Boys basketball: Dublin pounds the glass to put away Monte Vista in EBAL clash

DUBLIN — Donovan Cooks’ 3-pointer from the deep corner spun around the rim and dropped in. Then Courtney Anderson Jr. blocked a shot and drove through heavy traffic for a basket.

Fouled, the senior made the free throw.

Jalen Stokes followed with another basket in the paint after Dublin kept the possession alive with a couple of offensive rebounds.

What had been an eight-point lead over Monte Vista ballooned to 16 as the fourth quarter neared.

Dublin, ranked 11th by the Bay Area News Group, was well on its way to a 63-46 victory that improved the home team’s record to 13-6 overall and 2-0 in the East Bay Athletic League.

No. 15 Monte Vista, coming off a league-opening upset of third-ranked De La Salle on Tuesday, fell to 14-4, 1-1.

Stokes led Dublin with 16 points. Anderson and Mehki Thomas each finished with 13.

“Our mentality coming out of the halftime was just put it away,” Stokes said. “We were up pretty much the whole game. Our mentality was just put it away and finish strong.”

Mission accomplished.

The margin never got to single digits in the fourth quarter as Dublin’s athleticism took over. When Thomas threw down a dunk with three minutes to go to make it 59-43, Monte Vista coach Nick Jones had seen enough.

The backups finished the game.

“Once they got that edge on the glass, we were in trouble there,” Jones said. “I thought early, we punched back a little bit. I thought early on, we negated the crowd, the energy, and I thought we did a good job. We battled.

“But then at the end of the third quarter, we took a couple of bad shots and they just started getting really aggressive on the glass. That was a problem.”

Dublin coach Tom Costello said rebounding, particularly offensive rebounding, was the difference.

“We didn’t shoot it well,” he said. “We did not shoot it well at all. But we pounded the glass and got second, third, fourth efforts. That’s a hell of a team over there.”

Dublin packed its student section for what it called a Silent Night. The black-clad students remained silent until the Gaels scored their sixth point.

Then the crowd went wild.

Stokes’ drive put Dublin in front 6-0. But Monte Vista settled down and trailed by just a point after one quarter and five at halftime.

Sean Ahern’s basket to open the second half cut the deficit to 29-26. Dublin answered with a 7-0 run to take its first double-digit lead.

“We made more effort plays tonight,” Anderson said. “We got a lot more 50-50 balls and that led to us increasing the lead.”

Daniel Cojocaru (12 points) and Jake Fields (11) scored in double figures for Monte Vista, which will barely have time to catch its breath. The Mustangs play sixth-ranked Clayton Valley Charter on Saturday night in an MLK showcase at Miramonte before returning to EBAL play on Tuesday at eighth-ranked Granada.

Dublin will be at home Tuesday to face seventh-ranked California, which beat No. 2 San Ramon Valley on Friday.

After playing California, Dublin will visit De La Salle and San Ramon Valley.

“If there is ever an appropriate time for this cliche — one game at a time — is this sucker,” Costello said. “Nick asked me who we got next week. I was like, ‘I don’t even know.’ We’re going to enjoy this one and tomorrow it will be Cal, Cal, Cal.”