Revenge? Or repeat? Grant takes last shots against St. Mary’s in D-II section final

A year ago, the St. Mary’s Rams held off a young Grant High School team at University of the Pacific for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship.

On Friday night at an even bigger venue - Golden 1 Center - third-seeded St. Mary’s sweated out a final, furious attempt of a game winner.

When Grant’s final two attempts missed, the Rams celebrated a 59-58 victory with a dog pile at midcourt, rejoicing in another Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship.

Jamar Marshall’s runner with 1:16 to go gave St. Mary’s the lead for good, and top-seeded Grant could not get off a clean shot on the final possession, missing twice at the rim.

Grant players slumped to the court while Rams players raced around, giddy with their new fortune. It’s the fourth section banner since 2006 for coach Ken Green, an alum of the school, and the 10th in program history.

Grant last won a section in 1999 under coach Tony Lowden.

Current Pacers coach Deonard Wilson likes his team’s chances to make another run in the CIF Northern California Regional playoffs, much like last season. All section semifinalists and finalists advance to the NorCal rounds that start at home sites next week.

Marshall had a game-high 24 points, and he had 10 rebounds Bryce Johnson had 16 points and 18 rebounds for St. Mary’s (18-13).

Steven Richardson led Grant (24-7) with 14 points. No Pacers player had more than seven rebounds as they were outrebounded 40-28. For more stories, photos and insight on the section playoffs: sacbee.com

This story was originally published February 22, 2019 at 11:02 PM.