SAN PABLO, Calif. – Some of the nation’s top boys basketball players graced the Contra Costa College hard court at the 10th Annual Crush in the Valley Basketball Showcase, and none made bigger splashes in Saturday's action than Darryn Peterson of co-host Prolific Prep of Napa Christian and Tounde Yessoufou of St. Joseph of Santa Maria.
The three-day Crush in the Valley, which concludes on Sunday with five games involving prep programs, consisted of three games on Friday involving prep programs, and nine games on Saturday with two for the preps and the remaining seven games were matchups of high school programs.
The marquee prep school matchup was between co-host Prolific Prep, the Maxpreps No. 3 ranked prep school in the nation, and Arizona Dream City Christian of Glendale, a member of the Arizona Interscholastic Association that plays mostly prep schools and is ranked No. 10 in Arizona by Maxpreps.
As expected, Prolific Prep (19-4) was a 69-52 winner, but not before getting a tussle just like it did three weeks ago against Dream City in a 65-63 victory.
Peterson, a senior that is committed to Kansas, was a pinpoint 5-of-7 on three pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points with three rebounds, assists and steals, however the game’s Most Valuable Player went to 7-foot sophomore Obinna Ekezie. He totally dominated the paint and finished with a double-double 10 points and 11 rebound with five blocks.
Prolific Prep actually trailed 11-6 early on, it was tied 17-17 after the first quarter, and they faced a 19-18 deficit before closing on a 10-4 run to take a 28-23 lead at halftime.
The co-host Crew scored the first basket of the third quarter but a 7-0 run by Dream City knotted things at 30-apiece before the Prolific Prep began to take charge. An 11-0 run got it to 41-30, but Dream City still would not quit. After a thunderous dunk by Ekezie at the buzzer the Crew still only led 45-38 after three quarters. Dream scored first in the fourth to make it 45-40 but at that point Peterson took charge.
Peterson drained a three-pointer to make it 48-40, and then after two Dream City baskets sandwiched around a basket by Prolific Prep senior Mazi Mosley made it 50-44, Peterson assisted on two-straight jams by Ekezie, he nailed a three-pointer, he assisted on a three-pointer by junior Rajan Roberts, he scored a basket, and then after a basket by Mosley he hit his final three-pointer. That made it a 17-0 run and at 67-44 the game was long over. All in all, Peterson had a hand in 14 of the 17 points in the run and scored eight himself.
Dream City Christian was led by junior Ikenna Alozie with a double-double 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Prolific Prep will be in action on Sunday afternoon against Oregon Rosemary Anderson.
Yessoufou goes to No. 2 all-time Salesian win
The matchup between Cal-Hi Sports No. 4 ranked St. Joseph-Santa Maria and Crush in the Valley co-host and No. 9 ranked Salesian-Richmond had more than one storyline in the featured high school game in Saturday’s action at Contra Costa College.
The contest not only pitted two one-loss teams coming into the game, but also the last two CIF Northern Regional Open Division champions with Salesian winning last year’s title and St. Joseph winning the 2023 championship
The game also was another steppingstone in the quest for career scoring supremacy for Baylor-bound St. Joseph 6-foot-6 senior forward Tounde Yessoufou.
In the end it was all St. Joseph (22-1) with Yessoufou leading the way in a 76-67 victory.
Yessoufou, who is from Benin, was named the Player of the Game after finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.
In the process Tounde vaulted himself into the No. 2 spot for all-time career scoring according to the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book. He came into the game wit 3,349 career points and with his first eight points he passed current NBA G League star Jarod Lucas who had 3,356 points at Los Altos-Hacienda Heights from 2016-2019. When he made two free-throws with 2:52 left in the second quarter, Yessoufou passed legendary Darnell Robinson. Robinson ended his career with 3,359 points from 1990-1993 at Emery-Emeryville. Tounde now has 3,372 points and only need 91 to pass DeMarcus Nelson as the all-time California boys scoring leader. Nelson finished his career with 3,462 points from 2001-2004 at Vallejo and Sheldon-Sacramento.
St. Joseph also got 16 points, eight assists and three rebounds from junior and Swedish native Julius Price, and junior Morinini added 14 points including 4-of-5 on three-pointers.
Salesian (19-2) was led by junior Elias Obenyah with 20 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two assists, and junior Carlton Perrilliat Jr. who also had 20 points. Yale-bound senior Alvin Loving, who was charged with guarding Yessoufou was held to seven points and four rebounds.
Other Saturday results from the Crush in the Valley
Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland 73, Benicia 40
Bishop O’Dowd (11-8) bolted out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back in a win where they pretty much stretched the lead from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer.
Senior guard Josh Green was named the MVP for the game after finishing with 19 points including five three-pointers, all in coming in the first half. Juniors Nas Griffin and Ajahni Charles added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Benicia (11-10) got 12 points from senior Ayden Thompson.
Clovis North-Clovis 69, Vanden-Fairfield 49
Cal-Hi Sports No. 17 Clovis West (19-5) trailed 5-4 early on, but a 13-5 to end the first quarter saw them leading 18-9 entering the second quarter, and from there they continued to build on the lead right up until the final buzzer. Junior Guard McKae Amundsen was named the MVP of the game after going for a game-high 27 points with seven assists.
Redwood-Larkspur 54, Moreau Catholic-Hayward 50
St. Mary’s-Berkeley 85, Fortune Early College-Sacramento 52
Arizona Millenium 79, Destiny Christian-Sacramento 62