Wednesday’s NCS basketball playoffs: Another top team unhappy about Open Division rejection

Boys: Campolindo rolls past Vintage, Las Lomas stays hot. Girls: Miramonte wins its 23rd game, advances to the quarterfinals.

Campo boys: “Control the controllables”

Add Campolindo coach Steven Dyer to the list of people unhappy with the North Coast Section seeding committee.

The Cougars were one of at least three teams that could have made a case for being in the Open Division of the NCS playoffs but were left out. Clayton Valley Charter and Moreau Catholic were the others.

“I totally felt we deserved the Open,” Dyer said after top-seeded Campolindo began the Division II playoffs by hammering Vintage 78-56 on Wednesday night.

The Open Division, which is in its third season in NCS, consists of only six teams. Campolindo was in the first two, winning the championship last season, but this year the NCS seeding honchos picked Salesian and five teams from the East Bay Athletic League.

Few would argue the EBAL was the toughest boys basketball circuit in the Bay Area this season. But to some, four teams from the EBAL probably would have been enough. 

“It’s like playing the EBAL tournament all over again,” Dyer said before quickly adding, “but all you can do is control the controllables.”

• Scoreboard: Wednesday’s results, updated matchups

The Cougars (20-7) did just that, though Dyer said his team’s energy was a little down in the first quarter. Vintage led 13-12 after the first eight minutes. But Campo outscored the visitors 56-27 in the second and third periods.

Clay Naffziger poured in 16 points, Shane O’Reilly had 13, and Dominick Sanguinetti and Tyler Bergren scored 12 apiece.

Next up is No. 8 seed Benicia (22-5), which visits Campolindo on Saturday.

Vintage finished 14-14.

Las Lomas boys: The hot streak continues

There aren’t many teams hotter than Las Lomas, the Walnut Creek school that stretched its winning streak to eight games on Wednesday night with a 75-49 victory at home over Washington-Fremont in the first round of the NCS Division II playoffs.

Since its last defeat, Las Lomas has outscored its foes by an average of 18 points per game.

The run includes a 59-39 victory over the top seed in Division II, Campolindo, and a 62-47 win over the top seed in Division I, Clayton Valley Charter.

“I feel like I am the luckiest coach in America,” said Sly Hunter, who took over the Las Lomas program this season after a successful run at Cornerstone Christian in Antioch and stops years ago as a head coach at Clayton Valley and Pittsburg.

“I inherited a team that’s really talented,” Hunter added. “It’s just a matter of getting them to execute and play our style. Share the ball. They’re all good kids.”

In the win over Washington, Jake Davis scored 22 points to lead the way. The Knights also got strong contributions from Jack Halpin and Mike Wood.

Las Lomas had a big second half after the score remained tight in the first two quarters.

“The score is not really indicative of the game,” Hunter said. “They played us really tough. It was a hard-fought game, and we kind of pushed the score at the end.”

Miramonte girls: Look who’s back

Five seasons ago Miramonte was so good, the Diablo Athletic League allowed the Matadors to become a Bay Area independent. The Mats were 60-0 against DAL competition in the previous five seasons. 

The coach was Kelly Sopak, who’s now at Carondelet. Miramonte’s best player for much of that time was Sabrina Ionescu, now with the WNBA’s New York Liberty.

When Sopak left Miramonte for Carondelet after the 2019-20 season, junior varsity coach Vince Wirthman stepped in. The Matadors were 12-2 in his first, pandemic-shortened, season. They slipped to 14-14 last year. Now they are 23-4 after routing Hayward 63-28 in the first round of the Division II playoffs on Wednesday.

No, these aren’t the Matadors of Sopak, Ionescu and company.

They are seeded third in Division II behind Bishop O’Dowd and Moreau Catholic. But they will get another home game Saturday against No. 6 Redwood (17-11).

Asked about the difference between now and a few years back for the Mats, Wirthman said, “We’re more of a traditional program. We’re playing more local kids. But though we’re back to being more of a local program, we want to keep our reputation going.”

The Matadors are winning this season with a small roster. They rely on seven players, though Wirthman made one addition from the JV for the playoffs.

The unquestioned star is junior Karena Eberts, who leads Miramonte with 17.8 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Twins Courtney and Katherine Scheingart have also played well. Katherine Scheingart took over as the team’s point guard when starter Willa Mapaye injured her knee in the second game and was lost for the season. Courtney has been a steady presence all season and is the second-leading scorer.

Boys: Benicia, Alameda roll

Benicia’s 70-52 victory over Acalanes doesn’t really indicate how tough this game was. The eighth-seeded Panthers (22-5) only led the Dons 48-43 after three quarters.

A 22-9 scoring difference in the fourth quarter allowed Benicia to win by a comfortable margin.

Senior James Wong led Benicia with 21 points. Sophomore Darrell Hurd had 20. Jacob French had 13 assists, nine rebounds and four steals. Jake Matteson did a little of everything as well. He had 12 points, seven rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocked shots.

Alameda probably wasn’t all that delighted with the NCS, either, though its gripe might have been more with the bylaws than the seeding committee.

Despite being the seventh seed in Division II, the Hornets (21-6) had to hit the road to No. 10 seed Ukiah (24-5). NCS bylaws state teams winning league championships get a home game in the first round of the playoffs. Alameda won 62-41, but it took an entire quarter for the Hornets to get going.

They trailed 15-14 after the first eight minutes but stung Ukiah with a 34-13 blitz over the second and third quarters. A 27-2 run that turned a 21-19 deficit into a 46-23 runaway did the trick.

Ukiah scored the game’s first seven points, but a Jesse Kim 3-pointer put Alameda in front 19-18. Ukiah only led one more time after that.

Alameda visits second-seeded Redwood (23-6) on Saturday.

Girls: Why Campo forfeited

Campolindo, seeded 12th in Division III, was unable to play its opening-round game Tuesday at fifth-seeded St. Patrick-St. Vincent because of COVID, according to NCS commissioner Pat Cruickshank.

“So unfortunate for them,” the commissioner added.

Campo finished the season 9-17.

SPSV (21-6) advanced to play Friday at fourth-seeded Eureka.

Where will the finals be held?

When the NCS playoffs returned last season after a one-year hiatus because of the pandemic, the section held its championship games at home sites.

Next week, the NCS will play its finals at designated sites.

Cruickshank said one of the venues will be Saint Mary’s College, but the section can’t yet confirm which games will be played there.

“We need to let some things play out,” Cruickshank added.

Closing shots

The “league champion hosts” bylaw employed by the NCS sent Bishop O’Dowd, the top seed in Division II, on the road to play No. 16 Bethel. No problem. O’Dowd won 85-12 to improve to 16-8. On Saturday, the Dragons will host No. 8 seed Ukiah (16-13), which edged College Park 58-56. … Good coaching matchup Thursday in the girls Open Division when No. 5 seed Acalanes (20-6) visits No. 4 Carondelet (21-5). Acalanes is coached by Margaret Gardner, who is 582-150 and had a lot of success at Carondelet before leaving her position after the 2013-14 season. She is No. 2 all-time among NCS coaches, trailing only Doug Johnson of Petaluma (679 wins, 1978-2014). Carondelet is now coached by Sopak, regarded as one of the top girls’ coaches in California.