Redemption delivered: Amador Valley rolls past Livermore to advance to NCS D1 semifinals
PLEASANTON — For a team that spent the past month stewing over a snapped streak, redemption came with a little bile and a lot of bite.
From the opening tip, Amador Valley played like a group determined to erase a memory – swarming Livermore’s sophomore star Amare Chandler, riding a scoring surge from point guard Jaylen Smith and watching a feverish Cade Krueger, who needed all the medicine and electrolytes to suit up for Friday’s game, fight through sickness because the moment was too big to miss.
By the time the final minutes arrived, the only suspense inside the gym was who the Dons would face next.
Just over a month after Livermore stunned Amador Valley to break a 12-year East Bay Athletic League losing streak, the Dons flipped the script emphatically on Friday night, rolling to a 56-31 victory in the North Coast Section Division I quarterfinals.
The rematch carried every bit of the intensity of a do-or-die game – every possession physical, every basket earned – but Amador seized control early by neutralizing Livermore’s star and never let go, even as Krueger battled illness and fatigue in a performance that underscored the stakes of playoff basketball.
With four minutes remaining, coach Willis Gardner was already glancing ahead to the bracket, his starters exiting moments later to a standing ovation while the student section chanted “This game’s over.”
“We had a chip on our shoulder and that carried us tonight,” Smith, who scored a game-high 28 points, said. “That loss a month ago definitely humbled us in a way where we knew we couldn’t take any team lightly. We stayed locked in and disciplined today.”
Krueger and Elijah Stanley each had eight points. Even in sickness, the San Jose State commit led the Dons in rebounding with nine boards.
Three days after dropping 40 on California, Chandler was held to 12 points.
“It’s been an unbelievable season for Livermore but when they beat us at their place, my kids saw the TikToks, the Instagram videos. A lot of bad things were said about Amador after losing to Livermore, which is a really good team,” Gardner said. “My team had a mission tonight. They just did it tonight and they came out and played their tails off.”
The game was low scoring after the first quarter, but an offensive burst from Smith in the second gave the home team all the momentum it needed early.
Smith sliced up Livermore’s defense, scoring 14 of the Dons’ 16 points in the second quarter. Livermore trailed by nine at halftime, but it was Amador Valley that controlled every possession.
The Cowboys scored the first three points of the third quarter to cut the deficit to six, but that’s as close as they would get.
Amador Valley used a 9-0, capped off by a fastbreak score from Stanley, to build its lead to 15. The Dons held Livermore to just six points in the third quarter and continued to dominate Livermore’s defense with its three-guard attack.
With the game already decided a few minutes into the fourth quarter, both coaches emptied their benches.
When the final buzzer sounded, Amador Valley felt like it found its groove again. The Dons ended the regular season losing three of their last four in heartbreaking fashion. The Pleasanton school has since bounced back with blowout wins over Redwood and Livermore to open the section playoffs.
Livermore’s season will end here, but Friday night won’t take away from the historic accomplishments the Cowboys had. Livermore ended a 121-game losing streak to league opponents and picked up a win over East Bay powerhouse De La Salle earlier this year. Chandler had himself an MVP-like season and entered the conversation as one of the area’s top players.
“The big elephant in the room was if we were going to win a league game,” Livermore coach Mike Tripp said. “We got that monkey off our back. I even bought a stuffed monkey from the store and put it in the team room. … It was a great year and I think it exceeded my expectations coming into the season.”