San Ramon Valley Wins EBAL Tournament at De La Salle
The Wolves avenged a prior two-point loss behind a tremendous second quarter.
Accounts differ over whether San Ramon Valley’s Matthew Diekmann scored 10 or 11 points in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s EBAL Championship Game.
What looked like a long two-pointer early in the fourth quarter and was initially ruled as such was changed to a three during a subsequent timeout.
The extra point didn’t affect the outcome. What mattered was that Diekmann stepped up down the stretch and served as the closer in the Wolves’ 68-59 win at top-seeded De La Salle to claim the tournament championship.
“I can’t stress enough how huge he was tonight,” teammate Seamus Deely said of Diekmann, who entered the fourth quarter with just two points but finished the evening, officially, with 13.
Diekmann did all of that despite missing an open layup to start the quarter and slipping on a turnover moments later, setting up an Arshawn Salkhi layup to get the host Spartans within two. But Luke Isaak followed with two free throws and Diekmann delivered arguably the biggest play of the night, a four-point play that gave San Ramon Valley (24-5) a 55-47 lead with 6:22 left.
“In the moment, it just felt like I needed to take that shot, and it worked out,” Diekmann said.
He followed that with the basket that was initially called a two and then changed to a three, then scored on consecutive trips down to the court to put the Wolves up 11. De La Salle trailed 64-57 after Leo Ricketts’ layup with 1:40 left, but got no closer.
“It’s the fullest form of joy I think I’ve felt in a very long time,” Deely said following the game. “We had the community behind our back tonight. Winning the big games in front of a lot of people, it just means more sometimes, especially against a program like this.”
On a night when the other four members of SRV’s starting lineup each had their own hot streaks, Deely was a force through the night. A four-year varsity player and a league MVP candidate, Deely led all players with 20 points and 11 rebounds and finished with five assists.
“SRV’s had a lot of great basketball players in their history. He’s up there,” Spartans head coach Marcus Schroeder said of Deely. “That guy’s really good. He’s a really good competitor, and he’s a leader. He’s got that group believing. I give that kid a lot of credit.”
Deely traditionally leads the Wolves in assists, but Isaak took that role on Saturday, dishing out seven in the first half. When De La Salle star Alec Blair switched off of Isaak to defend Mason Thomas, Isaak scored 11 across the final two quarters.
“Mason’s been on fire since the last time we played De La Salle,” head coach Brian Botteen said. “Eventually, Blair had to go out on him, which gave Luke more of a green light.”
Thomas had struggled for much of the season coming off an ankle injury, but scored 10 in the first half and finished with 15. He also excelled in Thursday’s win over Granada, scoring 14.
“He doesn’t always put up the big numbers, but when it comes down to it, he’s that guy,” Deely said.
Elliot Conley, the other member of the starting lineup, scored nine points in the first half and registered three blocks, including two in the final minute that served as the icing on the cake.
De La Salle raced out to an early 17-4 lead behind seven points from sophomore Ibrahim Monawar and led 19-8 after a quarter, but couldn’t do anything to slow the Wolves in a 24-8 second period, capped off by a deep Thomas 3-pointer to take a 32-27 halftime lead.
Thomas and Deely scored the opening five points of the third to extend the lead to 10, and SRV went up 47-36 on Isaak’s 3-pointer with 2:54 left in the third. But the Spartans countered, closing the quarter on a 9-2 run that included a Ricketts three and four points from David Balogun.
Blair led DLS with 19 points, Balogun had 14 off the bench and Ricketts finished with 12, but it wasn’t enough.
“They made all the big hustle plays,” Schroeder said. “We took some bad shots in the second quarter and settled.”
It’s the Wolves’ first win over De La Salle since Feb. 2, 2020, and their first road victory against the Spartans since Feb. 14, 2014, when John Raynor was in his final season as head coach. Botteen was coaching the JV team at the time.
“It was nice to have us on top one time,” Botteen said.