OAKLAND - Oakland Tech guard Ahmaree Muhammad calls out plays during the fourth quarter of Oakland Tech's 64-59 victory over Lincoln-SF. Lincoln-San Francisco and Oakland Tech played in the high school boys basketball game in the NorCal Division III playoffs at Oakland Tech high school in Oakland, Calif. on Thursday, Mar. 2, 2023 (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group)
Boys Division III
Oakland Tech 61, Justin-Siena 55
When Oakland Tech needs a bucket, it has two capable shot-creators it can turn to in Ahmaree Muhammad and ArDarius Gates. The duo scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, in Tech’s 61-55 NorCal Division III semifinal home victory over Justin-Siena.
The Bulldogs kept the visitors at bay thanks to a flurry of points from two of its three stars. After scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter of Tech’s quarterfinal win over Lincoln-SF, Muhammad scored six in the fourth.
He was matched by Stanford football commit Omar Staples Jr., who put in six points on three made field goals. On Justin-Siena’s side, Jaden Washington scored 18, Vincent Jackson scored 14 and Travis Hightower scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Up next is a fourth game against Oakland High, all played since Jan. 20. Tech won all three previous matchups, all by one possession. This time, a NorCal title and a trip to the Division III state championship game is on the line.
Regardless of whether Tech or Oakland win on Tuesday, the victor will be the first Oakland Section school to appear in a state title game since McClymonds lost the Division I final in 2009.
Oakland 70, The King’s Academy 60
When Oakland coach Orlando Watkins learned his Wildcats would play The King’s Academy in the CIF NorCal D-III semifinals Saturday, he admitted, “I had never heard of them. I know ‘em well now.”
Oakland beat the Knights to set up a fourth meeting against Oakland Tech on Tuesday. This will be for the D-III CIF NorCal championship.
“I think it will be big for the city of Oakland,” Watkins said. “It’s big for two Oakland teams to represent Northern California.”
Oakland Tech has won all three previous contests against Oakland, by a total of seven points. The Wildcats are 25-8 overall.
Oakland was in control most of the way in TKA’s gym. It led 35-21 at the half, and the Knights (24-4) never got closer than eight points after intermission.
Money Williams scored 23 points for the winners, including 10 of 11 at the free-throw line. Josh Clark, Anthony Lacy and Te’shawn Gamble each had 11. Tylek Barnett poured in 22 for TKA. Jon Taylor had 12 points.
Watkins said the three losses this season to Oakland Tech, as close as they were – two by two points, one by three – have had nothing to do with luck.
“It’s been kind of tough,” he said, “but it’s not about luck. I tell my kids all the time that games come down to seven to 10 plays.”
Girls Division I
Oakland Tech 56, San Ramon Valley 46
Oakland Tech’s girls have spent the entirety of the NorCal Division I playoffs in the friendly (for Tech) confines of their Broadway Street gymnasium. After dispatching McClatchy-Sacramento and Pinewood in the first two rounds, the No. 2 seeded Bulldogs defeated San Ramon Valley in the semifinals Saturday.
Tech’s offense was very balanced. Freshman center Jhai Johnson scored 12 points, Jada Williams scored 10, Terri’A Russell scored nine points, and Jala Williams and Taliyah Logwood each scored 8.
Sierra Chambers scored a game-high 19 points and made two three-pointers for San Ramon Valley, and Sofia Bowes scored eight points. The game was 31-30 going into the fourth quarter, but Tech exploded for 25 points in the final eight minutes to pull away.
Oakland Tech had previously defeated San Ramon Valley 70-45 on Jan. 3.
A trip to No. 1 seed and familiar foe St. Mary’s-Stockton is the only obstacle left between Tech and a fourth consecutive trip to a CIF state championship game.
St. Mary’s defeated Oakland Tech 74-57 and 65-52 earlier this season. After the Pinewood game, Oakland Tech (28-5) coach Leroy Hurt predicted his team would eventually face the Stockton school.
“They beat me twice, but I guess you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Hurt said with a smile.
Girls Division IV
Menlo School 51, Hillsdale 48
A stop in the closing seconds clinched Menlo’s spot in the NorCal Division IV championship game on Tuesday as the visiting Knights edged host Hillsdale.
Ruiqi Liu hit two foul shots to make it a three-point game, then the defense made a stop.
Karen Xin had 19 points and Liu added 17 as Menlo advanced to play in the final at San Domenico in San Anselmo on Tuesday.
Menlo led 6-4 after the first quarter Saturday and 27-19 at halftime. The Knights widened the cushion to 46-35 after three quarters.
Makena Nitao scored 24 points and Kira Wilmurt had 14 for Hillsdale.
Girls Division II
Pleasant Valley-Chico 50, Monte Vista 45
Monte Vista had its worst shooting night of the season, and it proved costly.
The Mustangs, seeded third in Division II of the CIF NorCals, lost to No. 2 seed Pleasant Valley because they couldn’t make up a 14-point deficit after scoring only eight points in the first half.
“We played much better in the second half, but in the first half we dug ourselves too deep of a hole,” Monte Vista coach Steve Cornell said. “We missed a lot of layups, and they went to the free throw line a lot.”
Nia Coleman had 26 points for the visitors, but no one else on Monte Vista’s side reached double figures. Cornell said his team usually has one or two others with at least 10 points.
“A bad shooting night in the first half did us in,” Cornell said.
Monte Vista finishes the season 26-7. Pleasant Valley (30-3) will host No. 4-seed Central-Fresno on Tuesday.
Girls Division III
Caruthers 57, Granada 50
The Matadors scored just six points in the fourth quarter as the No. 9 seeded Blue Raiders from Fresno County won a tight game from the host team before a capacity crowd at Granada in a Division III game.
Granada, seeded No. 5, ends its season at 19-14 after playing its third straight nail-biter in NorCals with wins over Chico and Clovis West by a combined total of five points. Caruthers improved to 26-7.
Cassidy Bartolotto led the Matadors with 20 points, with Jasime Branda adding 11 — including a trio of 3-pointers in a 17-point second quarter Alexa Pletschette scored nine for Granada.
Morgan Trigueiro scored 26 points for Caruthers, 19 of them in the first half, hitting a trio of 3-point shots and going 6-for-6 from the foul line. Emmi Almeida had 13 for the Blue Raiders and Anisa Torres had all seven of her points in the fourth quarter when they pulled away for the win.
Boys Division IV
Chico 50, Burlingame 47
Defeat doesn’t come much tougher than it did for Burlingame in the D-IV CIF NorCal semifinals at Chico on Saturday night. Burlingame was ahead 47-42 with less than a minute to play, then the home team scored eight straight points.
“I thought we did a good job of controlling the game,” Burlingame coach Jeff Dowd said. “But we didn’t close it out. We gave up an open 3, we missed a one-and-one.”
Burlingame (23-6) appeared to be in control when it was up by 10 at the half and by five with less than 60 seconds before the final buzzer.
Kyle Haslam, Burlingame’s 6-foot-6 senior center, had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Zaden Martin had 14 points.
For Chico, guard Rashad Samuels was the difference-maker. He scored four points in the first half and 22 after the break.
Originally published at Mike Lefkow, Correspondent, Jerry McDonald, Joseph Dycus, Darren Sabedra