LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Lamorinda Boys' Basketball Teams Advance to State Tournament


Buster Souza

TThe NCS playoffs wrapped up Saturday, and the brackets for the CIF State Tournament were announced with all three Lamorinda schools qualifying.

Both Campolindo (22-7, 11-1 DFAL) and Acalanes (17-12, 5-7 DFAL) advanced to the semifinals of the NCS tournament on March 5, and were eliminated-Acalanes by eventual champions Bishop O'Dowd, 68-36, Campolindo by El Cerrito, 70-59. Miramonte lost to Campo for the second time this season in the quarterfinals.

Acalanes played O'Dowd close in much of the first half, but struggled to find any sort offense in the second, scoring a mere 11 points in the final 16 minutes of play.

"I'm proud of my guys," said Dons' head coach Bill Powers. "Buster [Souza] plays his heart out...Matt Thomas is playing the way he should have been playing all year."

Thomas was spectacular in the Dons opening round game against San Marin, scoring 24 of his game-high 29 in the first half.

"I'd been struggling leading up to (that) game, but this is the playoffs," Thomas said. "It's a whole new season."

With Souza dominating the paint, Joey Hewitt and Matt Thomas shooting the lights out, and the improved passing of point guard Zack Kisner, Acalanes won't be an easy out as the No. 6 seed in the CIF Tournament. The Dons host No. 11 Christian Brothers tonight, March 12.

On March 5, Campolindo battled the Marauders of El Cerrito throughout the game, jumping out to a 6-2 lead early, behind the brilliant play of point guard Andrew Zolintakis who scored all 10 of his points in the opening quarter.

With 4:57 to play in the first quarter, though, El Cerrito went on a 16-6 run, taking an 18-12 lead, and never looked back. The Cougars trailed 25-38 at halftime, and 42-50 after three quarters.

Late in the fourth, Campo went on a 9-2 run, cutting El Cerrito's lead to eight, but moments later Zolintakis fouled out, and consecutive turnovers on the following possessions led to Marauder buckets crushing the Cougars' hopes of a comeback.

Campolindo was paced by Chris Hansen with 19 points, 10 rebounds and Zolintakis with 10 points.

But the Cougars lost more than the semifinal game. With 5:51 to play in the third, junior standout Matt O'Reilly broke his arm after being fouled driving to the basket.

"To lose (a guy) like that...an All-Star caliber player, made (El Cerrito's) lead really difficult to overcome," said Cougars' head coach Matt Watson after the game.

As for filling his shoes in the CIF Tournament Saturday when the No. 2 Cougars host the winner of Aragon and Vanden, Watson says it will depend on matchups. "It's going to come down to who our opponent it is-Do they have size? Quick guards?-because we can go a couple different directions...we have four or five guys who can step into that starting role."

Miramonte (16-12, 6-6 DFAL) grabbed the 12th seed in the CIF tournament after being knocked out of the NCS in the second round 72-65 by Campolindo on Feb. 28. They will visit No. 5 Fairfield tonight.

Fairfield will have their hands full with senior forward Drew Anderson, the Mats' star quarterback in the fall and now the focal point of the basketball team's offense, who is averaging just over 20 points per game to go with 12 rebounds.

"We just (planned) on staying ready to play," said Mats head coach Drew McDonald.