Sports
Boys Basketball: El Cerrito Advances to NorCal Championship With Win Over Top-Seeded Sacramento
The Gauchos corrall the top-seeded Dragons, and will play Bishop O'Dowd on Saturday for a shot at the D-III state championship in two weeks.
El Cerrito 63, Sacramento 51
The Star: Eric Nelson led the Gauchos with 20 points.
The Turning Point: El Cerrito took the lead after Sacramento’s first basket of the game and never looked back.
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The Quote: “At this point we don’t care who we play, we’re just happy to be in the Northern California championship and if somebody tries to beat us, they’re going to have to beat us when we’re playing our best game,” Gauchos coach Michael Booker said.
Who's Next? El Cerrito will play Bishop O’Dowd at in the Division III NorCal championship at Power Balance Pavilion (formerly Arco Arena) on Saturday at 2:45 p.m., with the winner advancing to the state title game.
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The Bottom Line: The Gauchos continued to establish themselves as a state power.
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Michael Booker said that his boys basketball team had been working hard in the off season to improve its performance from last year’s finish in the California Interscholastic Federation state playoffs.
The Gauchos did that Saturday night.
After exiting in the regional semifinals last season, El Cerrito turned the tables in the same round this year in more than one way, upsetting No. 1-seeded Sacramento in the process 63-51 to advance to the Northern California championship for the first time since they won it in 1999.
“We played Sac High earlier in the year and I said we’re going to learn from that loss,” Booker said.
The Gauchos lost that game at the Gridley Invitational Tournament 72-57, but Booker knew the team had learned more than one thing that night.
“We learned that we can compete, but we need to compete for four quarters,” he said.
El Cerrito did just that on Saturday.
The Gauchos used a high-tempo offense to blast through the Dragons' full-court press that eventually wore the home team down.
El Cerrito jumped out to a 13-2 lead less than five minutes into the first quarter, and outscored Sacramento 20-10 in the second period to take a 39-22 lead at halftime.
Eric Nelson slammed down a pair of dunks, including one in the second half over 6-foot-11 inch Sacramento center Robert Garrett that sent the El Cerrito crowd, already intense from the start, into an even bigger frenzy.
“We’ve been telling him; I’ve been saying it all season long,” Booker said. “I said to him at the beginning of the year ‘we’re only going to go as far as you take us.’ He had a heck of a game. He played against a D-I (NCAA Division I-bound) guy, a seven-footer and had a heck of a game.”
The 6-foot-7 inch Nelson finished with 20 points.
The Gauchos will now play Bishop O’Dowd on Saturday in Sacramento. The winner of that game at Power Balance Pavilion (formerly Arco Arena) will have a chance to play in the state championship game in two weeks.
Booker is just thankful they’ve gotten this far.
“At this point we don’t care who we play, we’re just happy to be in the Northern California championship and if somebody tries to beat us, they’re going to have to beat us when we’re playing our best game,” he said.
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El Cerrito, Sacramento
EC
19 20 12 12 63 Sac 12 10 15 14 51 Individuals — (fg ftm-fta tp) EC Nelson 10 0-0 20, Syvanthong 2 0-0 4, Condor 2 0-0 4, Jenkins 3 3-4 12, Pippins 4 0-0 8, Johnson 7 1-4 15. Totals 28 4-8 63. Sac Graham 4 1-1 9, Cameron 2 1-1 6, Boyd 6 1-1 13, Chapel 0 2-2 2, Kinney 5 2-2 12, Garrett 4 1-1 9. Totals 21 8-9 51. 3-point goals: EC - Jenkins. Sac - Cameron . Records: EC 3-0, Sac 1-1 NorCal Division III semi-finals, boys basketball, 3/11/2011 Follow Patch Sports East Bay on TwitterCIF Northern California Regional Semifinals
Boys
Division I
Castro Valley 63, Oakland 60 — Castro Valley Patch
De La Salle 47, Sheldon 45 — Concord Patch
Division II
Mitty-San Jose 70, Las Lomas 61 — Walnut Creek Patch
Woodcreek-Rosebille 58, Antelope 39
Division III
El Cerrito 63, Sacramento 51 — El Cerrito Patch
Bishop O'Dowd 52, San Marin 49
Division IV
Salesian 85, Santa Cruz 66
St. Mary's 65, St. Patrick-St. Vincent 44
Division V
St. Joseph 75, Vacaville Christian 71 (OT)
University-San Francisco 81, Pinewood-Los Altos Hills 75
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Girls
Division I
Berkeley 52, Lincoln-Stockton 42
Carondelet 77, St. Francis 66 — Concord Patch
Division II
St. Mary's-Stockton 56, Dougherty Valley 44 — San Ramon Patch
Del Oro-Loomis 63, Presentation-San Jose 59 (OT)
Division III
Bishop O'Dowd 48, St. Ignatius-San Francisco 39
Sacramento 58, Campolindo 54 — Lamorinda Patch
Division IV
St. Mary's 60, Notre Dame-Belmont 39
Modesto Christian 71, Piedmont 61 — Piedmont Patch
Division V
Pinewood-Los Altos Hills 66, Bradshaw Christian-Sacramento 37
St. Joseph Notre Dame 46, Eastside College Prep 38