselmo, on Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. But first, the Panthers are fine-tuning their game at the Red Brown Tournament, which also features Tam and host Archie Williams.

The Panthers won the contest around the basket, and dominated the scoreboard against a relatively young squad of Titans (2-6). San Domenico got the rebound on the Titans’ first shot of the game, and fed the ball to senior Gavin Early for the basket on the other end. Thus the game went for most of the rest of the day.

“Gavin’s always had a tremendous motor and he’s always been a tremendous rebounder, and that hasn’t changed,” Gaffaney said. “He’s gotten physical, stronger, bigger, but he’s also worked hard on his skills. He’s better all around. He’s a better passer, a better shooter and better defensively. He’s improved in all those skills in a way that makes him very dangerous.”

Early scored six of his 13 points in the first quarter to get the Panthers rolling. Then senior Kris Jakstas found his range with a pair of 3-pointers in a 60-second span. Together with a shot from beyond the arc by junior Stephen Song, the long game pushed San Domenico’s lead to 13 points at the end of the first quarter.

The maturation of the Panthers could make them a title contender in the Bay Valley Conference, after placing fourth last year. Senior Chidera Onyeukwu showed Thursday that not only he is still fearless around the hoop, but that he has honed his passing and shooting skills. Onyeukwu scored eight points for the Panthers.

Jakstas finished with a team-high 14 points and junior guard Omar Williams added 12 points for the Panthers, including eight in the second quarter as San Domenico took a 36-19 lead into the break.

San Domenico senior Arthur Mueller, despite wearing a protective face mask, played a physical game to finish with six points. He and Onyeukwu tried to mount a blockade in the key against the Titans’ big man, Massai Taylor, who muscled through for a game-high 19 points. Skyline got 10 points from Mario Smith.

“This group of seniors has put in a lot of effort and a lot of time into their game since the end of last season,” Gaffaney said. “Now they get a chance to live out the dreams of their senior year.”

San Domenico led by as many as 22 points in the second half before Gaffaney spelled his starters and Skyline began to chip away at the gap.

The Panthers stayed afterward to scout their next opponent as Miramonte and Justin-Siena went down to the wire.

“The tournament atmosphere is so much fun,” Gaffaney said. “You know you’re going to have some good games. If you win, you beat a good team. If you lose, you’re going to play a better team in the next round.”