It was celebration time at CIF section basketball championships around California over the weekend. At right, players from De La Salle of Concord show off gear from winning it all in the North Coast Section Open Division. At right, players from Hamilton of Los Angeles earned medals for winning L.A. City Open Division title. Photos: @DLSAthletics / X.com & @CIFLACS / X.com.
Sunday’s CIF announcement of pairings by the CIF for the regional playoffs also has been included where it is applicable. Check these recaps below for key info from many title games across the state this weekend except for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section and CIF Southern Section for girls. We will have divisional state rankings based on each CIF state divisions coming out after Tuesday’s first-round games and will be sure to mention all section champions there that are not mentioned below.
For CIF Sac-Joaquin recaps, CLICK HERE.
For CIFSS Open, D1 & D2AA boys, CLICK HERE.
For CIFSS Open girls, CLICK HERE.
For the other CIFSS girls divisions, CLICK HERE.
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SAN DIEGO SECTION
Boys Open:
Montgomery 53, Carlsbad 43
After losing in this same matchup last season in the Open Division, the Aztecs were too much this time and won their second title in three seasons.
Montgomery (29-2), ranked No. 15 in the state, pulled away in the final minutes. Head coach Ed Martin’s squad showed a lot of resilience as leading scorer J.J. Sanchez only scored four points. Making up the difference was Devin Hamilton with 22 points and eight rebounds and Xair Mendez with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Carlsbad’s Jake Hall, who recently joined the state’s 3,000-point club and is the second-leading scorer in section history, had 14 points to lead the Lancers. They dropped to 25-5, but could be a team to watch in the CIF SoCal D1 playoffs.
Girls Open:
Mission Hills (San Marcos) 50, Parker 51
It’s the second straight title in the top division of the SD Section for the Grizzlies. They improved to 23-8 and may move up next week from a No. 22 state ranking. They began the playoffs as the three seed behind both Parker and La Jolla Country day.
Known for its three-point shooting, the Grizzlies have been driving to the bucket for layups in recent games. Sophomore Maleena Nava epitomizes that approach as she had 16 points in a semifinals’ win vs La Jolla Country Day and she had 23 in the final. Kaitlyn Raagas led the Lancers with 14 points. Parker dropped to 20-9 and despite the loss could be a team to watch in the SoCal D1 playoffs since Mission Hills will be up in the Open Division.
Jaiden Bailes led St. Augustine of San Diego to its ninth section title. He’s just a junior. Photo: X.com.
Boys D1:
St. Augustine (San Diego) 59, Victory Christian (Chula Vista) 42
This is a program under former State Coach of the Year Mike Haupt that has won Open Division titles in the San Diego Section so when it fell short of the Open Division for this season, a D1 title was looked at as a big possibility.
Saints won their ninth section title with the win against Victory Christian on Saturday. They are still only 18-14 on the season, but that’s with a 3-12 start when there were players still not yet eligible.
Lincoln Grogan had 16 points to lead the scoring. Jaiden Bailes was right behind with 15 points and eight rebounds. All-state sophomore football star Pai Polamalu was right behind that with 14 points. Angel Ochoa knocked down 23 points for Victory Christian (also 18-14).
Girls D1:
Victory Christian (Chula Vista) 52,
Rancho Buena Vista (Vista) 41
The Knights pushed out to a 20-7 after the first quarter and were not seriously threatened for the rest of the contest. They captured their second section title in three years, but the first was in a lower division (D3) in 2023.
Shawnelle Sanders topped the scoring for Victory Christian (18-13) with 14 points. Marisol Gomez added 12 points.
Camille Dake, one of the top scoring leaders in the section all season, led RBV with 22 points and 13 rebounds. The Longhorns will take a 23-9 record into next week’s regionals.
D3 Girls:
Christian (El Cajon) 71, Escondido Charter 69
In this age of competitive equity divisional playoffs in a big majority of CIF sections, these two finalists in this division came into this game with the type of dominance that just isn’t seen. Christian had won by a margin of 93 points in its previous playoff games while Escondido Charter had won by 91 points.
