Live updates, scores and analysis from the Sac-Joaquin Section basketball finals

Scores, updates and analysis from Thursday’s Sac Joaquin Section championships at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. What are your thoughts? Or do you have a secret guacamole recipe? We’ll keep an eye out for you in the comments.

Division II boys title game: Grant 61, St. Mary’s 46, Final

4th quarter: Grant has extended its lead to 15 points midway through the quarter and is clicking on all cylinders right now. Grant is the Sac-Joaquin Section Division ll champion. Corey Yerger led Grant with 16 points and Davell Brown and AJ Mcgee both had 12 For St. Mary’s, Jadyn Marshall had nine.

3rd quarter: Grant opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run before St. Mary’s finally got a basket with 5:20 left in the quarter. The Pacers continue to dominate on the glass, throw down dunks and knock down open shots.

2nd quarter: Grant responded with a big run to take its first led of the game at 14-13, including an alley-oop that had Golden 1 Center on its feet. These Pacers are fast and lead St. Mary’s 26-23 at the break. Grant’s Davell Brown leads all scorers with 10.

1st quarter: Should be a fun one with the Rams of Stockton against the Pacers of Del Paso Heights. It’s the third successive season in which these teams have played for the D-II title. St. Mary’s has won the previous two meetings in thrillers. Grant coach Deonard Wilson said St. Mary’s is “our Kryptonite” - the fictional material that weakens Superman.

St. Mary’s is one of the storied programs in section history with section titles from the 1970s under coach Tom O’Neil and the 1980s under famed coach Jon Gustorf and of late under coach Ken Green, who played for Gustorf. Grant seeks its first title since 1999 under coach Tony Lowden. Grant led early, 6-3. Slow pace.

St. Mary’s surges to a 13-8 lead behind Jamar Marshall, a nationally ranked hurdler who hoops for fun. He’s a tremendous athlete.

Division II girls title game: Antelope 66, Del Oro 58, Final

1st quarter: Del Oro took a 4-0 quick lead on the top-seeded Titans and extended it to 15-7 as Madison Butcher has eight points. Time out, Titans.

Antelope is in the D-II finals for the third consecutive season, winning its first title in 2018 at Pacific in Stockton and losing a heartbreaker last season at Golden 1 to Sacramento High. The goal all season: finish the unfinished business. Antelope is 28-3, thanks to a relentless guard attack headed by last season’s Bee Player of the Year Jzaniya Harriel, who has already eclipsed the 2,000-point barrier. Not in this game. That would be insane. For her three-year varsity career.

More tidbits: The Antelope rooting section - The Red Zone - is tremendous. Students are in a sea of red - red shirts, red shorts, red shoes, red hats. It’s a red party. Del Oro has a lot of football players in its rooting section. That’s one proud school of sports tradition.

Del Oro seeks its fourth section title. The Golden Eagles have hoisted blue section banners before under classy coach Mike Takayama, who died two years ago suddenly. He was a beloved coach and person. Del Oro players have a block T on the back of game jerseys to honor the man, and the school’s basketball floor bears his name.

Del Oro leads 17-12 after 1, Butcher of Del Oro has eight and Harriel of Antelop has six.

2nd quarter: Del Oro is pounding it inside as a bigger team. Antelpe is guard heavy and likes to run. With that, Harriel just scored on a fastbreak bucket to pull the Titans to within 17-14. Hariel can do it all, including hitting a 3-pointer. She was fouled, but misses the free throw as Del Oro leads 19-17.

Opinion: Always interesting to hear fans bemoan the officiating. Both sides feeling jobbed by the referees. All fans for all schools or teams feel this way. Here’s a thought: Stretch, hydrate and officiate the second half, or just relax and watch the show.

Back to the game. Butcher on fire for Del Oro. She’s scored inside and just hit a 3. Del Oro leads 26-23. It’s not easy to hit long shots in such a spacious venue. Antelope took its first lead of the game on a Kaiija Lesane jumper and on the next possesion, Harriel drilled a three to take a 32-30 lead into the break.

3rd quarter: Del Oro outrebounded Antelope 34-24 in the first half. Antelope leads 36-34. Harriel has 18 and Butcher 17. Harriel just hit a 3. She’s good. The lead is now 41-34 with 4:38 to go in the third. Del Oro band rocks. Great group.

Madison Parry is a beast on the boards for Del Oro, a senior leader and the school’s all-time leading rebounder. She gets her toughness from her father, Josh Parry, the one-time Sonora High star who played in the NFL and now is the fiery defensive coordinator for Del Oro football. He loves her spirit!

Angel Jordan for a loooong NBA 3 and Antelope leads 47-36 with a minute to go in the third.

4th quarter: Del Oro pulls to within 49-42 with 6:41 left. Harriel has 23 for Antelope and Butcher, a sophomore, has 19. Parry has nine points and 12 rebounds. Harriel on the bench with four fouls but this is not a one-girl team. She has a tremendous supporting cast. Antelope leads 56-46 with 2:42 to go. Harriel now coming back in and is the game’s leading scorer with 23.

Totals: Antelope wins its second title in three years. Harriel leads the Titans with 23 points. Butcher had 24. Antelope coach Sean Chambers, on his 55th birthday, shows typical class by embracing and congratulating Del Oro players. He’s a champion for all of girls basketball. Antelope’s terrific rooting section then sings, “Happy birthday!” to Chambers.

Both teams will compte in the NorCal tournament. Antelope could be the No. 1 seed in Division I, a jump up in division per the CIF’s “competitive-equity” model.

