“We put on a show.” Branham beats rival Leigh, later celebrates outright league title
SAN JOSE — As the Branham boys basketball team started to set goals over the summer for the upcoming season under first-year coach Jason Billie, the last game on the schedule had a circle around it.
Neighborhood rival Leigh, at Branham, on Senior Night.
“We just had a feeling that it could potentially be for a league championship if we focused on the process of one game in a row,” Billie said Wednesday.
Tuesday night, Branham completed a magical 22-2 regular season with a 68-50 victory over Leigh.
Ben Lim (19 points), Wyatt Sparling (15 points), Dasan Poston (14 points) and Cayden Tanger (nine points) — all seniors — led the way.
The victory had clinched at least a tie for the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mt. Hamilton Division championship. A few minutes after the game ended, the Branham gym erupted again.
Christopher beat Santa Teresa 64-62.
Instead of sharing the championship with Santa Teresa, Branham had the title to itself, its first in an “A” league for boys basketball.
“It was an incredible atmosphere,” Billie said. “This place was rocking. We put on a show. It was Senior Night. We recognized nine seniors. It was against our league rival, Leigh High School, right down the street, and it was for a championship.
“With the timing of it, our game finished, we got on our phones and watched the last two minutes of Santa Teresa and Christopher, where Christopher pulled it out.”
Branham finished league play 11-1. Santa Teresa went 10-2.
Under Billie, a former Milpitas High star who had spent numerous years as an assistant at powerhouse West Valley College, Branham won a program-record 15 games in a row before losing at home to Santa Teresa 70-66 on Jan. 31.
With the teams having split their two games — Branham won at Santa Teresa 70-69 on Jan. 10 — it looked as if they would each claim a piece of the championship.
But in the end, it didn’t play out that way.
If this like a dream for Branham and its first-year coach?
“Yeah, every day is like that here at Branham,” Billie said. “The kids are just incredible. I want to be super clear. It is all about them. All the time that they put in, the effort, the commitment, the dedication, all of the support that they’ve received from their parents, coming to practice, dealing with schedules and conflicts.
“They deserve this. It’s all about those guys. I am just trying to give them as many keys that I can to open as many doors so they can be as successful as possible.”
Branham will find out its playoff destination when the Central Coast Section unveils its brackets on Wednesday evening. The Bruins could be one of the eight teams selected for the section’s Open Division, which includes an automatic ticket to the Northern California regionals, or they could land in Division I.
No matter how the playoffs unfold, Branham’s 2023-24 team will always have this:
A league championship.