Northern California finals from American Canyon: Sacred Heart Cathedral outlasts Campolindo in OT

AMERICAN CANYON, Calif. -- Game stories and recaps from American Canyon High School, site of the 2013 Northern California Divisions: III, IV and V. Division III Boys
No. 10 seed Campolindo (Moraga) (22-9) vs. No. 1 Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) (21-11), 8 p.m.

Sacred Heart Cathedral 55, Campolindo 52 (OT) -- Liam O'Reilly's put-back layup with 15 seconds left in overtime proved to be the difference as Sacred Heart Cathedral defeated Campolindo on Saturday night at American Canyon High School.

The Fightin' Irish were paced by Khalil James, who had 14 points (4-5 from behind the arc), seven rebounds and five assists, and also hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter to send it to overtime. O'Reilly finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, and Jack Evans led Campolindo with 16 points, including four 3-pointers.

"Irish don't quit. I thought our kids just fought," said Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Darrell Barbour. "We couldn't score — the game is so hard when you can't score. But our kids just dug in defensively and I think that's why we won. We showed the character that I like to have on our team."

Evans knocked down a three to start the game for Campolindo, and it was a sign of things to come. Playing at a furious pace, both teams scored early and often in the first quarter. But the game slowed considerably after that and, after Sacred Heart Cathedral took a 44-39 lead going into the fourth quarter, Campolindo held the Irish scoreless until under three minutes left in the quarter. Meanwhile the Cougars had tied the game at 44-44.

"I thought our guys didn't execute transition defense very well at the beginning of the game, so we had to adjust," said Barbour. "They made us adjust."

DeOndre Otis, who finished with 10 points and six rebounds, was fouled and knocked down both free throws to end the drought and give the Irish the lead once again, 46-44, with 2:42 left in the fourth quarter.

Andrew Zolitakis hit a jumper, getting open at the elbow on a solid screen from Chris Hansen, to tie the game, 46-46, with 1:30 left. After getting a stop, Evans hit nothing but net on a three from the left wing to give the Cougars a 49-46 lead with 49 seconds left in the fourth.

Sacred Heart Cathedral called timeout and started its possession with 44 seconds left. James then came off a down screen and knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game, 49-49, with 31 seconds left in regulation.

Campolindo held for the last shot, but Evans' three bounced out, sending the game to overtime.

Zolitakis, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, was fouled on Campolindo's first possession of overtime and made one of two free throws to give the Cougars a 50-49 lead. He made two more free throws with 3:00 remaining to extend the lead to 52-49.

O'Reilly picked up a loose ball and made a layup with 1:20 left to cut the lead to a single point, 52-51.

After forcing a turnover, O'Reilly followed up a James miss with a layup with 15 seconds left to give SHC the 53-52 lead. Campolindo began to run a play but called timeout with 5.2 seconds left, with a shot to win the game.

"I was just trying to box out and I was in the right spot," said O'Rielly. "I caught the ball and put it back up."

On the ensuing possession, James stripped the ball from Zolitakis, and Herman Pratt IV picked it up and was fouled with one second left in the game. He made both free throws and Zolitakis' desperation heave wouldn't go at the buzzer, and Sacred Heart Cathedral came away with the 55-52 victory.

Judging by the beginning of the game, you would never guess the score would end up in the 50s. After falling behind early, Campolindo finished out the quarter on a 6-2 run, capped by an Isaac Christian jumper, and led 21-17 at the end of the first.

Sacred Heart closed the gap in the second quarter and took the lead, 31-29, on a layup by Otis with just over a minute left to go in the half. The teams traded baskets and the Fightin' Irish went into halftime with a 33-31 lead.

Both teams came out cold in the second half, but James kocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing for the first points of the quarter with 5:30 left in the third. The shot was promptly answered by an Evans three to cut the Irish lead to 36-34.

After a Sacred Heart Cathedral turnover, Evans hit another three with 3:00 left in the quarter to give the Cougars the lead, 39-38.

With just over a minute left in the quarter, James knocked down a corner three to regain the lead for the Irish, 41-39, and then found Elliot Santiago in the same spot on the next possession, and he hit the 3-pointer to extend the lead to 44-39 going into the fourth quarter.

With Sacred Heart stalled on offense, Zolitakis knocked down a three to tie the game, 44-44, with just over three minutes left in the game.

Division III Girls
No. 2 St. Ignatius (San Francisco) (21-11) vs. No. 1 Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) (25-6), 6 p.m.

