Granada’s Ethan Mitchell (3) attempts a 3-point basket past Livermore’s Erik Schock (15) in the third quarter of their game at Granada High School in Livermore, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. Granada defeated Livermore 64-56. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The East Bay Athletic League tournament is set.
The bracket that will determine the EBAL champion will consist of top seeded De La Salle, followed by No. 2 Dougherty Valley, No. 3 Amador Valley and No. 4 Monte Vista.
This year’s format only took the top four teams, meaning the rest of the league will get a week off until the North Coast Section playoffs that begin on Feb. 17.
Going into Friday’s regular season finale, both De La Salle and Dougherty Valley were locked into its positions. There was a five-way tie for third-place between Amador Valley, Monte Vista, Granada, California and Dublin, all of which finished with identical 5-4 records in league play.
According to the league bylaws, head-to-head results are the first tiebreaker. But because every team in the tie has at least one win over another, the league moved to the next tiebreaker: point differential in games between the tied teams.
East Bay Athletic League commissioner Leo Lopoz told the Bay Area News Group that Amador Valley had the highest point differential against the tied teams, followed by Monte Vista then Granada.
The unprecedented scenario came in a wild series of games in the league’s regular season finale on Friday night.
The favorites took care of business as Granada defeated Livermore, Monte Vista beat San Ramon Valley and Amador Valley got the win vs. Foothill. The shockers came when Dublin defeated Dougherty Valley in overtime and California recovered from a 16-point second-half deficit to down De La Salle on the road.
The end of season drama came in a season that had more parity than usual in one of Northern California’s top leagues.
The league tournament will start on Wednesday with Monte Vista traveling to De La Salle and Dougherty Valley hosting Amador Valley.
De La Salle held the Danville school to just 33 points in a 10-point at home win four days ago. Dougherty Valley defeated Amador Valley last week in a game that went to the wire.
Next week’s EBAL tournament could have major NCS playoff implications. De La Salle is currently the only team slated to be in the NCS Open Division – the section’s top bracket.
Dougherty Valley could jump into the Open Division with a league tournament win as the Wildcats currently sit at seventh in the NCS, according to MaxPreps.
Originally published at Nathan Canilao