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Dougherty Valley's Rashod Cotton Jr., seen in a December game against Righetti, had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists in his team's 70-59 EBAL defeat of De La Salle on Friday. (Mike Bouffard)
Dougherty Valley-San Ramon boys basketball coach Mike Hansen had heard it all his life: "The East Bay Athletic League is special."
His father, Tom, coached Foothill-Pleasanton and was a league administrator for more than 40 years. Mike and his siblings played multiple sports in the EBAL growing up. And since 2008, he has been Dougherty Valley's coach.
But it wasn't until Friday's stirring 70-59 EBAL playoff title win at De La Salle-Concord - one day after his wife Megan's successful cancer surgery and one day before his 54th birthday - did he truly feel the league was something extraordinary.
"My dad was right," he said. "It goes way beyond the games and competition and quality of teams. There's a community, a care that's hard to describe. I feel blessed."
Hansen admitted he was "emotionally spent," late Friday night, a couple of hours after the overachieving Wildcats (20-8), without a starter taller than 6-foot-3, had avenged a 75-66 loss on Jan. 13 and a 74-44 home blowout by the Spartans in last season's EBAL playoff final.
The five-guard set - led by a combined 60 points from the trio of Rashod Cotton Jr. (21 points, eight rebounds, six assists), Alonzo Walker III (20, 12 rebounds) and Rylan Sevilla (19) - ran around and past the trees of De La Salle by drilling 11 3-pointers in the nearly wire-to-wire victory.
De La Salle (22-6), which got just a combined 12 points and eight rebounds from All-League 6-7 interior players Mariano Lopez-Aarden and Olanre Owoborode, was outrebounded 21-20. The Spartans got 22 points from Davit Pachulia and 15 from Ibrahim Monawar but led only once, 3-2.
The victory vaulted Dougherty Valley into the North Coast Section's top Open Division as the No. 6 seed. The Wildcats open at No. 3 Marin Catholic-Kentfield on Thursday and hope to win a fourth straight NCS title after an Open title behind Metro Player of the Year Ryan Beasley (now at USF) in 2023 and Division 1 crowns the past two seasons.
"We were ready," Hansen said of Friday's win. "We knew we didn't exactly match up with their size, but that goes for everyone. We decided at a certain point this year, why fight it (lack of size). Teams can't match up with us, either. We have to play faster and tougher and stay connected."
Hansen is particularly connected with this group because his son Luke, a 6-footer, is the starting point guard. He, 5-10 Devyn Ranola and Sevilla, all juniors, are long-range shooters. Cotton, a 6-2 senior, is a shot-maker supreme - "He's the league MVP, no doubt" - and Walker is a "fearless, multi-talented" 6-3 sophomore.
Chronicle top 20 basketball
BOYS
Rk. | School | W-L | Prev. |
1. | Riordan | 22-1 | 1 |
2. | Salesian | 25-3 | 2 |
3. | St. Ignatius | 21-2 | 3 |
4. | Moreau Catholic | 23-3 | 4 |
5. | Clayton Valley Charter | 25-3 | 5 |
6. | Marin Catholic | 23-3 | 6 |
7. | De La Salle | 22-6 | 7 |
8. | Oakland | 21-6 | 8 |
9. | Liberty | 23-3 | 9 |
10. | Bishop O'Dowd | 19-7 | 10 |
11 | Bellarmine | 16-7 | 11 |
12. | Mitty | 14-9 | 12 |
13. | The King's Academy | 20-3 | 13 |
14. | University | 23-5 | 14 |
15. | Milpitas | 22-1 | 15 |
16. | Dougherty Valley | 20-8 | 20 |
17. | Granada | 18-7 | 16 |
18. | Dublin | 18-8 | 17 |
19. | California | 14-12 | 18 |
20. | Amador Valley | 16-11 | 19 |
GIRLS
Rk. | School | W-L | Prev. |
1. | Mitty | 21-2 | 1 |
2. | San Ramon Valley | 24-3 | 2 |
3. | Carondelet | 23-5 | 3 |
4. | Priory | 18-5 | 4 |
5. | Piedmont | 19-3 | 5 |
6. | Cardinal Newman | 21-7 | 6 |
7. | Pinewood | 20-4 | 9 |
8. | St. Ignatius | 17-5 | 10 |
9. | St. Francis | 18-5 | 7 |
10. | Riordan | 14-7 | 8 |
11. | Bishop O'Dowd | 15-9 | 11 |
12. | Oakland Tech | 15-10 | 12 |
13. | Salesian | 18-10 | 13 |
14. | Clayton Valley Charter | 21-7 | 14 |
15. | Acalanes | 19-8 | 15 |
16. | Redwood | 22-6 | 16 |
17. | Moreau Catholic | 20-6 | 20 |
18. | Dublin | 20-7 | 17 |
19. | Half Moon Bay | 19-5 | NR |
20. | Menlo-Atherton | 18-5 | NR |
"They've all been around the house for years," Mike Hansen said. "It's all like family."
