Gridley Championship: Salesian Wins on 30-Foot Shot
Alvin Loving IV's heroics gave the Pride their second tournament title in a row.
It was a finale befitting of the occasion.
Two of the Bay Area’s top three teams met in the culmination of Northern California’s most storied basketball tournament, and the Salesian Pride emerged as winners of the 69th Gridley Invitational, beating the Branson Bulls 63-60 on Alvin Loving IV’s last-second 30-foot shot.
It wasn’t the initial plan on the play, as seems to be the case for almost every game-winner.
Needing to go the length of the court with 4.6 seconds left, Salesian (6-0) initially planned to throw a long inbound pass, then call another timeout to set up an inbound play from the sideline to get a quick shot. But head coach Bill Mellis reconsidered after seeing how Branson (4-1) was set up, using another timeout.
The new plan was for DeUndrae Perteete Jr. to inbound to Hawaii commit Aaron Claytor, but when Claytor was covered, Perteete found Loving near half-court. From there, Loving decided that he was better off shooting than taking another timeout for his team to inbound the ball again. His intuition was right. His shot went through with 1.2 seconds left, and the remaining time ran out before Branson could call a timeout.
“When I looked up, there were only a couple seconds left,” Loving said. “Even though I had been missing, I still felt confident in my shot.”
It was redemption for Loving, who scored just eight points on the night and missed a pair of free throws with Salesian up by 1 with a minute left in regulation. Across the final minute of regulation and the four minutes of overtime, the Pride nearly bungled the game by going just 3-of-8 at the line.
But the defense made up for it, allowing just eight points over that same stretch. Amani Johnson forced a miss from Illinois commit Jase Butler, who came home with well-deserved Tournament MVP, on the prior possession to keep the game tied at 60 after Loving had made one of two free throws with 39.7 left in the extra period.
“He wanted to go left, so we needed to force him to go with his right hand,” Johnson said. “He’s good going both ways, but he really wanted to go left.”
Butler finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists, becoming the first player to win MVP without winning the tournament championship since Vallejo’s DeMarcus Nelson in 2002.
He outscored Salesian’s entire team in the first quarter with eight points as the Pride got off to a sluggish start, then scored another eight in the fourth as Branson held a narrow lead for much of the game. He scored on back-to-back possessions to put the Bulls up 52-48 with 2:38 left, and after the Pride scored six straight to take their first lead of the entire night, Butler’s drive with 11.2 left tied the game and forced overtime.
“Branson is an amazing team,” Perteete said. “Jase is an amazing player. It would be pretty fun to see them down the line.”
Perteete and his teammates may not have to wait very long for a rematch. Both teams are in Platinum Division of The Classic at Damien, which begins on Dec. 27, but they wouldn’t be able to meet until Dec. 30, the final day of the tournament. A more likely scenario for a rematch would be in the NCS Open Division, where the Bulls and Pride project to be two of the top three seeds, alongside De La Salle.
As exciting as the game’s conclusion was, the start wasn’t so pretty. Branson led just 9-6 after a quarter and 23-15 at halftime, with both teams’ physicality and speed canceling out the other’s ability to run the floor in transition. Neither team could get going from 3-point range, with Branson’s Joaquin Aguillon connecting on the lone three of the first half.
“We were just walking the ball up the floor,” Mellis said. “The main halftime talk was about half-court defense and about getting the ball up the floor.”
Those fortunes changed in the third quarter, with Salesian scoring 23 points and cutting an 11-point deficit to just 1 before Bulls sophomore DJ Armstrong scored the final basket of the period on a tough drive through traffic.
Claytor’s basket with 3:42 left tied the game at 48, the first time the two teams were even since it was 2-2 three minutes in. His pair of free throws with 1:51 left in regulation gave the Pride their first lead of the entire game at 53-52. Salesian made just one of four free throws over the final minute of regulation, allowing for Butler to tie the game on his drive with 11.2 left.
Perteete and Claytor shared high-scoring duties for the Pride, with Claytor scoring 10 in the fourth quarter and Perteete scoring 12 across the second half and overtime.
“They were just working harder than us in the first half,” Perteete said. “The main goal in the second half was to just push the energy and push the tempo.”
He scored Salesian’s first five points in overtime, with baskets sandwiched around a pair of Semetri Carr free throws. Butler then tied the game at 58 on a putback, and after Perteete made one of two free throws, Aguillon scored with 2:10 left in OT.
Zion Yeargin scored seven of his nine in the second half, while sophomore Elias Obenyah chipped in seven.
Finley Keeffe scored eight of his 11 in the second quarter for Branson, Carr finished with nine points and Aguillon added eight.
Saturday marked Salesian’s seventh title, the most of any program.
Riordan 74, Clovis North 65
The Riordan Crusaders finished third at the Gridley Invitational for the fourth time in the last five editions of the tournament, beating the Clovis North Broncos 74-65.
