SACRAMENTO – After the Valencia Vikings won the Division 4AA title this year, senior Kai Davis told the Los Angeles Daily News, “I’m not surprised that we got to this point because it was in due time that something like this had to happen.”
Their coach Bill Bedgood echoed a similar sentiment, and that feeling must have run through the whole team strongly, because Valencia had a near-flawless performance on the biggest stage of all to win the CIF Division IV Championship versus Half Moon Bay, 89-59.
Mikah Ballew scored 25 points and had five assists, Bryce Bedgood netted 22 points to go with 13 rebounds and seven blocks, and Kai Davis scored 17 points on efficient shooting and dished out eight assists for Valencia (27-10).
“It’s a total team effort to get to this point and we’re just so excited to finish the mission,” Coach Bedgood said. “We had some guys who were tired of losing. In their mind they wanted to feel what it was like to be on the other side of that. Last season wasn’t indicative of who they were as players.”
Half Moon Bay (21-11) jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game and found themselves tied at 20 by the period’s end, with all eight baskets being assisted. But after Jaeden Hutchins went out with a foot injury at the end of the first, Valencia seized the opportunity to leap out in front. Jacob Michel started things off for Valencia in the second quarter with a three-point play, and after a nifty drive by Gio Garduno-Martin brought Half Moon Bay to within two, at 26-24, the Vikings went on a 14-2 run over the span of about three minutes, featuring a couple of threes and several drives through the lane.
“When it looked like we were still sleeping in the hotel, we turned up the heat and started trapping a little bit more and pressing a little bit more,” Coach Bedgood said. “But for sure (Hutchins’) absence was felt. We really made an emphasis on getting the ball inside because they’re very small without number one.”
In the last minute of the first half, the closest Half Moon Bay would get was eight points, when Garduno-Martin drained a three-pointer, one of four on the game for him. But Ballew answered with a three of his own, and Valencia opened the second half on a 9-2 run and continued to build the lead from there.
When the starters departed the floor with a couple of minutes to go, the Vikings were shooting a crisp 60 percent from the field, including just over 40 percent from deep and 90 percent from the line. Half Moon Bay, meanwhile, failed to hit the 40 percent mark from the field for the game. Valencia had nearly twice as many field goals in only 10 more attempts and had 22 fast breaks versus the Cougars’ one.
In his eight minutes of action, Hutchins recorded eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and had two rebounds and an assist. He injured the foot midway through the quarter, and tried to play through it. The absence of the talented 6-8 junior was felt immediately. In the NorCal Regional Final, he scored a game-high 23 points.
“I’m extremely proud of my guys,” Half Moon Bay coach John Parsons said. “As you can all see they have a lot of athletes on that side, a lot of size. You always hate to see an injury have a big impact on a game either way. But that type of stuff happens, and then other guys step up, and it just wasn’t enough tonight.”
Gio Garduno-Martin finished with a team-high 18 points for the Cougars while Drew Dorwin added 13 and Dio Lucido just missed a triple-double with 11 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists.
“We hit our shots, everything was flowing,” Lucido said. “Second quarter, kind of the opposite, them slowing us down, and then pressing makes it harder for us to run sets which is where we succeed.”
Both teams participated in their first state finals appearance. Valencia won its first section title when it took the Division 4AA Southern Section crown, after finishing 5-20-1 the year before. Half Moon Bay fell just short of the Peninsula Athletic League-North title, falling to The King’s Academy. And while the Cougars were the 2nd seed in that playoff, they made it to Sacramento as NorCal’s No. 10 seed knocking off No. 7 San Domenico, No. 2 Hillsdale, No. 3 Marin Catholic, and finally No. 5 Chico.
Both teams also played with added emotional weight. For Valencia, it’s Bedgood’s final year as coach after 24 years on the sidelines, with son Bryce about to become a senior. His decision will enable the elder Bedgood to watch the younger one as a dad instead of as a coach.
“Being a dad makes you a better coach, but I don’t know if being a coach makes you a better dad always,” Bedgood said about his retirement. “My thought I just want to be there for him, enjoy the games. It’s going to be nice just to be able to watch him play and not have the pressure of having to carry the emotions of the entire program."
“I wanted to send him out on the highest note I can,” Bryce Bedgood said. “I’m really proud of him.”
And for Half Moon Bay, the vying for the state crown happened a month and a half after a deadly shooting in the community of 11,000 people. Parsons grew up in Half Moon Bay and starred on the school’s basketball team, so he was particularly suited to putting this season’s run into context.
“We know we’re not always the most talented team, but we have a lot of heart out there, we have a lot of pride in our community,” Parsons said. “It was a very dark time for our little town with the mass shooting. For these guys to give our community something to proud of, something to rally around, something that’s been so extremely positive, I can’t thank them enough. What they’ve done is bigger than basketball. I don’t think they have a clue yet how big of an impact and how big of a thing that was for our community.”