As those totals would suggest, a close game was expected and that’s what happened. The Patriots built a 71-66 lead as the seconds were coming down to zero, but the Tigers (23-9) cut it to 71-69 with six seconds left on a three-pointer by Azalea Vilaysing. They even got a steal in those final six seconds and got a shot off to perhaps tie the score at the buzzer, but the shot missed.
Vilaysing canned six other three-pointers on the day and wound up with 32 points. M.J. Johnson had 22 points and Sierra Weckback had 18 points to lead Christian, which won its 18th straight game and will take a 24-4 record into the regioal playoffs.
D4 Boys:
Tri-City Christian (Vista) 53, Del Lago Academy 49
This team won the title in D5AA last season and has won it this time in D4. Dre Cleaves knocked down 22 points and pulled down five rebounds for the top individual totals. Tri-City also upped its record to 20-9.
D5 Girls:
Santana (Santee) 46, Del Lago (San Diego) 26
A 22-0 run in the second and third quarters helped the Sultans to an easy win. They also improved to 25-6 overall and won their first section title since 2006. Freshman Sam Mora had 18 points to lead the scoring.
L.A. CITY SECTION
Open Boys: Westchester 65, Chatsworth 55
With the Comets winning their first L.A. City title since 2020, and with them led by the son of the best player they had in their glory years of winning CIF state titles in the 2000s, it was a step down memory lane in their victory on Friday over the Chancellors.
Junior Tajh Ariza, the son of 2009 Mr. Basketball Trevor Ariza and longtime NBA player, had 19 points as the Comets improved to 22-9. Their last title was won under legendary former head coach Ed Azzam, who retired in 2021. Dewitt Cotton has been the team’s head coach since then and captured his first section title.
The pregame attention for this final was huge since Chatsworth of course has been led by senior (and former junior) Alijah Arenas. The son of longtime NBA star Gilbert Arenas, who had 44 points in the CIF D4 state final last season (team lost to Monterey), had 33 points in this game. The Chancellors (the top seed) fell to 22-8 overall.
In Sunday’s CIF seedings, Westchester did not get placed in D1, but instead grabbed the No. 2 seed for SoCal in D2 with Chatsworth right behind at No. 3. Poly of Riverside from the CIFSS was seeded first.
Open Girls: Hamilton 63, Westchester 52
Senior forward Jade Fort poured in 25 points to lead the Yankees past their league rivals on Saturday and claim their first L.A. City title in the Open Division. Head coach Sherland Chensam’s team also features junior point guard Kinidi Curl, who was our SoCal Player of the Week last week for what she did in the team’s first two playoff games.
With the win, Hamilton also pushed its record to 26-2 (counting forfeits) but with a loss to Westlake of Westlake Village the Yankees weren’t seen as a possible Open Division team for next week’s playoffs. They did get a high seed (No. 3) on Sunday in the SoCal D1 bracket.
The Comets fell to 22-6.
MORE CIF SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS
D2A: Canyon (Canyon Country) 89,
St. Bonaventure (Venture) 86 (3 OTs)
This would probably be our pick for game of the week in the state during the hectic two days of section championships.
It was finally decided on a backboard three-pointer at the buzzer in the third overtime by Canyon’s Noah Madrigal. It was not the only big-time three-pointer in the closing seconds. With 1.5 seconds left in regulation, Canyon’s Eric Kubel connected on a three-pointer, but there was still time left for the Seraphs. Freshman Charlie Adams then caught an in-bounds pass not too far inside the half-court line, turned and shot. The three-pointer was good and the overtimes began.
Matthew Wilson of St. Bonaventure was the game’s top scorer with 28 points. Isaac Yuhico had 20 points, four assists and four steals for the Cowboys. The teams will take respective records of 24-9 and 26-7 into the regional playoffs.
