NorCal basketball roundup: Cornerstone Christian and Athenian boys, Oakland girls capture regional crowns
NorCal basketball roundup: Cornerstone Christian boys, Oakland girls, Athenian boys capture regional crowns
Boys basketball
Division VI
No. 1 Cornerstone Christian 84, No. 6 Napa Christian 59: Cornerstone Christian, a small private school in Antioch, captured the CIF Northern California Division VI crown with a dominating victory at home over Napa Christian.
Cornerstone averaged 86.7 points per game in its three regional victories to complete a 28-6 season that also included the North Coast Section Division VI title.
The regional crown was Cornerstone’s second. The team also won the NorCal Division VI championship in 2019.
The march to this year’s NorCal title began with a 97-90 victory over Valley Christian-Roseville. Cornerstone then beat Redding Christian 79-54 to advance to Tuesday’s final.
There is no state championship game in Division VI, so Cornerstone’s season ended Tuesday.
– Darren Sabedra
Division V
No. 1 Athenian 57, No. 2 San Domenico 46
Athenian will be going to its first state championship in school history after beating San Domenico behind 15 points from senior guard Surya Devasenapathy.
Down three at halftime, Athenian’s offense started to hit from deep to take a comfortable lead. When San Domenico came within five in the final minute, the Owls hit their free throws to punch their ticket to the state championship. Teni Salako scored 11 points and Noah Olivier and Evan Lucas each had 10 points for Athenian.
“ Our boys believed that they belong, we just happened to be in a small little private school that nobody heard of until we started having success.” said Athenian coach Jordan Boreman.
Athenian will play Verdugo Hills (25-11) in the state championship in Sacramento at noon Friday.
– Nathan Canilao
Girls basketball
Division V
No. 13 Oakland 62, No. 7 Crystal Springs Uplands 50
Ojiugo Egeonu dominated on Tuesday night, wrecking host Crystal Springs Uplands on her way to a 30-point night as the Wildcats advanced to their first state title game since reaching the Division III championship in 2019.
Oakland, which played every game on the road, will SoCal’s No. 1 seed Montgomery-San Diego at 10 a.m. on Friday. Oakland upset Half Moon Bay, Valley Christian-Roseville, and Woodland Christian to reach the NorCal final.
All-Oakland Athletic League selection Daijha Teague scored 15, and freshman Kyla Smith scored 11 as Oakland handled Crystal Springs. Isabella Greenblatt led the South Bay school with 19 points.
Crystal Springs ends its season 14-13, while Oakland improves to 22-10.
– Joseph Dycus