LIVERMORE: COWBOYS WIN EARN FIRST NCS WIN IN OVER 30 YEARS
Despite not winning a league game in 12 years, Livermore accomplished something that it hadn’t done in a long time.
After beating No. 9 San Marin 71-61 at home on Tuesday night, the Cowboys advanced to the NCS Division III quarterfinals where they will play top-seeded Branson on Friday. According to Livermore coach Mike Tripp, it’s the first postseason win Livermore has had in over 30 years.
“The whole culture here has changed,” Tripp told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday night. “The kids are believing in themselves.
“The East Bay Athletic League is a tough league, but I think it got us better for a game like tonight. I think it just battle tested us.”
In Tripp’s first season as head coach, Livermore has made a complete turnaround.
Livermore hasn’t won more than 10 games since 2014. That same year, Livermore went to the NCS playoffs, but were bounced in the first round by Las Lomas. It was the Cowboys’ lone postseason appearance in the MaxPreps era (since 2004).
This season, Livermore won its first eight games and totaled 13 in non-league play. While its EBAL winless streak continued this season, the Cowboys were much more competitive.
Livermore lost to California by five in overtime, were up on De La Salle by double digits in the first half and fell to Granada by just nine points.
Led by freshman forward Amari Chandler, and juniors Dylan Wherry, Ct Harper and Erik Schock, the Cowboys have weathered the storm as a young team.
On Tuesday, Wherry led the Cowboys with 20 points, followed by Harper with 16 and Chandler with 13 and Shock with 12. Tripp said he couldn’t be happier with the response from the community.
“The stands were packed,” he said. “I had to laugh because one of the students yelled out, ‘Coach Tripp, you’re the G.O.A.T.’ It made me feel good and it’s a reflection of our situation.”
Livermore will have a tough test when it heads to Branson – a team that was in the NCS Open Division last season – on Friday at the College of Marin.
Tripp is confident that the moment won’t be too big for his players.
“We got some players, so let’s step up to the challenge,” Tripp said. “If you’re prepared, you get your kids prepared the right way and and you make them believe in themselves, we can beat anybody.”
– Nathan Canilao
BERKELEY: GRIND DOESN’T STOP AHEAD OF MATCHUP WITH ST. JOE’S
Berkeley breathed easily on Tuesday night in the first round of the NCS playoffs, routing Eureka 71-43 at home.
Now, the Yellowjackets will face former West Alameda County Conference foe St. Joseph-Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.
A stress-free blowout meant that Berkeley coach Mike Hudson was able to get an early start breaking down St. Joe’s film.
“I don’t know too much about St Joe’s,” Hudson admitted. “They used to be in our league last year, but they switched leagues. But they seem like a really good team. They’ve won 20 games, so it’s going to be another tough matchup for us.”
Hudson said he wanted to watch one game St. Joseph lost and another that they won to broaden his scouting report. He’ll share it with his players starting at practice on Wednesday.
“I actually already have film on them,” Hudson said. I’m always anticipating. I’m trying to do our work early. So I’ll be watching a lot more, because I was kind of focused on Eureka this week.”
Hudson believes his team can compete based on its recent performances against quality opponents such as Campolindo and Bishop O’Dowd. Within the past month, the Jackets beat O’Dowd 69-65 in Oakland and 52-51 in Berkeley and lost 45-40 to Campo.
“We’ll do our homework on them, and we’ll try to come up with a plan that hopefully we can get a win off of,” Hudson said. “But it’s a tough team. They beat some really good teams. It’s the playoffs, so everybody’s really tough. We’re gonna be ready. It’s gonna be a road game. We’re kind of used to being on the road, and we’re playing good ball right now.”
O’DOWD: NEW SEEDING FORMULA BRINGS STRONG OPINIONS
The new playoff format, which seeded teams based mostly on MaxPreps rankings, was supposed to create more competitive games. That wasn’t the case in Oakland on Tuesday night.
