Boys basketball: Branson punches return ticket to D-III title game

The Branson School’s leading scorer NJ Gray does some of his best work slithering through the lane and converting ridiculous layups.

Gray, however, was more than happy to play distributor in the early stages of Tuesday night’s Division 3 North Coast Section boys basketball semifinals.

And Gray knows a hot hand when he sees one.

Tyler Wells scored nine points in the first three minutes – all on three-point swishes from the corners and all assisted by Gray – and Branson rode off with a convincing 70-52 victory against Brave Christian (Dublin) in the College of Marin gymnasium.

“NJ is more than capable of playing as a distributor,” Branson coach Demetrius Roquemore said. “He really wants to get his teammates going.”

Gray and his teammates are going for back-to-back NCS D-III titles when the top-seed Bulls (18-14) battle No. 2 Cornerstone Christian (23-8) on Friday at COM. branson defeated Cornerstone Christian 49-46 on Dec. 27. Tuesday’s victory also secured Branson an automatic qualifying spot in next week’s NorCal playoffs.

“We have three seniors who were all on the Branson open division playoff team from three seasons ago,” Roquemore said. “And now they want to leave their own legacy. Our goal before the season started was to repeat as section champs so the guys were very motivated for this game tonight.”

The Bulls seemed extremely motivated as they bolted ahead 11-0 before Brave Christian (25-6) barely had a chance to take a deep breath.

“I have great teammates who fed me the ball for three-pointers and trusted me to make them,” said Wells, who knocked down six three-pointers and finished with 18 points. “I come out early in every game ready to help the team in any way I can.”

While Branson scorched the nets, the Lions brought a much closer-to-the-basket style of offense to the court, leaning heavily on 6-foot-8-inch freshman JP Oka (18 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots) and 6-4 senior post Adama Kone (10 points).

“We came out strong at both ends of the court,” Wells said. “On defense, we knew we had to stop the two big guys by keeping them outside the paint as much as possible.”

Brave Christian fashioned a bit of a run at the end of the first period as Oka warmed up to his surroundings and scored seven points before the quarter was finished.

But the second period was all Bulls.

Six different Branson players chipped in with field goals, led by Gray’s five points in the period.

When Hunter Zack came off the bench to score consecutive layups Branson extended its lead to 19 points with three minutes until intermission.

Gray did most of the damage in the third quarter scoring half of his game-high 22 points.

Saving his best for last in the period, Gray feigned a drive to the basket and instead stopped and popped from near the free-throw line and the Bulls went up by 19 points again one second before the buzzer.

The Lions failed to mount any serious rally in the final eight minutes.

Braxton Armstrong scored four points in the period and corralled four of his game-high nine rebounds.

“We really want to win back-to-back titles,” Gray said. “We knew we had to get past this team and then we’d have a chance to play for another title.”