|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Monte Vista Mustangs repeated as North Coast Section (NCS) Division 1 boys basketball champions with a nail-biting 50-49 win over league rival De La Salle on Friday evening at St. Mary’s College.
“The game could have gone either way. The second half was remarkable, with both teams leaving everything they have on the floor,” Monte Vista head coach Nick Jones said. “The final minute was crazy. De La Salle kept fighting back, and we were lucky to win.”
The NCS victory helped propel the Mustangs (27-3) to a No. 2 seed in the upcoming CIF Open Division state tournament. Monte Vista is looking for its second state basketball title in as many years, with 2013-14 varsity boys team winning the CIF Division 1 championship last March.
The one-point win Friday gave the Mustangs the season sweep against the Spartans — three hard-fought victories that came by an average of three points per game.
This marked Monte Vista’s second consecutive NCS Division 1 title and its fourth in the last nine years.
Next up for the Mustangs is a first-round game in the state Open Division tournament this Friday when they host the No. 7 seed, Modesto Christian.
The red-hot Crusaders (28-3) head into Danville riding an 18-game winning streak. They haven’t lost since Jan. 10, a 63-61 neutral-site defeat at the hands of El Cerrito High.
Friday’s match-up will pit Modesto Christian’s 8-0 road record this season against Monte Vista’s perfect 12-0 mark at home. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
A strong showing at sections last week also helped crosstown San Ramon Valley High earn a high seed in a state tournament.
The Wolves (23-6) are seeded No. 3 in the CIF Division 1 tournament — the state tourney Monte Vista won last year.
Earning a first-round bye, San Ramon Valley is set to play the winner of No. 6 Pleasant Grove and No. 11 Fremont in the second round on Saturday. The Wolves last played on Wednesday, losing to De La Salle 43-35 in the sectional semifinals.
We are proud of our team. Congratulations and Go Mustangs!!!
Great game! Shocked and saddened by the behavior of some parents and or fans on the De La Salle side!. No one is perfect at any of these big games but to see well dressed patents yelling a** holes to the MV 6th Man group
(Yes both sides were involved at some point) is way out of line. At that point it was difficult to tell who were the high school students. It seemed that the MV Admin were able to stop the kids.The other shocking scene was the Mother of a notable SRV player who was sitting with De La Salle parents was using her middle finger at the MV 6th man group! I am thinking the class level went SOUTH!
Amazing how MV could continue do so well with no D1 scholarship players on their squad. Last year they won state championship with no D1 scholarship players( Trevor John apparently walk on at Cal Poly & not played apparently in single game this year)
Shocking that Stefan Mitu apparently has no D1.scholarship offers although was MVP of league & has played so well.
Why is it that MV girls soccer always has so many D1 scholarship players but none for boys basketball? Can anyone even name last D1boys basketball scholarship player from MV? ( not including Brian Barber as played at Columbia & Ivy League can’t give athletic scholarships)
Either Coach Powers and Coach Jones are ridiculously good coaches getting most out of non-D1 players or colleges missing boat on some great players.
@hoops
How many in the EBAL get scholarships for basketball? The number has to be low.
As for former players, Johns is a red shirt, that is why you do not see stats for him. Rust is playing at MIT, (not a D1, but still college ball)
Schools have way more soccer scholarships to give than basketball. More spots for soccer (25-30 per team) than basketball (12-19 per team).
I am going to go with your latter comment about schools missing out on good players.
EBAL league does produce D1 boys basketball scholarship players(Pitts- U of Arizona; Smith- UC Berkeley;McArthur – Santa Clara; Ugeni- Pepperdine) but not Monte Vista.
Amazing how well Coach Powers & Coach Jones have done over years without any D1 basketball scholarship players. Let’s hope college coaches start looking at these MV players and realize there are some really good players who don’t go to DeSalle in EBAL.
@Hoops,
AGREED!!!
🙂
Congratulations to the MV Mens’ Basketball team on a great season, and hopefully they can keep it rolling!
Congratulations to the DLS team as well, all three games between MV and DLS this year were very close.
I wasn’t there, and so don’t know quite what to make of the “fan antics”, but even though it is easy to get carried away a bit as fans, all fans (especially adults) need to 1) keep it civil, and 2) remember that these are HS kids. It’s usually the case that the sportsmanship between the players and coaches is far better than between the fans! One advantage of football games is that the opposing fans are father apart 🙂