With major holiday basketball tournaments last week around the Bay Area and Northern California, a few major lessons can be taken from some of the biggest events of the past week.
Campolindo is a top team.
The Cougars’ 63-60 upset of Modesto Christian in the semifinals of MC’s own tournament sent shockwaves all around the Bay Area. Even if David Ahazie had been healthy, it would have been a monster win, but with the dynamic senior guard out injured, it showed just how deadly Campolindo can be. Carter Mahaney scored 22 points and his brother, Aidan, scored 17.
With Carter just a junior and Aidan a freshman, there’s a chance the Cougars could have more chances to avenge a tournament championship loss to another youthful team, Weston Ranch. Also called the Cougars, Weston Ranch has two excellent sophomores in Donjae’ Lindsey and Mi’Son Coilton, plus a phenomenal junior in Gavin Wilburn, who head coach Chris Teevan has called one of the best defenders in Northern California.
These Danville teams can score.
The annual “Battle of the Bubble” games between Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley are captivating for the crowds alone, with packed gyms and student sections bringing back memories of [i]Hoosiers[/i]. Even with games where the teams struggled to reach 50 points, the atmosphere alone made for remarkable nights. Combine that with the exciting styles that this year’s teams can play, as both showcased in top holiday tournaments, and their meetings will be must-see games.
Monte Vista’s triple-overtime win over St. Joseph Notre Dame at the Leo LaRocca Sand Dune Classic and San Ramon Valley’s marquee win over Monterey at the Joe Schram Holiday Classic showed that both teams are capable of knocking off high-caliber opponents, but MV’s tournament-opening 72-67 win over Strake Jesuit-Houston may have been more of a testament to the Mustangs’ abilities. Likewise, SRV took St. Francis to overtime in a shootout that proved the Wolves can go on big runs, as they did with their backs against the wall.
Miramonte is back.
The Diablo Athletic League is absolutely stacked, as usual, but this year’s depth is unprecedented. Miramonte went 0-10 in league play last year but posted a shocking quarterfinal win over Serra in the second round of the Bambauer Classic. Jayson Fernbacher was excellent over the first two days of the tournament, scoring 31 in a double-overtime win over Arroyo Grande before posting 20 in the win over the Padres. Arroyo Grande further enforced the Matadors’ strength by beating University on the third day of the tournament.
Ezra Manjon may be the best scorer in the Bay Area.
Heritage’s Bambauer Classic title was a four-day celebration of Ezra Manjon’s offensive skills. The UC Davis-bound point guard scored 17 in the third quarter of a first-round win over University, in which he posted 29 points, and he averaged 28.5 per game over the course of the tournament. With an undersized but talented group adjusting to the ways of first-year head coach Carly Perales, this Patriots team looks far stronger than the one that lost by 14 at home to Granada in early December.
Mountain View has CCS Open Division potential.
With three excellent wins over out-of-section teams, the Mountain View Spartans won the Blue Division of the Aptos/Santa Cruz Warriors Invitational. A remarkable first-round overtime win over St. Mary’s-Stockton, a thrashing of shorthanded Berkeley and a championship victory over El Camino-Sacramento has brought well-deserved attention to Mountain View. Three-year starter Sam Tobin was key on the 2017 CCS Division II Champions, and he’s averaging 19.2 points per game as a senior. 7-foot-1 center Will Dominguez seems to have more interest as a volleyball player, but his height still makes him a game-altering presence even if he was to never touch the ball.
Alisal is starting to click.
Monterey-area teams always seem to struggle with opponents from the rest of the CCS, so for Alisal to win the White Division of the Aptos/Santa Cruz Warriors Invitational is a huge boost for the Trojans’ perception moving forward. Though there were no eye-popping scores, Alisal showed the ability to get over a hump that has often plagued teams from the Trojans’ area in the past, and the Trojans themselves had lost to Palo Alto on December 22. To take care of two SCVAL teams and a PAL team is a huge lift for the Trojans as they approach league play.
There’s no match for Julian Vaughns when he gets in his zone.
There were more than a few great individual performances in that triple-OT game between St. Joseph Notre Dame and Monte Vista, but even in defeat, Julian Vaughns’ efforts stood out above the rest. As he often does, Vaughns got into one of those possessed states where he just couldn’t stop scoring, using a mix of 3-pointers, drives and fadeaway mid-range moves to lead his team back from a 19-0 hole and give them a chance to win. Considering his performances in last year’s double-overtime win over St. Patrick-St. Vincent and an overtime loss to Alameda earlier in December, there’s a good chance fans will get to see him dominate any time the Pilots have a big game. Saturday’s trip to Bishop O’Dowd will be the next chance for him to add to his already-impressive list of show-stopping performances.
