SAN JOSE — As expected, Alijah Washington and Mahmoud Fofana traded blows on Thursday night, but it was Washington’s supporting cast that helped him and the Piedmont Hills Pirates pull away for a 62-46 win over Santa Teresa to take control of the BVAL Mt. Hamilton race, finishing the game on a 31-10 run.
“The real x-factor was John Sepulveda,” Piedmont Hills head coach Anthony Cuellar said. “He wasn’t here the first time (with an ankle injury). We went to a smaller lineup and it made it more difficult for them to guard us.”
After the 18th-ranked Pirates closed the third quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 40-38 lead, Jordan Martinez opened the fourth quarter with the fourth of his five 3-pointers and Sepulveda, whose absence helped shape an overtime loss at Santa Teresa three weeks earlier, got back-to-back baskets to make it a nine-point game.
“I just started driving and doing my thing,” Sepulveda said. “Jump stops and an easy finish, the basics.”
Fofana would make two free throws with 4:13 left to get the 22nd-ranked Saints back within seven, snapping a five-minute scoreless drought, but Washington answered with an and-1 and Martinez hit his last 3-pointer to answer one by Jared Johnson. A Washington three with 2:32 left served as the dagger, and to add insult to injury, Fofana fouled out with 1:57 remaining.
Fofana did show why he was a BVAL Mt. Hamilton first-teamer as a junior and a likely league MVP candidate this year, with 27 points and 13 rebounds, but the lack of a supporting cast killed Santa Teresa (13-5, 5-3). His teammates combined for just 19 points, with Johnson limited to seven and hampered by a second-quarter shoulder injury.
“They just wanted it more than us, and it showed in their rebounding,” Fofana said of the fourth quarter.
Washington was the leader of that assault on the glass, pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds to go with his 24 points. Fittingly, his basket to tie the game at 38 late in the third came on a putback, and he’d lay one in off the glass to close the quarter, capping off a 9-2 run after Fofana had scored six straight, including an 18-footer for a 34-31 lead. It would have been easy for Washington to just try to answer every play of Fofana’s with one of his own, but he was able to turn to his teammates to keep the game under control.
“Just slow the game down and get every single one of our teammates involved,” Washington said.
By getting a pair of Martinez threes in the third, including the one to cut it to 36-34, Sepulveda’s contributions in the fourth and five big points from Aman Tomar in the second, Washington was able to do just that to prevent Fofana from turning the game into a one-man show. He had 12 of his team’s 17 in the second quarter, including a fastbreak dunk to give the Saints a 12-11 lead, and he’d answer a Martinez 3-pointer with a drive to the basket to close the first half tied at 25.
“He’s really long and hard to guard,” Sepulveda said of the Santa Teresa star.
Still, Piedmont Hills (14-4, 7-1) was able to prevail with a solid team effort as Martinez scored 17 while Sepulveda and Tomar combined for 11 critical bench points. Fofana didn’t have a single teammate in double-figures, though Son Pham scored eight and Johnson finished with seven points and seven rebounds.
Both teams will cap off a three-game week on Saturday, with the Pirates hosting a surging opponent getting healthy at the right time as Leigh (7-11, 4-4) pays a visit. The Saints will be back on the East Side again as well, paying a visit to Independence (11-7, 3-5) with hopes of building off an earlier overtime win.
