Burbank, Del Oro lead parade of section semifinalists in NorCal openers

All Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal teams advanced in the CIF Northern California Regional playoffs, and a few quarterfinal losers moved on to fill out 16-team brackets.

In Division II boys, eighth-seeded Burbank had trouble with its shot clock at the scorer’s table in the opening moments, fixed it, settled down and took off. On the strength of suffocating defense, outside shooting and nine dunks, the Titans stormed to a 41-15 halftime lead and cruised to an 80-36 rout of No. 9 Tamalpais of the North Coast Section.

Isiah Davis had 23 points, Keshawn Bruner 16 and Chris Gray 13 for Burbank, which lost to Beyer of Modesto in double overtime in a section semifinal. The Titans visit top-seeded Saint Francis of Mountain View on Saturday.

Del Oro, another D-II section semifinal loser seeded 13th, bounced back with a 62-55 victory at longtime NorCal power and No. 4 seed Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland. Stone Smartt, the star quarterback for the Golden Eagles’ NorCal D-II championship team, scored 18 points, and Trevor Drake had 13.

Another Placer County team, No. 2 seed Whitney, lost 55-53 at home to No. 15 Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa. Whitney beat Beyer for its first section championship and had won 14 in a row.

In D-I, Martis Johnson had 26 points, Mason Forbes 23 and Jayce McCain 18 to boost No. 13 Folsom past No. 4 Sequoia 70-66 in Redwood City. Folsom, which lost to St. Mary’s in double overtime in section quarterfinal play, earned a rematch Saturday in Stockton. Fifth-seeded St. Mary’s beat No. 12 Antioch 74-62.

No. 15 Granite Bay nearly pulled off a road upset, falling to No. 2 Heritage of Brentwood 60-57 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Girls

Division I – No. 11 St. Francis beat No. 6 Logan 81-52 in Union City. Julia Razo had 24 points, Janae Fairbrook 17 and Marlee Nicolos 16 for the Troubadours, who lost to Oak Ridge in a section quarterfinal. No. 9 Folsom went on the road to upset No. 8 Castro Valley 68-50 as McKenzie Forbes had 26 points and Hanna Beckman 21. The Bulldogs lost to Lincoln of Stockton in a section quarterfinal. No. 2 McClatchy rolled past No. 15 Washington of San Francisco 70-27. Nia Lowery had 17 points, Jordan Cruz 16 and Richelle Turney and Courtesy Clark 15 each for the Lions.

No. 4 Oak Ridge beat No. 13 Lincoln of San Francisco 53-44 and Saturday will host No. 5 Berkeley, a 12-time NorCal champion. Berkeley beat No. 12 Los Gatos 51-49.

Division II – No. 5 Sacramento beat No. 12 Newark Memorial 65-31 behind guard RyAnne Walters. No. 7 Elk Grove, the defending NorCal champion, beat No. 10 Presentation of San Jose 57-43 behind 2016 Bee Player of the Year Mira Shulman. On Saturday, the Thundering Herd will play at No. 2 Miramonte of Orinda, which routed No. 15 Whitney 83-40. No. 9 Roseville rallied to beat No. 8 Montgomery 58-51 in Santa Rosa behind Shelbie McKay’s 19 points. On Saturday, the Tigers visit top-seeded Vanden, which beat Sacramento for the section title. The Vikings eliminated No. 16 Concord 75-48.

Division III – No. 6 Christian Brothers beat No. 11 Soquel 52-42 and is two games under .500 (15-17) for the first time since early in the season. The Falcons started 1-10 but won the D-III section championship.

Dvision IV – Top-seeded West Campus, coming off its first section championship, dominated No. 16 Willows of the Northern Section 62-18, and No. 3 Foothill beat No. 14 Kelseyville 60-48.

For complete brackets and schedules, go to cifstate.org

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 10:22 PM with the headline "Burbank, Del Oro lead parade of section semifinalists in NorCal openers."