Sacred Heart Cathedral 46, St. Ignatius 28 -- Sacred Heart Cathedral set the tone early and dominated late to beat St. Ignatius 46-28 in the Division III Girls Northern California Regional Championship game Saturday at American Canyon.

Kairee Howard led a balanced scoring attack for the Irish with 12 points with Briannah Smith adding 11 and Ashanti Coleman finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Sacred Heart Cathedral led by seven at the half but pushed the lead to nearly 20 early in the fourth quarter. The Irish put the clamps on defensively, holding St. Ignatius to just 13 second-half points.

Division IV Boys
No. 2 Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) (20-12) vs. No. 1 Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) (33-3), 4 p.m.

Cardinal Newman 73, Archbishop Riordan 66 -- Kenny Love scored a game-high 26 points on 9-12 shooting to lead Cardinal Newman to a wire-to-wire 73-66 victory over Archbishop Riordan in the Division IV CIF Northern California Regional Championship game Saturday at Amercain Canyon High School.

Corey Hammell added 20 and 12 rebounds for Cardinal Newman, while Geru Mabrey led Archbishop Riordan with 18 in the loss.

Newman jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three quick baskets by Love, Tim McCullough and Hammell, forcing Riordan to call a timeout with 6:15 left in the first quarter.

"I thought we did a really good job controlling the tempo of the game," said Cardinal Newman head coach Tom Bonfigli. "We got to the basket and made good choices. We didn't take a lot of bad shots."

Riordan was never able to get anything going in the first, and Love put an exclamation point on a great first quarter with a 24-foot pull-up 3-pointer as time expired to give Newman a 19-5 lead.

Riordan went on a quick 5-0 run to start the second, and Ferrari's three-pointer cut the lead to 19-10 with just under six minutes to go. But Cardinal Newman answered and pushed the lead back to 23-10 after two free throws by McCullough.

After trailing by as many as 17, Riordan cut the laed to 12 with just over a minute left in the half on a layup by Jiday Ugbaja. After a Cardinal Newman turnover, Bobby Arenas' 3-pointer cut the lead to single digits, 29-20, with 35 seconds left to play.

However Love was fouled with 3.8 seconds left, and hit one of two free throws gave Riordan a 30-20 lead going into the half.

After the teams traded baskets for the first few minutes of the third quarter, Arenas' basket cut the lead to 34-26 with just under five minutes left.

Newman pushed the lead back up to 10, but with 2:30 left Ugbaja's three-point play cut the lead to 37-30.

Riordan continued to chip into the lead, cutting it ot 40-36 with just under a minute left, and at the end of the third Cardinal Newman led 43-38.

The teams went back and forth to start the fourth, with big baskets by Hammell and Kyle King for Cardinal Newan and Ugbaja and Mabrey for Riordan, and Cardinal Newman led 52-45 with 6:14 left to play.

After Cardinal Newman had pushed the lead back to double-digits Riordan cut the deficit to six after a layup by Zach Masoli, but Hammell's follow-up dunk put Riordan back up by eight with just under four minutes left.

That put the game out of reach for good, and Cardinal Newman came away with the Northern California Division IV title.

Division IV Girls
No. 3 Piedmont (23-10) vs. No. 1 Salesian (Richmond) (29-7), 2 p.m.
 
Salesian 53, Piedmont 43 -- Salesian opened up a 15-3 lead after the first quarter and never looked back in the win over Piedmont on Saturday at American Canyon High School.

Kian McNair led Salesian with 13 points and Zoe Correal finished with 11. Maddie Mills scored 19 points and Lauren Seyranian had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Piedmont in the loss.

Division V Boys
No. 2 Capital Christian (Sacramento) (26-5) vs. No. 1 St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) (24-11), 12 p.m.

St. Joseph Notre Dame 50, Capital Christian 36 -- St. Joseph Notre Dame pulled away late to beat Capital Christian in the Division V Boys Northern California Regional Championship game Saturday at American Canyon High School.

St. Joseph Notre Dame was led by Temidayo Yussuf, who scored 18 points (12-15 free throws) and pulled down seven rebounds. Marcus Harris added 17 for the Pilots. Nifae Lealao Jr. led Capital Christian with 10 points.

Division V Girls
No. 3 Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) (23-8) vs. No. 1 Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto) (22-9), 10 a.m.

Pinewood 48, Eastside Prep 36 -- Pinewood jumped out to a 13-6 first-quarter lead and held on to beat Eastside Prep, 48-36 Saturday at American Canyon.

Pinewood was led by Leeana Bade, who scored 18 points, and Marissa Hing who added 17. Charmaine Bradford scored 14 for Eastside Prep in the loss.