CIF NorCal basketball playoffs: Best of Saturday’s semifinals

The stage is set for an epic finish. Two heavyweights. One game. The rubber match in their postseason trilogy.

Riordan won a semifinal between the teams last season on its way to a NorCal Open Division title.

Salesian beat the San Francisco school in the NorCal Open final two years ago.

Tuesday night on Riordan’s home court, the Bay Area powerhouses will meet again and, just like in 2024, the winner will hoist the CIF NorCal Open championship trophy and advance to Sacramento for the Open state final.

Both teams treated the semifinals Saturday night like a warmup act.

Top-seeded Riordan, playing at home in San Francisco, routed Modesto Christian 86-60 behind 24 points, six rebounds and six assists from lead guard Andrew Hilman. Modesto Christian had beaten De La Salle on Wednesday.

JP Pihtovs added 18 points and senior DJ Armstrong had 12 for Riordan.

Across the Bay at Contra Costa College, second-seeded Salesian handled its business with a 61-41 victory over St. Ignatius.

Salesian got 14 points from Carlton Perrilliat Jr. and 13 from Leon Powe. Asante Johnson added nine points and Braylon Franklin contributed eight as the Pride improved to 28-3.

Raymond Whitley led SI with nine points. Shawn Boquiren and Anthony D’Acquisto each finished with eight for SI, which finished its season 25-5. Three of its losses were to Riordan.

— Darren Sabedra and Nathan Canilao

DIVISION I

No. 3 Folsom 86, No. 7 Dougherty Valley 61: The Wildcats’ magical season came to an end on Saturday night. 

Dougherty Valley trailed Folsom 59-53 going into the fourth quarter, but the home team went ballistic in the final eight minutes to punch its ticket to the NorCal finals where the Bulldogs will play The King’s Academy. 

Junior Rylan Sevilla scored 23 points, Rashod Cotton Jr. had 14 and Alonzo Walker III had 12. 

Dougherty Valley ends its season with a 23-11 record. The Wildcats won an East Bay Athletic League title and qualified for the NCS Open Division. Coach Mike Hansen won his first NorCal game on Tuesday after his team beat Destiny Christian, then upset No. 2 Clayton Valley on Thursday. 

Dougherty Valley is slated to return guards Sevilla, Walker, Devyn Ranola, Luke Hansen and Wyatt Swan. 

– Nathan Canilao

DIVISION III

No. 4 Priory 65, No. 1 Natomas 63, OT: The crowd was hostile, the odds were stacked against them, and a slow start to the game put the Panthers behind early. 

But somehow, someway, Priory came out victorious. 

Led by Kasten Eggers’ 23 points, Priory upset top-seeded Natomas on the road to advance to the NorCal finals.

“It was a pretty awful environment for us,” Priory coach David Mosley told the Bay Area News Group. “But our guys stuck together and played hard. 

“I think some of tonight was that we had a chip on our shoulder. We were the No. 2 seed in the CCS Division V playoffs. Now we’re the No. 4 seed in Division III NorCals after we won a state title last year. Our guys feel like we still have a lot to prove.” 

Priory got 18 points and 10 rebounds from senior Mate Palotai. Jai Gerrodette added 10 points. 

The Panthers will look to return to Golden 1 Center a year after they captured the Division IV title last season. Priory is one of three teams from the West Bay Athletic League that will be playing in a NorCal game on Tuesday. 

– Nathan Canilao

DIVISION IV

No. 5 Half Moon Bay 68, No. 8 Marysville 51: It should come as no surprise that the Cougars are headed to the NorCal regional finals Tuesday. Clinging to a 42-35 lead in the third quarter, Half Moon Bay (19-11) went on a 14-1 run that lasted into the fourth period to take a 20-point advantage and never looked back.

If the Cougars win their regional final Tuesday night, it will be their fifth 20-plus win season in nine years under coach John Parsons. But the assignment is a tough one, as HMB will be on the road at Sacred Heart Prep, which is 2-0 against the Cougars this season.

The host Cougars never trailed Marysville after intermission, going to the locker room with a 31-26 lead at the half.

Gio Garduno-Martin led all scorers with 24 points. The 6-foot-2 senior had a trio of 3-point buckets in the first quarter, then he poured in four 2-point field goals in the third period. He also topped Half Moon Bay with eight rebounds.

Only five players scored for the Cougars, with four of them reaching double figures. Levi Meighan had 17 points, Owen Perez had 13 and Daniel Moctezuma had 11. 

Marysville got 15 points apiece from its two leading scorers, Jordan Witt and Steven Martin.

– Mike Lefkow  

GIRLS

DIVISION I

No. 1 Clovis 52, No. 5 Priory 40: The rubber match didn’t turn out so good for Priory. After splitting their first games, both on neutral courts, the Panthers had to make the long trip to Clovis and came up short.

“Bad shooting night,” Priory coach Buck Matthews texted. “ Kudos to Clovis for a great defensive effort.”

Priory (23-7) shot just 22 percent from 3-point range and 28 percent on 2-pointers.

The exception was Sasha Johnson. The 5-foot-11 junior had 24 points. Jordyn Moss pulled down eight rebounds and had three assists.