Bishop O’Dowd (15-8) routed American 72-33 in a game that was 43-8 at halftime, with the No. 2 seed in Division I looking every bit like an Open Division squad. Madison Gordon recorded six blocks and Simdi Chukwu led the team in scoring with 17 points.
The Dragons played a tough schedule and shared a WACC Foothill Division title with Open participant Piedmont, but the reigning NorCal Division I champions were somehow slotted in the second tier of the NCS’ playoffs. Longtime coach Malik McCord said adjustments must be made.
“I’m not sure what they were doing with the seeding, and what was the rationale,” McCord said, with his solution being, “Don’t depend on the computer, because that’s not working.”
American coach Keith Ramee agreed, noting that he was unsure about what criteria MaxPreps used to judge teams. His Eagles (20-7), led by sophomore scoring sensation Shirina Shi, finished fourth in the Mission Valley.
He added that he and his team had the utmost respect for McCord’s program, and that they’ll be rooting for the Dragons to win it all.
“There’s a lot of teams that I thought we could have played, and if you had asked me a week ago, Bishop O’Dowd was not on that list of teams,” Ramee said.
– Joseph Dycus
MT. EDEN: MONARCHS PULL OFF UPSET
Mt. Eden can score in bunches but on Tuesday, the goal was to slow the game down against a very athletic Cornerstone Christian team.
The strategy worked to perfection as No. 14 Mt. Eden upset No. 3 Cornerstone Christian at home 56-38 to advance to the NCS Division III quarterfinals.
“They’re super athletic, so our goal was to make sure we control the pace and that’s what we did,” head coach Sunny Aujla told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday night.
According to Aulja, Mt. Eden used a zone and waited until the final seconds of the shot clock to shoot the ball. The result was the Hayward school kept Cornerstone’s high-scoring attack in check all night.
Cornerstone made sure to key in on Mt. Eden’s top scorer, Johnson Tran, but the senior found ways to get his teammates involved.
Lorenzo Matienzo had a game-high 12 points and sophomore Cash Gonzales totaled 11.
Mt. Eden will play No. 5 San Rafael in the next round on Friday.
“The players know we’re not done,” Aulja said. “They understand that we have to stay humble. This is just one game and the next game really gives us a chance to advance in multiple ways. So, I’m just hoping that we keep that same focus that we came into today with, and hopefully we have the same outcome.”
– Nathan Canilao
NORTHGATE: THREE IN A ROW
Before his team defeated No. 3 Campolindo 57-54 in the Division I playoffs, Northgate coach Brian McCoy’s pregame message got right to the point when addressing his 14th-seeded Broncos.
“Here’s a team we’ve already beaten two times, and they still get the three seed,” McCoy said. “So wouldn’t it be nice to knock them off again and move forward?
Northgate (20-9) pulled off one of the big upsets of the night, taking down traditional power Campo (19-9) in Moraga by staging a fourth-quarter comeback. Brady Gray made five 3-pointers and David Harris gave Northgate a three-point cushion with a breakaway layup with eight seconds left.
Up next is No. 6 Amador Valley on Friday, which knocked off Bishop O’Dowd in Pleasanton.
“We like those gritty games, and being the underdog is a great motivator,” McCoy said.
– Joseph Dycus
BUZZER BEATERS
In girls Division I, No. 14 Montgomery traveled hundreds of miles north to Arcata and pulled off the X stunner. … In boy’s D-I, No. 7 Acalanes, which boasts 6-foot-9 Ryder Malm in the middle, will travel to No. 2 Redwood and face Cal commit Semetri Carr. Will size triumph over speed? … Bishop O’Dowd won the NCS’s first Open Division boys title in 2020. Campolindo captured the section’s second Open crown in 2022, one year after the pandemic shutdown. Not only did neither make the Open this season but both were eliminated on Tuesday in the first round of the Division I playoffs. … No. 10 Sonoma Valley went to No. 7 Encinal and beat the Jets 57-49 to advance in the D-V playoffs … No. 10 Monte Vista took down No. 7 James Logan 51-40 in the only upset of the Division III girls bracket.
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