D3A:
Aquinas (San Bernardino) 59, San Dimas 41
Entering this CIFSS final played Saturday morning at Toyota Arena in Ontario, San Dimas had scored 65 points and 74 points in its previous two games. The Falcons’ defense was too much for the Saints and held them to one of their lowest outputs of the season.
Malachi Jones helped Aquinas (17-16) extend its lead in the fourth quarter with several baskets and ended with a game-high 17 points. Sophomore Jeremiah Garzon led San Dimas with 10 points. The Saints fell to 20-12 overall.
CENTRAL COAST SECTION
Jasir Rencher and team at Riordan will be the top seed for the CIF NorCal Open Division. Photo: Archbishop Riordan Athletics / Facebook.com.
Open Boys:
Archbishop Riordan (SF) 64, St. Ignatius (SF) 38
Based on their domination of the CCS playoffs and in the West Catholic Athletic League, Crusaders’ head coach Joey Curtin was asked by the Bay Area News Group if his team was the best in CCS history. He said: “I think so, and I’ve been around the section a long time and around the league a long time.”
From a section, regular season standpoint, he may be right. But we’ve been around Northern California and the state longer than any coach we know of other than a handful and for this Riordan team (No. 5 in the state, 26-1) to make a claim like that is going to require wins from outside of the CCS. We just don’t know yet if the Crusaders (who we’ve seen in person) are that good or is the rest of the WCAL and CCS in a down year. The upcoming regional playoffs will provide the answer. Riordan won’t play a game until the regional semifinals against the winner of a game between Salesian of Richmond and Modesto Christian. The Crusaders will be the No. 1 seed in the north and just need two home wins to reach the CIF Open state final.
In the section final, St. Ignatius couldn’t do much to slow down the Riordan offense or poke holes in the Riordan defense. Junior Andrew Hilman had 16 points and senior Nes Emeneke powered around the paint for 13 points.
Open Girls:
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 59, Pinewood (Los Altos Hills) 51
The Monarchs raced out to a 27-7 lead and that was too much for the Panthers to overcome. Head coach Sue Phillips’ program (22-3, No. 3 in the state) won its fourth straight section title and its 33rd overall. The 33 section titles is an ongoing state record and is seven in front of No. 2 total 25 held by Clovis West of Fresno.
Pinewood is that last team to beat Mitty in a CCS Open final and did it 2021. Head coach Doc Sheppler’s team whittled away at that early, huge deficit and in the fourth quarter cut it down to just six points. Tee McCarthy then hit some shots for the Monarchs to push the lead out further. McCarthy wound up with 16 points. The Panthers fell to 22-4 and may not drop at all in next week’s state rankings since its loss was more than respectable to the No. 3 team.
D1 Boys: Carlmont (Belmont) 66, Palo Alto 62
Camden Ngo knocked down a three-pointer with 32.9 seconds left and made two free throws with 10.8 seconds left to lead the Scots (17-10) to a tight win. It gave the school its first-ever section title in boys hoops and Carlmont is a school with more than 70 years of history.
Palo Alto, which has won the most basketball games of any school in Northern California history, also had not lost in a CCS final before. The Vikings (22-5) had a record of 8-0 in previous CCS finals and they were the top seed in the bracket.
Jorell Clark has been sensational this season for Paly and was once again with 34 points. Carlmont balanced that out with Ngo scoring 22 points and teammate Franklin Kuo netting 18 points.
D2 Boys:
Christopher (Gilroy) 51, Westmont (Campbell) 50
The Cougars have been one of the top-ranked teams in the CCS according to computer rankings so it’s entirely likely that a divisional placement more closely aligned to computer rankings would have had them in a much higher division. As it turned out, Christopher’s spot was fine and it took a big comeback in the final seconds for the team to win in the D2 final on Saturday.
