When Frank Knight saw the mass flight cancellations happening around the nation on Monday night, the Moreau Catholic boys basketball coach knew he needed a Plan B in case his team wasn’t able to fly out of Oakland to Southern California to play in the Desert Holiday Classic.
That’s when he went to Moreau Catholic athletic director Erica Escalante for help. She picked up the phone and started calling charter bus companies to see if they had any vehicles to spare. Luckily for the Mariners, a 28-seat bus was available, but the paperwork wasn’t finalized until around midnight on Tuesday.
The Mariners left Hayward at 5 a.m. and didn’t get to their game until 15 minutes before the 6:30 p.m. tip-off.
Moreau Catholic beat Fairmont Prep 79-57.
“I learned that the team is resilient,” Knight said. “I told them this is how life goes. You have to expect the unexpected. You can’t really predict it, but you can control how you respond.”
The San Ramon Valley girls basketball team was in a similar situation on Tuesday.
Coach John Cristiano was monitoring cancellations religiously. When it seemed as if flying out of Oakland wasn’t going to happen, he called an audible and told his team to start making the 11-hour trip down to Chula Vista.
Players and their families drove their own vehicles down I-5 and made it on time to the Gold Crown Holiday Tip-Off in the San Diego area.
San Ramon Valley finished a hectic day with a 70-63 victory over Lynwood on Tuesday night.
Wednesday, SRV beat Fairmont Prep-Anaheim 61-47.
“I can only say that our families made this happen,” Cristiano said. “I’m just so enamored to be a part of this group of young ladies and their families.”
Boys basketball
Centennial-Arizona 61, No. 1 Archbishop Mitty 40
Eric Brown scored eight points and Hursh Mehta had seven points in Mitty’s loss to Centennial-Peoria, Arizona, in the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic. Mitty has lost two in a row to fall to 6-2.
No. 2 Dougherty Valley 94, San Ysidro 74
USF-bound Ryan Beasley scored 30 points and Conner Sevilla had 28 points in Dougherty Valley’s win over San Ysidro — a top-ranked San Diego team — in the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic. San Ysidro’s Mikey Williams, a Memphis commit, scored 25 points. Dougherty Valley improved to 12-0.
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No. 3 Salesian 56, Canyon 54
Salesian beat Canyon at the Damien Classic in Southern California behind 10 points from Alvin Loving. Evin Goodwin and Aaron Clayton each had eight points for the winning side. Salesian is 7-4.
No. 5 Archbishop Riordan 67, No. 15 Menlo-Atherton 54
Riordan coach Joey Curtin won his 100th game after the Crusaders handed Menlo-Atherton its first loss of the season on the road in non-league play. Riordan improved to 7-2. M-A fell to 7-1.
No. 9 St. Francis 96, Monterey 74
Anujan Tennathur led the way with 29 points in host St. Francis’ win over Monterey in a tournament game. Thomas Motil had 21 points and seven assists and Nathan Heppberger added 10 points for the winning side. The Lancers improved to 6-1.
No. 10 Clayton Valley 60, Bishop Montague-Reno 44
Clayton Valley has won seven straight after beating Bishop Montague at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic. Jake King led Clayton Valley with 22 points. Elijah Perryman added 10 points and five assists for the Ugly Eagles, who improved to 9-2.
No. 11 Bishop O’Dowd 69, Torrey Pines 58
Amos Hodgson scored 20 points in Bishop O’Dowd’s win over host Torrey Pines in a tournament game. O’Dowd improved to 4-5.
Girls basketball
No. 4 Salesian 68, Canyon-Canyon Country 34
Salesian extended its winning streak to four games after beating Canyon in the West Coast Jamboree. N’yana Asiasi (14 points) and Makiah Asidanya (11 points) led the way for Salesian, which improved to 9-1.
No. 6 San Ramon Valley 61, Fairmont Prep-Anaheim 47
Anneka Lupinek (14 points), Paige Baldyga (12 points) and Gianna Ghio (11 points) scored in double digits in San Ramon Valley’s win over Fairmont Prep at a San Diego-area tournament. San Ramon Valley improved to 9-1.
Cosumnes Oaks-Elk Grove 51, No. 10 Berean Christian 48
Berean Christian fell to Cosumnes Oaks on a “controversial” buzzer beater at the West Coast Jamboree, according to Berean coach Daniel Guy.
Trailing by two with 13 seconds left, Berean Christian got an offensive rebound, but the clock did not start, according to Guy.
After scoring off the rebound to tie the game, the clock still didn’t move, Guy said.
It wasn’t until Cosumnes Oaks got the ball to halfcourt on the ensuing possession that the clock started ticking.
Cosumnes then won the game with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Berean Christian (11-2) slides into the consolation bracket.
Guy said he got an explanation for what happened, but the result remained final.
“The guy running the clock was thinking that for some reason on the rebound the clock didn’t start when we got the rebound,” Guy said.
Gabrielle Abigor had 27 points for Berean Christian.
No. 15 Heritage 54, Roosevelt-Fresno 40
Heritage bounced back from back-to-back losses with a win over Roosevelt-Fresno in the West Coast Jamboree. UCLA-bound Amanda Muse scored 16 points, Grace Hernandez had 11 points and Caitlynn Smith had eight steals for Heritage (8-3).
Lincoln-Stockton 71, No. 19 Monte Vista 62
Sarina Nagra and Nia Coleman each scored 20 points in Monte Vista’s loss to Lincoln-Stockton in the West Coast Jamboree. Rachel Brans added 16 points for Monte Vista, which fell to 8-3.
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