CIF NorCal playoffs: Folsom, Jesuit, Sacramento out; another upset for No. 16 Granite Bay
The end was swift on Tuesday night for 17 Sacramento-area high school basketball teams in the CIF Northern California regional playoffs, where the mandate was clear: win or season over.
Thirty area teams were in the girls and boys NorCals, spanning six divisions.
Three days after a spirited run to reach and then win a Sac-Joaquin Section championship, the Sacramento Dragons boys were undone by a greater Bay Area team that was battle tested from the East Bay Athletic League. Seeded 14th in the CIF Northern California Division II regional playoffs, California High of San Ramon toppled the No. 3 Dragons 69-63 at the Dave Hotell Pavilion in Oak Park.
California’s all-senior lineup bested a Sacramento team that started just two seniors in guards Bobby Hamilton and Mike Wilson. Guard Amari Gray led four Grizzlies in double figures with 21 points. Adam Zalmai had 16, Kellen Torrey 14 and Demarcus Collins 13 for California coach Steve Ohlmeyer, a 1988 graduate of the school.
After the game, Ohlmeyer embraced Sac High’s first-year coach, Matt Johnson, a 2005 graduate of the school, and they chatted a moment about the joys of coaching at your old school.
“Our school has been around for 50 years, and it’s our first NorCal game, and to win it over such a good team in a tough place to play, a great environment ... I want to cry,” the coach said. “We beat a good team. Both of us coaches are trying to achieve the same thing with our programs.”
Sir Marius Jones, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard with rising recruiting interest, had 27 points for Sacramento. Senior guard Landon Minnifield, a 6-3 guard, added 13 for the Dragons, who finished 25-8.
“Told our guys to keep their heads up,” said Johnson, the Dragons coach. “We had a great year. We accomplished a lot. No one expected us to do this. New coach. Young team. We’re section champions for the rest of our lives. We played a good team. They can play.”
Bee’s No. 1 falls
The Folsom boys, top-ranked by The Bee over the second half of the season, got a second-chance at postseason life after falling in a section semifinal. The Bulldogs were awarded the No. 2 seed in the Division I bracket, but they had their season halted by a 15-seed.
Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton, near Stanford, stunned Folsom, taking a 63-62 overtime victory as TJ O’Brien scored 25 points and Sam Norris 12. Folsom missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Gators were battle-tested from the Central Coast Section Open Division playoffs and also showed that the CIF’s “competitive equity” formula for the NorCal playoffs works more than it doesn’t, though many coaches and fans prefer the previous enrollment-based playoffs that often led to lopsided scores.
Sacred Heart Prep has 643 students and was deemed by the CIF seeding committee to be good enough to be in D-I. The school’s enrollment before the current format took place in 2018 would have placed the Gators in a much-easier D-V NorCal bracket.
Justin Ard and David Young scored 13 and 11 points, respectively, for Folsom. The Bulldogs finished 26-4 under coach Mike Wall, who previously coached at Foothill and won his 500th career game in a section playoff opener.
Division I
No. 5 Inderkum 73, No. 12 Dublin 58: Jalen Glenn scored 17 points and the Tigers moved to 28-3 in downing the longtime North Coast Section power.
Inderkum won a NorCal game for the second year in a row for the first time in program history after losing to NorCal Open Division top-seeded Modesto Christian 72-50 in a section D-I semifinal. The Tigers visit No. 4 Riordan of San Francisco (21-6) of the Central Coast Section on Thursday in a quarterfinal.
“I was happy we got out of there,” Inderkum coach Fred Wilson said. “Jalen had a big offensive night — he was in the zone!”
No. 14 University 92, No. 3 Jesuit 85: The No. 14-seeded Red Devils of San Francisco extended their winning streak to 18 with the seedings upset over the Marauders, coming off a section D-I title loss to Modesto Christian.
University (29-3) is another example of “competitive equity” working as the longtime small-school power has just 421 students.
Jesuit (26-6) was led by seniors Reid Jones, Andrej Stojakovic and Owen Ubaldo, junior forward Cole Epperson and junior guards Ahjani Lewis and Kevin Haupt.
Division II
No. 16 Granite Bay 45, No. 1 Clayton Valley Charter 44: The Grizzlies have been climbing uphill all season with a lot of encouraging signs, including in Concord, stunning the Ugly Eagles to improve to a not-so-intimidating 15-18 overall. Clayton Valley Charter of the North Coast Section missed a well-guarded drive at the basket as time ran out and finished 26-5.
As he has much of these playoffs, Yaqub Mir had a big game. The senior guard scored 17 points, including three 3-pointers in the third quarter. Teammate Davis Abell had 10 points, including two 3’s.
This sets up a rematch of the section D-II finals, won by Whitney 61-56 on Friday at Golden 1. Seeded ninth in NorCal, the Wildcats and coach Nick French held off five-time defending Northern Section champion Pleasant Valley of Chico 55-53 on the road to move to 22-10.
Division III
No. 2 Rio Americano 54, Lowell 37: Luke Mason scored 18 points to lead the Raiders, and Jace Thompson and Dylan Newberry had 11 and 10, respectively, to eliminate the Cardinals of San Francisco.
Rio Americano (27-5) will host defending NorCal D-IV champion Justin-Siena of Napa, with a host of players back. The No. 7 Braves beat No. 10 Los Gatos 63-44 in an opener.
For complete brackets, go to https://cifstate.org/
Note: The Bee will update this report.
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 5:00 AM.