Westmont (20-8) had three previous losses to Christopher (the teams are from the same league) and it looked like it might finally get a win after taking a four-point lead with 25.2 seconds left. Anton Mendoza then drained a three-pointer for the Cougars and then with 2.1 seconds left junior Trey Caragio put up a game-winning basket.
Football QB Jaxen Robinson (Northern Arizona) has been Christopher’s leading scorer and led a balanced attack with 10 points. The team (25-2) also made history by becoming the first one in Gilroy history (counting the much older Gilroy High) to win a CCS title.
Seth Reese made five 3-pointer and scored 19 points for Westmont.
Players from Mills of Millbrae won their CCS title in memory of former head coach Dave Matsu, who passed away prior to the start of the 2023-24 season. Photo: @cifccs / X.com.
D3 Girls: Mills (Millbrae) 51, Notre Dame (San Jose) 50
An overtime loss in last year’s CCS final to the same school hurt worse than usual for the Vikings since their head coach, Dave Matsu, had died just before the start of the season. This time, Mills won in a similar game behind head coach Justin Matsu, the son of the late Dave.
Kelly Ho connected on a three-pointer with 45 seconds left and then a free throw with 5.2 seconds left by Layla Wong provided the Vikings with a four-point lead. A three-pointer at the buzzer for Notre Dame only made the margin one-point instead of four.
CENTRAL SECTION
D1 Boys:
St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 54, Buchanan (Clovis) 33
After suffering an upset loss as the top seed last season in this divisional final to Clovis North, the Knights were not to be denied with a dominating win in this year’s final played on Saturday night at Selland Arena.
Buchanan (26-5) came into the game after knocking off Clovis North in the semifinals behind 31 points from the red-hot Conner Sheets and it was the third straight win for the Bears this season over the Broncos. Against a nationally ranked team looking to make a statement about seeding and regional placement in the CIF regional/state playoffs, Buchanan was never a threat to get the upset.
Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year candidate Tounde Yessofou had 20 points and 14 rebounds for St. Joe, which also improved to 31-1 and will be either No. 2 or No. 3 in the next Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 30 rankings.
In Sunday’s CIF seedings, all the points made by St. Joseph fans for the their team to be in the north for the CIF Open Division regional playoffs were met by deaf ears. The Knights will be in the south, although they did get the No. 2 seed and therefore will have a bye and then a home game against either Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks or Montgomery of San Diego.
D1 Girls: Clovis West (Fresno) 53, Clovis 44 (OT)
Yes, this almost was the shocker of the night (and for the season in California girls basketball). The Cougars had lost by huge margins of 70-29 and 67-46 to the Golden Eagles in league play, but didn’t fold in this game. They forced overtime, but then reality set in and Clovis West claimed its 13th straight section title and 25th overall.
It’s not just those records — head coach Craig Campbell’s girls are now tied for second in state history for consecutive section titles and are second overall to Archbishop Mitty that has 33 — but this Clovis West girls team came into the night at 31-0 and looking to make a statement to perhaps get the top seed for the CIF NorCal Open Division regional playoffs. They also were No. 6 overall in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 30 rankings.
Clovis (24-8) could have been considered for the NorCal Open Division with the outstanding showing plus the team owns a head-to-head win from early in the season over CIF North Coast Section Open Division champion San Ramon Valley. The Cougars, however, have some other losses (one we saw in two OTs to La Jolla Country Day and one to Central of Fresno) and San Ramon Valley didn’t have all of its players eligible yet. In Sunday’s seedings, Clovis was seeded second in the D1 north bracket behind Folsom. Clovis West was indeed slotted second behind Mitty in the Open Division.
Junior guard Sadie Sin of Clovis was the leading scorer of the game with 18 points. Clovis West was paced by Alexis Swillis with 12 points and Riley Walls with 10 points.
D2 Boys:
Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 63, Central (Fresno) 59 (2 OTs)
These two teams went at it in regulation and then to two overtimes before the Royals survived with the win. For head coach Terrance Harris, it was especially pleasing since it was Mission Prep’s first section title after losing in five straight appearances with him as head coach.
