Basketball roundup: Bishop O’Dowd escapes furious comeback from California to seal win at Rise Above MLK Showcase
PLEASANT HILL — The stakes were unusually high for Bishop O’Dowd and California.
Both teams came into Saturday afternoon’s contest at Diablo Valley College having had a bad stretch of games in the days prior.
California was coming off back-to-back league losses to Monte Vista and Granada while O’Dowd fell to Alameda on Thursday night in a game the East Oakland school were the favorites.
When the clock hit zeroes, it was the Dragons who got back on track.
Despite a furious fourth-quarter comeback from California, O’Dowd escaped with a 60-58 victory at the Rise Above MLK Showcase.
California, down 19 points to start the fourth quarter, came all the way back to find itself a bucket away from tying the game to go to overtime. But O’Dowd got a timely stop to end the game and seal a quality victory and get back in the win column.
“I knew with California coming off some losses as well, we were both in a similar fragile state,” O’Dowd coach Lou Richie said. “We’d rather be in our locker room than in there’s. It was a great job by the coaches, the players and we’re excited to move on.”
GJ Hill-Thomas scored a team-high 20 points, Kaiden Gibbs added 16 and Naas Griffin had 12 for O’Dowd. California senior Jaiden Jones had 20 points while Emeka Ifediora had 16.
O’Dowd opened the game hot, scoring 13 unanswered points in the first five minutes of the first quarter. California closed the gap later in the half to go down just nine at halftime, powered by 10 points from Ifediora.
Despite staying in striking distance, O’Dowd made its run in the third quarter.
The Grizzlies were outscored 21-11 and struggled to stop the Dragons’ high-flying transition attack. Meanwhile, California’s early shooting woes continued.
At the end of three, it was all O’Dowd as the Dragons led 50-31. The Grizzlies looked all but finished with 10 minutes remaining. And to make matters worse, California’s leading scorer, Santa Clara commit Brayde Kuykendall, fouled out early in the fourth quarter.
But as the fourth quarter continued, the San Ramon school chipped away at O’Dowd’s lead.
A couple of 3-pointers from Jones here. A few made layups from Ifediora and suddenly the Grizzlies were right back in it.
A steal and score from Jones cut the O’Dowd lead to just one with under 15 seconds remaining. The Dragons hit one of two free throws to extend their advantage to two points, but left the door hanging just enough for one last California shot to tie or win the game.
California got a good look at the rim, but the ball just didn’t go through. O’Dowd celebrated a nail-biting win and left with a quality win.
Motivated by Thursday’s loss, O’Dowd felt Saturday’s game was a must-win.
“We knew we were better than Alameda, we just felt like we let one go,” O’Dowd senior Ajahni Charles said. “Going into this game, we wanted to hold their two best players to a modest game. We did that and that’s why we won.”
Despite a valiant effort, California coach Steve Ohlmeyer believes the game was lost well before the fourth quarter.
“It mirrors a couple of our last games where we get off the slow starts, dug ourselves a hole, show the resiliency to climb back in but sometimes the hole is just too big,” Ohlmeyer said.
O’Dowd (11-6) will get another MLK weekend test on Monday when the Dragons play Sacramento High at the De La Salle MLK Classic. California will travel to San Ramon Valley on Tuesday after dropping to 10-10.
No. 1 Salesian 71, St. Pius X-St. Matthias 43
The Pride made quick work of the SoCal school. The Richmond school turned a 16-point first half lead into a dominant win. Carlton Perrilliat Jr. scored a game-high 16 points, junior Asante Johnson totaled 13 and Stanford-bound guard Elias Obenyah had 12. “We like to play these games,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. “It kind of breaks up the league schedule a little bit and we just like to play good teams. We got the best of them tonight. I know they’re down a few guys. We were too, but that’s a good win.”
No. 8 Clayton Valley 58, No. 6 The King’s Academy 47
The Ugly Eagles picked up a solid nonleague win, beating Central Coast Section power TKA. Clayton Valley (14-3) led for the majority of the game and got 20 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists from senior Cannon Simpson. Junior Zion Grissom chipped in 15 points. Scotty Beamish Jr. had 22 points and Xavier Barnett had 11 for TKA, which dropped to 12-3. “I think obviously that was a playoff environment and that’s why we schedule the way we do,” Clayton Valley coach Frank Allocco Jr. said. “I think it was great to play against a team with a lot of really good guard and that plays good pressure defense.”
No. 19 Amador Valley 46. No. 10 Liberty 45
Liberty made a valiant effort down the stretch, but couldn’t get over the hump as Jaylen Smith scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Dons to their third straight win. The Pleasanton school led by as much as 14 in the third quarter, but saw its advantage get whittled down in the fourth quarter. Clutch free throws from Amador Valley senior Trevor Eun sealed the win, even though Jaiden Miller’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer went through the bottom of the net. Miller led Liberty with 17 points. “They’re never scared of the moment,” Amador Valley coach Willis Gardner said. “They’re never scared of the moment. So even when Liberty went on that run at the end, I was never nervous. I always knew we could win that game.”
Tracy 74, Hayward 43
Despite taking a small lead after the first quarter, Hayward couldn’t hang with Tracy, which got 13 points each from Maximillian Russell and Cameron Breckenridge. Kingston Brown and Ja’kye Smith both had 10 points for Hayward, which dropped to 7-8.