San Ramon Valley rallies, but St. John Bosco wins Division I state title
SACRAMENTO – One of the great boys basketball seasons in San Ramon Valley history ended on Friday night without the state championship celebration its green-and-gold clad student section had come to watch.
But the Wolves didn’t go down without a fight.
Wobbled badly in the first quarter, SRV charged back to within single digits by halftime and got even closer in the third quarter before eventually falling to St. John Bosco-Bellflower 78-60 in the Division I state title game at Golden 1 Center.
Bosco simply had too much talent and too many shooters for SRV to keep pace.
The Wolves certainly tried. They pulled to within nine on Matthew Diekmann’s 3-pointer with just under four minutes left.
Seconds later, Max Ellis answered with a smooth-as-silk 3 for Bosco.
It was that kind of night.
“This entire season has just been an amazing experience for these guys,” SRV coach Brian Botteen said. “It’s not going to hit me until some point this evening. But I am proud of everything they’ve done, the fight they’ve shown here. We definitely have to work on becoming a better first-quarter group. We seem to really gift those big leads from time to time.
“But our resiliency and fight was never in question.”
Bosco shot 50% (11 of 22) from 3-point territory and 58.8% (30 of 51) overall.
The Braves got 20 points from senior guard Jack Turner, who was 4 for 6 from 3, and 20 points from sophomore superstar Brandon McCoy Jr., a transfer from Bishop O’Dowd.
Luke Isaak led San Ramon Valley with 18 points. Mason Thomas added 13 and seniors Seamus Deely, Jack Moxley and Diekmann each finished with eight.
San Ramon Valley finished the season 29-8. Bosco is 28-7.
The Southern California champion threatened to put away SRV in the first quarter as seven Braves scored in the period and four made 3-pointers. The Southern California team led 28-11 after one period, a deficit that might have rattled some teams.
But not SRV.
This is a team that spotted Archbishop Mitty a 13-0 lead in the NorCal regional semifinals last weekend and stormed back to advance.
SRV got hot in the second period, raised its level of defense by several notches and went to the locker room trailing by just eight points.
Given the manner in which the game started, that was a win for SRV.
Mason Thomas led the second-quarter comeback with three 3-pointers. The junior guard was everywhere on the court during the SRV surge, at one point squeezing his 5-foot-10 body in a small crease to save the ball.
Seamus Deely retrieved it and scored for SRV to cut the margin to 35-27.
St. John Bosco shot just 33.3% in the second quarter after making 68.8% of its shots – which included five 3-pointers – in the opening frame.
SRV arrived in Sacramento with a resume deserving of the big stage. The Danville school overcame early hiccups at the start of the season to win its division at the Damien Classic in Southern California and prevail at De La Salle to capture the East Bay Athletic League tournament.
The Wolves bounced back from a fourth-place finish in the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs to survive three tight games in the Northern California Division I regional, defeating Vanden, Archbishop Mitty and Granada by three points apiece.
The challenge Friday was even more daunting.
Bosco just missed being selected for the ultra-elite SoCal Open Division regional. Seeded No. 1 in Division I, the Braves won three nail-biters to reach Golden 1 Center, the last a 71-68 overtime victory over Trinity League rival Mater Dei.
SRV countered with a veteran group led by East Bay Athletic League co-player of the year Deely and numerous others, including Luke Isaak, Thomas, Elliot Conley and Jack Moxley.