Brody Miller canned a pair of free throws in the final seconds to give the Royals (25-7, with two league losses to St. Joseph) the four-point win. He had missed free throws at the end of regulation that might have won the game. The teams were tied 50-50 after regulation and then 55-55 after one overtime.
Central’s Gerald Perry had a remarkable outing for the Grizzlies (20-13) with a game-high 32 points despite battling an ankle injury. Roman Benedetti led Mission Prep with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Players of the game from the CIF Central Section D2 girls final were Nyang Auen from victorious Sierra Pacific of Hanford along with Milly Rojas from Monache of Porterville. Photo: @CifCentral / X.com.
D2 Girls:
Sierra Pacific (Hanford) 50, Monache (Porterville) 43
This was a No. 2 beating a No. 1 seed, but it wasn’t any kind of big upset. The Golden Bears have won a recent CIF state title and captured their second section title. The big bucket of the contest was a three-pointer by Asia Jackson with about a minute left and the Marauders just two points down. Nyang Ayuen was named the team’s MVP afterward. Head coach Victor Chavarin also was able to celebrate a section title in his first season.
Both teams are taking a 23-8 record into the regionals. Monache advanced to the final with a win in the semifinals over Orcutt Academy and its standout junior center Elizabeth Johnson.
Both teams also fared well in Sunday’s CIF NorCal seedings. Sierra Pacific is the No. 2 seed in D2 and Monache got the No. 1 seed in the D2 south bracket.
D3 Boys:
North (Bakersfield) 71, Righetti (Santa Maria) 59
The Stars repeated as section champions in this division and improved to 27-6 overall. The Warriors dropped to 20-12 and were looking to complete a Cinderella run as a No. 10 seed. Sophomore Ethan Seanz had 29 points for North through the third quarter. The team’s MVP at the end of the game was Josh Troeger.
NORTH COAST SECTION
Open Boys:
De La Salle (Concord) 59, Salesian (Richmond) 42
Coming into this matchup, the Spartans were the No. 2 seed and were No. 11 in the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings while the Pride was the No. 1 seed and were No. 10. The defending champs from Salesian and many others around the Bay Area knew it would be a dogfight, but not many were expecting to see De La Salle do what it did.
It was early success, and then some for the Spartans, who wound up with a surprisingly easy win. They won their first NCS Open section title after going 0-3 in previous NCS Open finals. It also was the first NCS title for head coach Marcus Schroeder. The only bad news for the Spartans was all-state forward Alec Blair going down with an ankle injury in the third quarter. He was on crutches after the game. Blair had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists before the injury.
Braddock Kjellesvig had a big outing for the Spartans with 11 points, 18 rebounds and five assists.
Both teams knew the NorCal Open Division was probably up next for each. De La Salle (27-4) received the No. 2 seed behind Archbishop Riordan and won’t play until a regional semifinal, which will be at home against Folsom. Salesian (27-3) will be the No. 4 seed in a 4-5 matchup on home in the first round vs Modesto Christian.
Open Girls:
San Ramon Valley (Danville) 78, Acalanes (Lafayette) 43
Similar to the De La Salle boys, the SRV girls broke an 0-3 record in previous NCS Open finals and won by a surprisingly lopsided margin over a team that was ranked higher.
For the Wolves, their No. 14 state ranking compared to No. 9 for the Dons was easy to see since Acalanes had an earlier win over them and just one loss on the season overall. The young SRV squad, which has no seniors and is now up to 27-3 overall, is starting to really gain some momentum and took off on a 12-0 start for this game and led 34-14 at halftime.
Junior Alyssa Rudd, who gained eligibility in January after a transfer from Monte Vista (Danville), racked up a game-high 23 points for SRV. Ella Gunderson also had her moments and finished with 19 points.
