CIF basketball roundup: Stark and Waldorf stun a top seed; Jesuit and Sacramento advance
Dean Stark has coached his beloved Sacramento Waldorf Waves since 1984, and he’s seen it all: good teams, great teams, so-so teams.
He wasn’t sure how to size up this season’s bunch early in the season as it was undersized and inexperienced, but otherwise typically gritty. Now, he has a pretty clear idea. It’s an all-time bunch in his book, a team to cherish. Maybe not his best team, but certainly his most unsung.
Waldorf, seeded fourth, beat top-seeded Stone Ridge Christian of Merced on the road, 61-50, in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI semifinal on Wednesday night to earn a ticket to Friday’s noon showdown with No. 3 Valley Christian of Roseville, which beat No. 2 Turlock Christian 84-74 in the other semifinal. This will be a meeting of longtime coaching pals. Brad Gunter Jr. coaches Valley Christian. Both coaches seek their first basketball section banner, having lost title games in recent years.
“We played out of our minds,” an ecstatic Stark said late Wednesday night. “From the opening tip, we defended. We defended phenomenally. It’s unreal. There’s no way I could have dreamed this. I thought possibly we would make the playoffs, but the guys just kept getting better and they play so hard. This wasn’t a fluke. We locked in.”
It’s been a milestone season for Stark, who earlier in the campaign became the winningest basketball coach in section history, girls or boys. He now has 676 career victories, all at Waldorf. Eli Neuhaus had 26 points for the Waves (24-6), Mickey Early had 14, Rocko Hanson 14, Zihao Chen five and Ben Cope, the defensive stopper, had two.
In other semifinal games:
Division I
No. 4 Jesuit 69, No. 8 Weston Ranch 52: The Marauders received 21 points and 14 rebounds from Andrej Stojakovic, 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds from fellow senior guard Reid Jones, and 10 points and 10 rebounds from junior forward Cole Epperson in front of an overflow crowd at Jesuit to reach their first D-I final since 2014, when they won their 11th championship.
Jesuit coach Tim Kelly switched to a 3-2 zone in the second half, which helped stall the speedy Cougars of Stockton, who came in with a 19-game winning streak, including a 64-58 win at top-seeded Folsom in a quarterfinal. Jesuit (26-4) outscored Weston Ranch 17-8 in the fourth quarter to extend its winning streak to 14. Jesuit’s only section loss this season was to Folsom on Jan. 14, when Stojakovic was out with a sore ankle, and the Marauders have not lost since.
Jesuit will play powerhouse Modesto Christian on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Golden 1 Center for the championship.
No. 3 Modesto Christian 72, No. 2 Inderkum 50: The defending champion Crusaders, a mix of big, fast, skilled and experienced, stormed to big early leads. They led 60-34 after the third quarter in halting the Tigers’ 20-game winning streak in Natomas to reach their seventh D-I final since 2001. This will be Modesto Christian’s 23rd section finals appearance since 1997 spanning different divisions. The program has won a record 20 championships, including three in D-I since 2016.
Top-ranked in Northern California all season by Cal-Hi Sports and NorCalPreps, Modesto Christian (25-6) was led by 6-2 senior guard Jalen Brown, who led all scorers with 28 points. Inderkum (27-3) was paced by senior guard Jalen Glenn, who had 10 points.
“We came out on fire,” Brown said. “The game plan was to play defense, and we did.”
Inderkum’s season is not over. The Tigers will likely land in the CIF NorCal Regional D-I field, like they did last season after their 27-0 seasonal start was jolted by Sheldon in a section semifinal. All NorCal brackets will be released by the CIF on Sunday.
Division II
No. 13 Granite Bay 58, No. 1 Rio Americano 56: In duplicating their run from last season, the upstart Grizzlies have stormed back to the finals at Golden 1, a Friday encounter with another upstart from Placer County in No. 7 Whitney, which beat No. 6 Ponderosa 69-61 in the other semifinal in Shingle Springs.
Senior guard Yaqub Mir won it with a 17-footer with four seconds left and had 23 points, including five 3-pointers. Luke Mason led Rio Americano with 18.
Division III
No. 2 Sacramento 72, No. 3 Placer 59: Sir Marius Jones scored 25 points and senior guards and team captains Mike Wilson and Kendahl Hearne had 10 and 21 points, respectively, to power the upstart Dragons back into a section final for the first time since 2016. The Dragons pulled away from the Hillmen in what could be coach Mark Lee’s final game after 38 years in area coaching, although Placer could be an at-large entry in the NorCals.
First-year Dragons coach Matt Johnson is an alum of the school, a player on the 2005 Sac High team that won one of the program’s seven section championships. His team, now 24-7, was battle tested in the Capital Athletic League and survived a 65-62 overtime game against CAL rival Christian Brothers in a quarterfinal.
The Dragons will now take on two-time defending D-III champion Vanden, the top seed, which downed Central Catholic of Modesto 56-49 in the other semifinal.
“It’s so exciting, so fun, and our guys have played so well,” Johnson said.
Division V
No. 1 Fortune Early College 65, No. 5 Woodland Christian 58: The new-school Panthers of Sacramento reached their first section final under coach Derek Swafford, who reached a lot of them at Sac High. The Panthers won behind the efforts of leading scorers Tyrece Rose and Jabari Pugh to move to 20-7. Fortune will play No. 2 Ripon Christian, which rolled No. 3 Vacaville Christian 77-23 in the other semifinal.
Sac-Joaquin Section finals
Golden 1 Center
Friday’s games
Division VI
No. 3 Valley Christian vs. No. 4 Sac Waldorf, noon
Division IV
No. 3 Marysville vs. No. 4 Calaveras, 4 p.m.
Division II
No. 13 Granite Bay vs. No. 7 Whitney, 8 p.m.
Saturday’s games
Division V
No. 1 Fortune vs. No. 2 Ripon Christian, noon
Division III
Vanden vs. Sacramento, 4 p.m.
Division I
Jesuit vs. Modesto Christian, 8 p.m.
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 5:00 AM.