Division IV boys title game: Sonora 70, Liberty Ranch 57, final

Division IV boys title game: Sonora 70, Liberty Ranch 57, final

Sonora holds off Liberty Ranch to repeat as champion. Wildcats players celebrated with the school band while Liberty Ranch players were crushed. The Hawks defeated Sonora earlier this season and wanted a title rematch with Sonora. Jalen Patterson led Liberty Ranch with 22 points and six assists, and his team will play a difficult draw in next week’s NorCal tournament.

So will Sonora, which was led by its own prolific Patterson. Austin Patterson had 30 points.

Division IV boys title game: Sonora 51, Liberty Ranch 43, end of third

3rd quarter: Liberty Ranch cut the deficit all the way down to one because of seven points early in the third quarter by Patterson. Sonora’s Mayben hit a big three-pointer to end the quarter.

2nd quarter: Liberty Ranch started the second quarter on an 11-3 run to cut the Sonora lead to single digits at 27-20 thanks to a 3-pointer by Branson Mclelland and a jumper by Patterson. Sonora’s Patterson led all scorers at the half with 13 points, while Jalen Patterson finished the half with 11.

Division IV girls title game: Argonaut 45, El Dorado 37, Final

4th quarter: Lauryn Bierman had 12 points and 10 rebounds while Gabbie Gascon added 11 points and six rebounds to lead the Mustangs. Argonaut worked the ball inside to get short jumpers while its full-court press defense gave El Dorado trouble. El Dorado was shooting 30 percent from the floor in the middle of the quarter, besting Argonaut’s 21.3 percent mark.

3rd quarter: Argonaut ran out to a 24-15 lead at the start of the second half but El Dorado earned a couple of turnovers and easy baskets to keep it close. Chloe Blankenship had a total of six points and four rebounds to lead El Dorado at the end of the quarter.

2nd quarter: Argonaut relied on its depth and interior rebounding to take a lead in the middle of the quarter. Earlier, four different El Dorado players had scored by early in the second quarter in a nip-and-tuck game. El Dorado hit 5 of 16 shots to work out a slim margin.

1st quarter: Both teams opened with midrange buckets to work out to a tie in the early going of the Division IV championship game.

Division VI boys title game: Ripon Christian 73, Stockton Christian 56, Final

Final: A dominant second half helped Ripon secure a 17-point victory over Stockton. Braden Van Groningan and Jacob Van Groningan both contributed double-doubles for the Knights. Jay Araya led all scorers with 30 points for Stockton, but the Eagles fell short in their shot at the title.

Third quarter: Ripon outscored Stockton 18-11 in the third. The Knights used their size advantage to finish in the paint with regularity. They’ve cleaned up their free throws as well, connecting on all four since halftime.

Second quarter: Ripon held a narrow 37-35 lead at the end of the second quarter. Jay Araya has a game-high 16 points for Stockton. Braden Van Groningen has 15 points and 9 boards for the Knights. Ripon has struggled from the free throw line, hitting just 6 of 13.

First quarter: Led by a pair of early 3-pointers, Ripon staked an early seven-point margin over Stockton in the Division VI final. Stockton got hot, however and closed the gap to three points at the end of the period. Great moment: Harriel crosses up a defender, Livi Wood, who steals the ball and feeds to Butcher for a layup, and Del Oro is within 58-52. Then Angel Jordan hits a corner 3 for Antelope for a 61-52 lead with 41/3 seconds to go. Harriel has fouled out with 23 points.

Division VI girls title game: Forest Lake 40, Valley Christian 39, Final

Valley Christian worked out a lead as the teams’ offenses are firing on all cylinders. But Forest Lake reestablished a lead late in the fourth and Valley Christian missed a pair of chances to take a lead and a win. Amber Jackson had 17 points, including the winning free throw, to lead Forest Lake. She was the only player on either team with more than eight points. Gracie Williams and Christelle Williams both had eight points for Valley Christian.

Forest Lake 31, Valley Christian 30, end of 3rd quarter

Valley Christian started the second half on a roll, nabbing a trio of buckets and a foul shot to draw within a point. Then a couple more buckets and some lockdown defense gave Valley Christian a shot going into the final quarter. Valley Christian allowed just three points in the third quarter.

Forest Lake Christian 28, Valley Christian 20, Halftime

Forest Lake looked like it was going to run away but Valley Christian fought back into the game late in the second quarter with a big 3-point shot and an easy layup late in the period to keep the lead to single digits. Forest Lake’s Amber Jackson had 13 points at the break; Christelle Williams led Valley Christian with five points.

Forest Lake Christian 15, Valley Christian 8, End of 1st Quarter

Forest Lake is working the ball inside and playing stout defense as they work out an early lead over Valley Christian. The Lions appeared to figure out their answers on offense but a pair of turnovers at the end of the first half left them trailing by seven. Valley Christian also trailed 9-5 early but are finding their way through the Forest Lake defense.

Valley Christian Academy is on a 21-game winning streak, falling to Forest Lake Christian 63-58 in overtime on Dec. 6. In the rematch on Dec. 20, VCA won 62-42.A year ago in the D-V finals, VCA beat FLC 56-50. VCA seeks its fourth title since 2014.

So, why the 10 a.m. start for D-VI? Unfair to the small schools? Not at all. For years, this division had title games at Galt High at night, but coaches and administrators said they’d gladly take the early start time for a chance to compete in an NBA venue. And this on small schools: Players, coaches and fans appreciate any taste of the big time.

This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 10:08 AM.