There was no indication such a drop off was coming for Acalanes, either. The team had a 78-52 win in the semifinals vs defending champion Cardinal Newman of Santa Rosa and just a few weeks ago notched a non-league win over a Sacramento McClatchy squad that just won the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 championship.
D1 Boys:
Dougherty Valley (San Ramon) 67, Redwood (Larkspur) 37
There was much debate when the NCS pairings were announced two weeks ago about Dougherty Valley being in D1 and not in the Open Division. Based on this game, a 30-point win in a section final, it sure seems like the Wolves were incorrectly placed.
Dougherty Valley (24-8) captured its third straight section title with the win as well. Its last two crowns were in the Open Divisiion in 2023 and in D1 in 2024.
Jalen Stokes (UC Davis recruit) punctuated the big win with a rim-rattling dunk in the second half. He ended with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Freshman Alonzo Walker also stepped up with 15 points and Tyler Robbins also had 15 points.
Cal-bound Semetri Carr tried to keep the Giants (22-7) close. He had a game-high 22 points.
Oakland Bishop O’Dowd head coach Malik McCord decided not to stand in the back behind his players during NCS D2 awards ceremony. Photo: odowdathletics / Instagram.com.
D1 Girls:
Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 45, California (San Ramon) 34
The calendar turned to March on Saturday so that means it’s time for head coach Malik McCord’s girls to get going. The Dragons won their fourth section title in the last seven years by beating the Grizzlies. They’ve also been very tough to beat in March since 2013 when they won the first CIF Open Division state title. Last year’s team won the CIF NorCal D1 title before falling to Bishop Montgomery of Torrance in the state final.
The Dragons (19-8) were led by Myella Chapman with 13 points.
D2 Boys:
Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 58, Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 57
What a stunning last few seconds in this game. As the clock was ticking down to 0:00, the Cardinals had a four-point lead at 57-53. Kellen Hampton then launched a long three-pointer for Moreau that was good. The clock went to 0:00 and some Newman players and fans were celebrating. But Moreau head coach Frank Knight was yelling for a timeout almost as soon as Hampton’s shot went through. The officials gathered and put 0.04 seconds on the clock. Cardinal Newman was inbounding the ball and on a long pass two players collided. A foul was called against the Cardinals. That enabled Jalen Arnold to get two free throws for Moreau. He made the first, then had to wait to shoot the second due to a timeout. He also made the second and the Mariners had the truly hard-to-believe one-point win.
Hampton had 19 points to lead Moreau, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Tatum Kurpinsky knocked down nine 3-pointers and had 29 points for the Cardinals.
The Mariners improved to 25-5 while Cardinal Newman dropped to 26-6. Knight, who has more than 500 career wins, won the fifth NCS title as Moreau’s head coach.
NORTHERN SECTION
D3 Girls:
Pleasant Valley (Chico) 56, Shasta (Redding) 37
The Vikings maybe weren’t quite as dominant in the Northern Section this year with a league loss to Chico (later avenged), but they completed another dominant run to the top divisional title in the section on Saturday at Butte College. Pleasant Valley has now won five straight section crowns.
Four-year standout guard A.J. Gambol had another strong outing for PV and had 25 points. The Vikings (25-4) also cleaned up on the inside with Ava Dunn as she finished with 16 rebounds.
In Sunday’s CIF seedings, PV was perhaps surprisingly not placed as a high seed in D2 but instead was placed in D1 and will have a tough matchup Tuesday in the first round at No. 3 seed St. Mary’s (Stockton).
D3 Boys:
Foothill (Palo Cedro) 61, Enterprise (Redding) 55
Like the Pleasant Valley girls, the school’s boys have tended to be the team to beat in the Northern Section in recent years. That didn’t happen this time. The Vikings were the top seed, but were upset in the semifinals by Enterprise. The Cougars then topped the Hornets in Saturday’s championship. Foothill, which was second to PV in the Eastern League, grabbed its third win of the season vs Enterprise and will take a 22-7 record into the regionals. The Hornets dropped to 15-13.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
