ETHAN KASSEL
Prep2Prep Senior Editor

March 12, 2022

SACRAMENTO — Entering the 2022 CIF State basketball championships, the boys Division III bout between Pleasant Valley and Venice was billed as the closest matchup of the weekend.

Boy, did it deliver.

Point guard Ned Joyce’s 3-pointer with 1:51 left gave NorCal top seed Pleasant Valley the lead for good as the Vikings rallied from an early 13-point deficit for a 57-53 win over the Gondoliers, claiming their second CIF Division III crown in five years.

“I had taken one three in our last four games,” Joyce said. “I just splashed the first one and my shot felt so good.”

The lack of shots in recent games clearly had no ill effect on the 6-foot-2 senior, as he went 4-for-7 from long range. He hit a shot from the top of the arc as part of the 14-3 run in the second quarter that helped Pleasant Valley (32-3) get into halftime down by just three and another late in the third to give the Vikings a 45-41 lead.

His third 3-pointer came with 6:41 left, drawing roars from the crowd that made the trek down from Chico and giving his team a five-point lead, and after Venice (21-10) responded with an 8-0 run, he scored in the lane to get PV back within a point. For the final act of his high school career, he hit the go-ahead 3-pointer, and though he missed with a chance to extend the lead to five in the final minute, Noah Thomas grabbed the offensive rebound.

Thomas, who scored a game-high 24 points, was fouled with 25.7 on the clock and made both free throws. Two late Gondolier 3-pointers missed, icing the game for the Vikings.

“These kids behind me are the best kids in the world,” Pleasant Valley head coach Tim Keating said. “I said this in 2018 and I’m saying it again, but this time I don’t have a son on the team.”

Even though they went scoreless in the final 2:56, the Gondos were in it the entire way. The LA City Section representatives put on a shooting clinic for most of the afternoon, starting off 5-for-8 from 3-point range and going 10-for-25 in all from beyond the arc, offsetting Pleasant Valley’s 38-22 rebounding advantage. Oscar Lopez went 5-from-9 from beyond the arc, scoring 15 points in all. Devyn Johnson hit an early three as Venice took an early 10-0 lead, and when he had to sit after getting called for three quick fouls, Ryder Decena came in and drained one of his own.

The Gondoliers led 21-10 after a quarter and held a 13-point advantage early in the second before the Vikings made their push. Luke Kremer and backup center Gabe Garretson each scored following offensive rebounds, Joyce cut the lead to five and Kremer scored after a Hayden Rick offensive rebound to close to 29-28 before Venice got the final basket of the first half on a drive by sophomore Tyler Hunt.

Hunt, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double, the sort of performance that should draw immediate interest from Division I coaches. Even with his brilliance, the Vikings led for much of the second half. Lopez’s fourth 3-pointer gave Venice a 36-33 advantage after Kremer had tied it on a putback, but Thomas connected from the corner to put PV up 40-38 with 2:37 left in the third.

Both teams were excellent from beyond the arc; Pleasant Valley made seven of 16 3-point tries. Hunt made a pair of free throws to send the Gondos into the fourth down just 47-45, and they tied the game at 50 on a Johnson three before taking their final lead on Lopez’s fifth and final connection from deep.

“Our guys were phenomenal,” head coach David Galley said, reflecting not only on the game but Venice’s entire season. “They had to go through testing every other day, it seemed like, mask mandates, we had to shut down for a week. LAUSD was probably the strictest of all districts in California.”

Hunt, Decena and Aiden Donald, who started at guard, are all sophomores, so the future should be bright for the Gondoliers. Pleasant Valley may also be back on the big stage soon, graduating just Joyce, Thomas and Chase Mitchell from the rotation that saw time on Friday.

“We’re blessed to have a lot of coaches that have bought into our students, educating them inside and outside of the athletic arena,” Keating said of his program’s sustained success. “Our kids have bought in.”