The Crusaders outscored Clovis North (4-3) by 15 across the middle quarters and rode a balanced scoring attack to victory, fueled by a bounceback game from Jasir Rencher.
“I didn’t have a great game yesterday, but I trust my work,” said Rencher, who scored 16 points after tallying just four during Friday’s semifinal loss to Branson.
Connor Amundsen scored a a game-high 25 points in the losing effort to keep the Broncos afloat, including 12 in the fourth quarter to cap off his weekend as the tournament’s high scorer. But Riordan (4-3) had an answer every time.
Amundsen hit threes on each of Clovis North’s first two possessions of the fourth quarter, but the Crusaders countered with threes by Zion Sensley and John Tofi Jr. to stretch the lead back to 17 on both occasions.
A Connor Amundsen three and a McKae Amundsen putback with 38.7 seconds left trimmed the lead to seven, but Pinole Valley transfer and Eastern Washington commit Jordy McKenzie sank two free throws with 27.6 to go.
McKenzie, who won the tournament’s 3-point contest on Friday morning, had by far his best game yet in a Riordan uniform, scoring 12 of his 17 in a second quarter that Riordan won 24-17.
“He’s a knockdown shooter,” head coach Joey Curtin said of McKenzie. “We’ve just gotta find him and make the pass on time.”
Sensley led the Crusaders with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Andrew Hilman finished with 16 and 10, fueled by a 7-of-8 performance at the free throw line.
Jordan Espinoza chipped in 12 for Clovis North, while Loukas Jones hit a trio of 3-pointers in the losing effort. McKae, Connor’s younger brother, finished with eight points.
Sheldon 49, Clayton Valley 46
A Sheldon Huskies team that looked helpless in its first game of the tournament on Thursday left the 69th Gridley Invitational with a newfound identity and the consolation championship after beating the Clayton Valley Ugly Eagles 49-46 on Saturday.
A healthy Jaden Woodard rounded out a starting lineup that got at least nine points from all five of its members, and Jaden Spears scored the go-ahead basket with 2:45 left after Clayton Valley (3-2) had used a 10-0 run to take its first lead since the opening minute.
Muhammad Singleton, who scored just three points across the first three quarters, was crucial in closing the game out for Sheldon (3-3). His three-point play with 1:18 left gave the Huskies a 44-39 lead, and his 3-pointer with 27.8 left made it 47-41 after Cannon Simpson had scored for the Ugly Eagles.
Sophomore Vince Ellis scored a game-high 17 for Clayton Valley, including a 3-pointer with 11.1 seconds left to whittle the lead down to three, but Tyler Rattler made two free throws with 9.9 remaining. Elijah Perryman scored the last of his nine points with 2.1 seconds left, but Sheldon was able to cleanly inbound the ball to Rattler, who broke free to dribble out the final seconds.
Rattler scored a team-high 11, while Nick Stone scored 10, all in the first half. Singleton, Spears and Woodard each finished with nine.
Sheldon was able to limit James Moore, who had scored 20 points against San Ramon Valley on Friday, to just eight.
San Ramon Valley 77, Gridley 25
Despite suffering disappointing losses in their first two games, the San Ramon Valley Wolves finished with a flourish and claimed the most impressive highlight of the Gridley Invitational as they beat the host Bulldogs 77-25 in the seventh place game.
Up 24 with 2:30 left in the second quarter, point guard Elliot Conley took a pass from Danny Drucker, drove through the lane and proceeded to throw down a vicious one-handed dunk over a hapless Gridley player.
To the victim’s credit, he popped right back up to his feet after conceding the dunk and committing a foul, doing so without even using his hands.
With 11 points, Conley was one of four Wolves to finish in double figures and one of 13 to score during Saturday’s win.
His brother, Thomas, scored 14 off the bench to lead all scorers. San Ramon Valley (5-3) also got 12 points from Luke Isaak and 11 from Seamus Deely.
Matthew Diekmann scored eight points for the Wolves, hitting a pair of threes in the second quarter. SRV closed the first quarter on a 10-0 run to take in 18-7 lead, then outscored the Bulldogs 31-9 in the second quarter to take a commanding 49-16 lead. The Wolves led 64-21 after three and the fourth was played with a running clock.
UC Merced commit Aaron Kullar led Gridley (5-3) with 10 points and seven rebounds.
All-Tournament Team
Connor Amundsen, Clovis North (scoring leader); Jase Butler, Branson (MVP); Seamus Deely, San Ramon Valley; Andrew Hilman, Riordan; Finley Keeffe, Branson; Alvin Loving IV, Salesian; James Moore, Clayton Valley; DeUndrae Perteete Jr., Salesian; Zion Sensley, Riordan; Jaden Spears, Sheldon.