ALAMEDA, Calif. – Moments after Alameda sank San Ramon Valley 72-56 in the NCS Division II semifinal, head coach Cameron Quick embraced his team and the families and communities then yelled out, “No one believed in us!”
And indeed, rewind back to the end of 2019: the Hornets were swept at the San Diego Surf ‘N Slam tournament and sitting with a 3-10 record. Quick asked his boys to self-reflect, and they responded by rattling off win after win. The Hornets have not lost since that game at the end of December, a run of 16 straight, and they will now have a chance to put a bow on it when they face No. 2 De Anza for the championship.
“All the credit to the players,” Quick said. “They bought into the game plan, they stuck together. It was good to see them play well together and get to this point.”
“We studied film, we were locked in,” DeJon Marks said. “No one believed in us from the start, besides us. We knew in our heads we could beat this team.”
Elijah Caliz scored 17 points, Marks and Jason Cibull had 15 each, and Josh Niusulu tacked on another 14 to complete a balanced attack for No. 5 Alameda (19-10). The Hornets emerged from a back-and-forth first quarter with a 16-12 lead, grew it to a nine-point advantage by halftime, and extended it to a 49-35 lead after three. In the fourth it got as large as 19 before the Wolves shortened it to as few as 11.
“We knew we couldn’t slow down,” Caliz commented. “The coach told us at the end of the third, ‘We have to finish the job.’”
Tyler Isaak and Pat Deely were the lone bright spots for No. 1 San Ramon Valley (20-9). Isaak had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Deely added 15 points. The Wolves were playing without star guard Sebastien Scott, who remains sidelined after a torn ACL in January. San Ramon Valley dropped seven of nine after the game in which he suffered the injury, but still gained the top seed and defeated both Vallejo and Tamalpais before Tuesday night’s semifinal.
Alameda topped Redwood and Las Lomas to earn the matchup at San Ramon. Alameda did not face De Anza this season; the teams are each 2-2 against common opponents. The Dons defeated No. 6 Newark Memorial 62-42 on Tuesday to earn a trip to the championship game.
“We’re playing together at the right time,” Quick added. “It was after we came back from San Diego (that we turned it around). I told the guys, ‘Look you gotta go home and make a decision. Are we going to turn this season around or are we going to continue to lose games?’ The guys saw what needed to be done and then they bought in. When you see results, you wanna keep getting them.”
“We knew that everyone was doubting us,” Caliz added. “We just wanted to go out there and prove everybody wrong and we did.”
