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SACRAMENTO — The marathon of Vanden High School’s boys basketball season came down to one frantic start on Wednesday.
After losing last season’s Sac-Joaquin Section title game at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center, the Vikings couldn’t wait to get back to the venue. Given another chance, Vanden took the opportunity and ran with it.
Before Del Oro could blink or brew up a cup of coffee, the Vikings had sprinted out to a 21-4 lead midway through the first quarter. They used that to cruise to a 64-52 win and a Sac-Joaquin Section Division II title.
It was the third career section championship for Vanden High coach Micheal Holloway — and some sweet redemption for a program that lost the title game in Division III play last season to Sacramento High, 66-61.
“Our school is special and we call it ‘The Island’ because we’re kind of tucked by ourselves in the corner there. But we work hard to get to a high plateau whether its academically or athletically,” Holloway said. “We played well today, especially in the first quarter when we jumped out to an early lead. We tamed our emotions and started out fast.”
Holloway said that the experience of playing in the big game a year earlier was crucial to how veterans like Tyler Thompson and the rest of the Vikings began the game.
“Oh for sure it was big with us and I could tell early on from the sportsmanship meetings when we first got here today,” Holloway said. “The way players like Tyler was breathing during that meeting showed there was no nervousness. That takes a lot of confidence. The whole team was very loose and relaxed and we took that and ran with it. We knew when to turn it on and turn it off and we (the coaching staff) basically didn’t have to say anything to the team.”
Another difference was the presence on the court this year of stars like Thompson and Ahsan Huff, each injured in the section title contest a year ago. Thompson had a fractured knee cap a year ago, while Huff had a torn ACL.
On Wednesday, Thompson had a team-high 22 points, while Huff added 13 more points and was a force in the paint with nine rebounds. Thompson is headed to the University of Montana in the fall, but there has been only one thing on his mind all year — getting to Golden 1.
“The whole time I was thinking this game as the end-all, be-all and I was only thinking of getting the ‘W’,” Thompson said. “All the hard work and practice and preparation prepared us for this night. I love playing here. I love the culture behind Vanden. Not a lot of schools have our kind of brotherhood.”
The Vikings built a 7-0 lead thanks to a 3-pointer from Thompson and a layup from AnDrue Perkins and Luka Radovanovic. Del Oro called timeout but couldn’t stop the bleeding. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Perkins and Thompson increased the lead to 15-2, and a big dunk from Huff followed by layups from Thompson and Huff gave the Vikings even more breathing room at 21-4.
Perkins, who finished with 13 points, had Holloway impressed after the game.
“His aggressiveness started last game when he had a key floater near the end of the first half and he took that into this game,” the Vikings’ coach said. “Today he saw an opportunity to get to the rim.”
Del Oro would not go away quietly, starting with Caden Pinnick heating up with a 3-pointer and a layup to cut the lead to 25-21. Pinnick finished with a team-high 18 points.
A layup from Isiah Dixon and Thompson increased the lead to 29-21 before entering the half up 33-23. Dixon finished with six points and seven rebounds.
Early in the third quarter Thompson got the Vikings’ crowd into it with a layup and a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Huff to make it 37-25.
“It’s a play we call between ourselves that nobody has caught on to yet,” Thompson said. “It’s a great play that really gets the crowd into it.”
Del Oro made another run in the third quarter by cutting the lead to 37-30, but Jayden Robinson hit a crucial 3-pointer from the corner to get back momentum for the Vikings and grab back a 10-point advantage.
“That shot was huuuge,” Holloway said. “At that point (Pinnick) was starting to get hot and we needed a big shot in that moment to quiet their momentum.”
Vanden built its biggest lead of the game at 18 points midway through the fourth quarter when Huff hit two free throws. The lead was once again 18 when Thompson made two free throws with less than three minutes left to give the Vikings a 64-46 advantage.
When the final horn sounded the Vikings celebrated, with Thompson carrying a large “V” as a chain around his next. The V stood for Vanden but it might has well been for victory.
“The chemistry on this team is so great,” Thompson said. “It’s a very fun team to be part of. We know when to have fun but also when to get serious. Last year with us coming so close and to lose and then to come all the way back here and get the win was great. To be out here lacing them up with this team again and to be back in this setting was a great feeling.”
The Vikings advance to the NorCal tournament, which begins next week. Brackets will be announced during the weekend.
By THOMAS GASE | tgase@timesheraldonline.com |
Vallejo Times Herald
PUBLISHED: February 21, 2024 at 7:24 p.m. | UPDATED: February 23, 2024 at 1:46 a.m.
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