Clovis (25-10) will face Central East-Fresno for the NorCal regional title on Tuesday.

–Mike Lefkow

No. 6 Central East-Fresno 76, No. 7 St. Francis 63: It was not a game played under ideal conditions for the Lancers. The contest started 90 minutes late after the power went out at Central East, forcing a venue change to Justin Garza High in Fresno.

“Power outage, change in gym location, 1.5 hour delay, yet we still competed,” St. Francis coach Sami Field-Polisso wrote in a text.

Even if everything had gone smoothly, the Lancers were playing an opponent that has been tough on the Bay Area this season. Central East ran its record to 5-0 against Bay opponents, with previous victories coming against Oakland Tech, Priory, Pinewood and Piedmont.

St. Francis (22-8) did put four players in double figures. Grace Curley had 17 points, followed by Estella Guido with 14, Katia Grizelj with 13 and Paige Spencer with 11.

– Mike Lefkow

DIVISION II

No. 4 Oakland Tech 68, No. 8 Salesian 46: Jhai Johnson, in her final home game, was sensational for Oakland Tech as the Bulldogs pulled away in the second half to beat Salesian and advance to the regional final.

Johnson finished with 32 points. Tech also got 15 points from Terri’A Russell and 12 from Kiara McCoy as the Oakland school will move on to play at second-seeded Sierra Pacific on Tuesday.

It was Tech’s first victory over Salesian after nine consecutive losses.

“We ain’t never beat Salesian and we showed who was the better team today,” said Tech coach Leroy Hurt, whose team improved to 21-10.

Emma Bryant had 12 points and Faith Thompson finished with 11 to lead Salesian, which finished its season 23-11.

— Darren Sabedra

DIVISION III

No. 4 Valley Christian 42, No. 8 Scotts Valley 36: Kenedi Nomura had 14 points and Evelyn Gittens added 10 as Valley Christian advanced to the final with a win at home.

Valley trailed 9-6 after the first quarter but led 18-13 at halftime.

The second half similarly tight and defensive, but Valley (15-15) had just enough to move on to play at home Tuesday against Menlo-Atherton for a spot in the Division III state title game next weekend in Sacramento.

— Darren Sabedra

No. 11 Menlo-Atherton 68, No. 2 East Union-Manteca 38: The Bears made themselves right at home in San Joaquin County in a contest that was pretty much over well before the half.

Lita Fakapelea, who had 23 points and nine rebounds, broke an early 4-4 tie with four straight points, Menlo-Atherton never relinquished that lead, and suddenly it was 33-9 in the second quarter. Maybe the Bears were a little snarly about being seeded nine spots below East Union.

Fakapelea had plenty of help from her teammates. Luisa Tava had 17 points, all but two coming on five 3-point buckets. Mary Tava scored 12 points and frustrated East Union with six blocked shots. 

Next up for the Bears, who are 24-5 overall, is No. 4 seed Valley Christian on Tuesday night. M-A will be on the road again, but at least the trip from Atherton to San Jose will be much shorter. The Bears will enter the game having won six in a row.

East Union ends its season at 23-7.

– Mike Lefkow

DIVISION IV

No. 3 Lathrop 55, No. 10 Benicia 48: The visiting Panthers didn’t go quietly against Lathrop and its gaudy 33-1 record. Benicia trailed 49-48 with three minutes to go, then the Spartans hit back-to-back 3-pointers to seal it.

“They are a young team. Athletic,” Benicia coach Corey Ott said of the Spartans. “It’s hard to focus on any one person. They start three freshmen.”

The Panthers are also a young team, relying heavily on three sophomores. One of the sophomores, 5-foot guard Ella Lum, led Benicia in scoring, but it wasn’t quite enough.

“She’s been our MVP all year,” Ott said.

Benicia finishes the season at 22-11.   

Panthers coach Corey Ott was disappointed by the loss but encouraged by how his young team battled.

NORCAL DIVISION VI

No. 1 Cornerstone Christian 46, No. 4 Ferndale 31: For the second time in a week, Cornerstone Christian defeated Ferndale in a postseason matchup. 

After beating the Wildcats in the NCS Division VI championship on Saturday, the Cougars once again defeated Ferndale handedly and advanced to the NorCal Division VI finals. 

“We struggled in the first half, but we handled adversity and came out on top,” Cornerstone coach Madison Alexander told the Bay Area News Group. “I think just about the effort, energy and the resilience of the kids.” 

Sophomore Kenenna Amajioyi led Cornerstone with 14 points and fellow sophomore Evalyn Mucio added 13. 

Cornerstone will be looking to capture its second NorCal Division VI title in three years when it plays Redding Christian at Heritage High on Tuesday. The Cougars won’t move on to Sacramento as Division VI only has NorCal schools participating, but the small Antioch school has had a dynastic run through the playoffs the last few seasons. 

“I think the standard has been set,” Alexander said. “We’ve been really resilient. I think we’ve created a culture over the last three or four years of winning the 1% and being the team that our teammates can count on. It’s working in our favor at this time.” 

– Nathan Canilao