Prep basketball rankings: Small schools stand tall; who are the hottest area teams?
There is two sure things about the smallest schools in the Sacramento-area boys’ basketball scene that one can count on: effort and sportsmanship.
This trend started in the 1990s with Dean Stark at Sacramento Waldorf, when the coach scheduled up, taking on anyone to help elevate the small schools in general. Some small schools, in those days, played on the blacktop outside or in the tiniest gyms. Now the smalls compete in compact gyms that make for a unique setting.
Stark is still at the school, still winning and still doing things the right way. He has 651 victories, second-most in Sac-Joaquin Section history to the 659 that Rick Francis won at Sonora from 1977-2013, according to Cal-Hi Sports, which has charted such data for decades. The Waldorf Waves — as good of a mascot as there is anywhere — are 16-4 and aim to make a championship run.
Last decade, Valley Christian Academy in Roseville emerged as a small school with big hopes and big hops. The Lions compete on the one-time Golden State Warriors floor, with baskets that were placed inside the VCA gym just as coach Brad Gunter Jr. was elevating the program with a wide-open, prolific attack. The floor and baskets were plucked from the scrap heap in a warehouse. Gunther is the driving force on that campus also as a baseball coach over the years and as a good-will ambassador.
In recent seasons, Sacramento Adventist Academy has emerged as a tiny school with big ambitions and achievements, including winning the 2018 CIF Northern California Division VI championship and remaining a regular in the section NorCal playoff scene ever since under fiery and fun coach Scott Tedmon.
Tedmon’s Capitals maximized their schedule last week as they pursue another Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berth. Senior Night in the cozy small gym nestled on the Carmichael campus against nonleague foe Woodland included a sportsmanship moment and a lasting image of class that schools of all levels and locations can embrace.
Sacramento Adventist senior guard Max Pena tore an ACL before the season and has remained with the program to either videotape games or be on the bench to offer support and insight. Tedmon reached out to Woodland coach Matt Gloor to see if he’d accept letting Pena start on Senior Night and to score a layup before subbing him out, thus allowing Pena a game and his name in the scorebook. Tedmon didn’t want to cheapen the game. He wanted to heighten Pena’s experience.
Gloor was all in. Pena scored his basket. The Capitals won 48-43 as Ady Serna scored 16 and Malacahi Taylor had 15. Pena had no idea this was coming and he didn’t find out until moments before the tip that he was in the lineup. But he didn’t bring his bulky knee brace. No worries. Tedmon had one of his own for the 3.8-GPA student. The kid was also rusty, missing his first two shots, but grabbing those rebounds as a sudden stat-sheet filler.
“The whole night was incredibly cool,” Tedmon said. “The idea to play Max came from one of his teammates, Chandler Welty, who wondered if there was a way to get Max in the game, even for a moment, because we all love him. Great idea. I can’t say enough about Coach Gloor and his team. The Woodland kids were so classy. They hugged Max. They didn’t even know him but they were excited for him. It made it extra special for us.”
Welty isn’t just an idea guy and solid cog to the Capitals efforts. He’s an accomplished musician, with the cello. Teammate Braeden Beaman also had a big moment for the Capitals, the night after the Woodland contest. The junior guard/forward scored his 1,000th career point during an 18-point effort to beat Buckingham Charter 49-42. He is the younger brother of Breckin Beaman, one of this section’s all-time leading scorers with 2,092 and the Bee’s Smallest School Player of the Year from the spring season.
The younger Beaman is averaging 23.4 points and 9.7 rebounds for the Capitals.
“The kid is doing everything he can to help us win games,” Tedmon said.
Parker points
Kiku Parker became the all-time leading scorer for El Camino last week when the junior guard went for 23 points in a 62-61 win over Sacramento Charter. That gave him 1,198 points with plenty of season and career to go.
Parker averages 18.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.2 steals for El Camino, which entered the week in second place behind Capital Christian in the Capital Athletic League and as a threat for the upcoming Division III playoffs.
Cougars uprising
Capital Christian clinched yet another Capital Athletic League crown as the Cougars entered the week at 9-1 in league play with one game to go.
It’s a credit to coach Michael Lorente, whose team has endured tough scheduling and injuries. The leaders include football stars Anthony Garcia and Kanye Clark and Devin Lewis and Micha Hobsi. Garcia, headed to San Jose State to play quarterback on scholarship, leads the team in scoring at 14 points (to go with six rebounds and two assists a contest). Clark scored 11 points with five rebounds and three assists per game.
Streaking teams
No. 2 Ponderosa is the only unbeaten team in the state for boys at 25-0 behind Aaron Bliss and Nick Von Zboray. The other regional teams on a roll include:
▪ Top-ranked Inderkum is a winner of 18 in a row behind leading scorer Derrick Claxton (21.9 points a game).
▪ Marysville, winner of 12 in a row and winners of the Pioneer Valley League behind leading scorer Joshua Brown (17.9).
▪ No. 5 Folsom, winner of 10 straight and winner of the Sierra Foothill League behind senior captain and forward Brycen Shackleford.
▪ No. 10 Liberty Ranch, winner of 10 in a row behind leaders Drew Fischer and Cody Smith and in a Sierra Valley Conference race with Union Mine (the teams play in El Dorado on Tuesday night).
▪ Pioneer, winner of nine straight and of the Golden Empire League behind leading scorer Samrat Adhikary (16.8).
▪ Western Sierra of Rocklin, winner of 16 in a row and closing in fast on the Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League championship behind Nick Frantti, averaging 20.8 points.
THE BEE’S TOP 20
Records entering Tuesday
1. Inderkum 20-1
2. Ponderosa 25-0
3. Sheldon 17-9
4. Elk Grove 20-5
5. Folsom 20-4
6. Grant 21-3
7. Capital Christian 16-9
8. Antelope 22-5
9. Whitney 19-7
10. Liberty Ranch 21-5
11. Burbank 16-7
12. Oakmont 15-8
13. Jesuit 12-12
14. Lincoln 18-76
15. Placer 20-6
16. Rio Americano 17-10
17. El Camino 18-8
18. Sacramento 13-11
19. Vanden 13-12
20. Bella Vista 18-7
Bubble teams (alphabetical order): Center 15-8; Granite Bay 15-11; Marysville 22-3; Monterey Trail 10-14; Oak Ridge 15-10; Pioneer 18-7; Rocklin 13-13; Rodriguez 17-4; Roseville 14-12; San Juan 13-9; Union Mine 21-6; Vacaville 16-7; West Campus 12-9; Western Sierra 19-5; Wood 17-8.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 7:55 AM.