Boys basketball: Stokes’ dunk puts ‘nail in coffin’ as Dougherty Valley tops Redwood

LIVERMORE — Every statement victory needs an exclamation point.

On Saturday night, Jalen Stokes provided one.

Of course, he did.

The Dougherty Valley star grabbed the ball near midcourt, got away from a pressing defender and had a clear path to the basket, with one exception.

Redwood star Semetri “TT” Carr, bound for Cal, was lurking.

“I saw TT try to contest it,” said Stokes, who is headed to UC Davis. “I am not going to back down from a challenge.

“I had to finish it.”

The thunderous fourth-quarter dunk brought the house down and left mouths dropped, including Dougherty Valley coach Mike Hansen’s, as the top-seeded Wildcats won their third consecutive North Coast Section championship with a 69-37 victory at Livermore High.

The San Ramon school beat De La Salle for the Open Division title two years ago and captured Division I crowns over Dublin last season and now Redwood.

Stokes’ dunk came during a 12-0 run that pushed the lead to 57-30. The celebration was on for Dougherty Valley, which thought it should have been among the section’s six Open teams but instead was left to dominate Division I.

Only Clayton Valley in the semifinals stayed within single digits of the Wildcats.

Stokes, a high-profile transfer from Dublin, finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two blocks, a steal and a couple of dunks, none more memorable than the one down the stretch.

“That was electric, man,” Hansen said. “We were making our run. That was like the nail in the coffin. Two high-level Division I guys meet at the rim, and J to finish like that is big time. They’ll have battles down the road. TT is a hell of a player. That’s a hell of a team. The score isn’t really indictive of who they are. I wouldn’t want to play them again in NorCal.”

Dougherty Valley, which had never won an NCS title before the win over De La Salle in 2023, got off to a strong start Saturday as Tyler Robbins was active near the rim and Alonzo Walker III sizzled from beyond the arc.

“My coach told me to be ready.” Walker said. “Last game I didn’t do as well and the game before that I didn’t play. I just stayed ready and waited for my moment.”

The freshman hit three first-half 3-pointers to help Dougherty Valley take a 28-21 lead into halftime. He added three two-point baskets in the third quarter to finish with 15 points.

Robbins also had 15 points, including eight in the fourth quarter. Rashod Cotton Jr. added nine points and Kenny Cloud finished with eight.

“That’s like a normal game,” Robbins said. “We put all our hearts out there. We were pretty mad not getting in the Open. But there is nothing we could do about it. We just played our (tails) off every game of Division I and now we’re ready for D-I state.”

Dougherty Valley dominated on defense after halftime, holding second-seeded Redwood to nine points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth. The Giants entered the game averaging nearly 60 points per game.

Carr, a transfer from Branson, scored 13 in the first half to keep his team in the game and finished with 22. Nobody else had more than three points for Redwood.

Dougherty, on the other hand, got contributions throughout its rotation as it followed the school’s boys soccer team, which beat De La Salle for the NCS Division I title on Saturday afternoon.

Later Saturday, Dougherty Valley’s girls basketball team fell short, losing to St. Mary’s-Berkeley in the Division III title game, but traveled 600 miles roundtrip just to advance to the final.

“Little old Dougherty Valley,” Hansen said. “Shoot, Dougherty Valley athletics. I was at the NCS soccer game. Beat De La Salle in the final. That was great. Come here. Guys played really hard, really tough and stayed together. I don’t know how our girls did. But just for them to get to the final says a lot about our school, our community.

“But it starts, I think, with this program. Kind of laid the foundation of how you can do it there. You get really good kids. Great student-athletes that care about each other and play the right way. It works.”