MORAGA — Campolindo has been a strong team all year, but the Cougars saved one of their most complete and dominant performances for Tuesday night’s Northern California Division II Championship, which they won 59-38 over Serra.
Brothers Carter and Aidan Mahaney continued their phenomenal seasons, and with sophomore Emmanuel Callas continuing his string of excellent postseason performances, the Cougars led wire-to-wire to advance to their second state championship game in five years.
“We wouldn’t be here if Emmanuel hadn’t played so well these last six or seven games,” head coach Steven Dyer said.
Against a Padres team that loves to crash the boards and harass teams with tight pressure, Campolindo (26-7) was composed against an aggressive defense and strong in the paint, largely fueled by Callas. His nine points and seven rebounds suggested a solid performance, but couldn’t accurately explain just how effective he was.
“I’ve been putting a lot of work in on the side, working out after games and practices, Callas said. He was out until early January with Osgood-Schlatter disease, a type of knee inflammation common in teenagers.
He wasn’t the only Cougar sophomore to make an impact. Chase Bennett, son of Saint Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett, stands at just 5-foot-9, but hit a 3-pointer early in the second off the bench to spark a 20-6 run to close the half after Serra (20-10) had tied the game at 10.
That 10-10 tie was the only time the Padres were even after the game’s opening basket, and the ninth-seeded visitors never led, shooting 2-for-16 on 3-pointers and an uncharacteristic 6-of-14 at the line.
“They took us out of what we were trying to do,” Serra head coach Chuck Rapp said. “Basketball’s such a rhythm game, and sometimes when you get out of it, it’s hard to pinpoint why and get back into your rhythm.”
When the Padres did respond to Campolindo’s run, allowing just nine points in the third quarter, they couldn’t get it going on the offensive end.
“In the third quarter, we started getting stops, and that’s what we usually do,” Rapp said. “We hit a couple threes, we get a dunk or whatever, and tonight we couldn’t.”
The only 3-pointers the visitors made came in rapid succession, with Antonio Abeyta and Cade Rees connecting on back-to-back possessions early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 42-30, but the Mahaney brothers were quick to ensure it wouldn’t get any more interesting. Aidan, the freshman, hit a mid-range turnaround shot to spark a decisive 15-2 run. Carter scored on back-to-back possessions from mid-range to ensure a Cooper Fitz putback wouldn’t give Serra momentum, and a David Ahazie three from the corner stretched the lead to 19. A basket from Callas and four more points from Mahaney finished off the run and ensured that the final minutes would be a chance for the seniors to get in some playing time.
“I care a lot about those seniors, and I want to do whatever I can do get them in,” Aidan said. “Those dudes have been battling and putting in the work all year.”
It was a far cry from the tight games the Cougars had played last week, a pair of two-point wins over Sacramento and Grant. Carter scored 18, Aidan had 16 and Ahazie had 10, and with the Padres held to just 38 points, their second-lowest total of the season, it was more than enough.
“We took them out of their sets with ball pressure,” Dyer said.
That ball pressure kept Serra off the board for much of that 20-6 run in the second quarter, a stretch that saw Callas score four points and the younger of the Mahaney brothers score seven, draining a pair of 3-pointers to get the lead to double-digits.
Cade Rees led Serra with 16, but he made just one of six free throws, a shocking performance for a player who had made 24 in a row from the line during one stretch in WCAL play. Parker McDonald, who scored exactly 19 points in the Padres’ prior three state tournament games, was held to just four.
It was a loss that spelled the end of McDonald’s three-year run as Serra’s point guard, one that saw the Padres improve their win total each season.
“It’s been an incredible journey, and I hope I left a good impression for everyone who’s going to come through,” McDonald said.
He and three other starters will be graduating for Serra, while Campolindo’s senior class, which includes Ahazie and Jake Chan, will head to Sacramento for a Saturday afternoon tilt with Colony for the CIF Division II Championship.
“Jake’s been one of our unsung heroes,” Dyer said. Chan scored just one point but played stingy defense despite being one of the smallest players on the court at all times.