That family feel stretched well beyond the Dougherty Valley boundaries when Megan Hansen was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in early January. "Our world was rocked inside and out," Hansen said. "But the support we've received has been unbelievable."
He surely anticipated it from his staff and school. But the love from fellow EBAL coaches - a fraternity of competitive men in what is widely considered the most highly competitive season of the Bay Area's most competitive league - had him in tears Friday night.
"We push each other, right? We always have," he said. "But this is different. They've lifted me, they've lifted my family, and I'll never forget it."
NCS boys notes: Salesian-Richmond (25-3) is the prohibitive Open Division favorite after its seventh straight win (and 16th in 17 games) with a 70-35 win over a good St. Mary's-Berkeley team Saturday in the TCAL Rock Division title game. Asante Johnson had 19 points, Sacramento State-bound Carlton Perrilliat Jr added 16 and Stanford-bound Elias Obenyah 13. The Pride and second seed Clayton Valley Charter-Concord (25-3), which won its 17th straight, 69-57 over Acalanes-Lafayette on Saturday behind a combined 32 points from Vince Ellis and Zion Grissom, each get first-round byes. De La Salle hosts Moreau Catholic-Hayward (23-3) in the other first-round Open game Thursday. Other top seeds are Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland (D1), University (D2), Branson-Ross (D3), San Marin-Novato (D4), Sonoma Academy (D5) and St. Vincent de Paul-Petaluma (D6).
NCS girls notes: Hania Bowes had 23 points, Ella Gunderson 20 and San Jose State-bound Alyssa Rudd added 12 points and 10 rebounds as San Ramon Valley-Danville (24-3) rolled past Carondelet-Concord (23-5) 70-49 in the EBAL playoff final Friday. As the top two seeds, the state powers figure to face off for the NCS Open title next week. Both have first-round byes. Clayton Valley Charter hosts Bishop O'Dowd and Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa travels to Piedmont in Thursday first-round Open Division games. Other top NCS playoff seeds are Redwood-Larkspur (D1), Salesian (D2), St. Bernard's-Eureka (D3), Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park (D4), Bay School-San Francisco (D5) and Cornerstone Christian-Antioch (D6).
Briefly: With the end of the San Francisco Unified School District teachers' strike, San Francisco Section basketball play resumes Friday with the playoffs. Last week's games were deemed no-contests, with teams not allowed to play or practice, according to Lincoln coach Carl Jacobs. … Riordan's top-ranked boys (22-1) close the West Catholic Athletic League season Tuesday at home against No. 3 St. Ignatius (21-2). The Crusaders beat the Wildcats 53-51 Jan. 27 at USF on a buzzer-beater by Andrew Hilman. Riordan then took a two-week break due to a tuberculosis outbreak tied to the school. The Crusaders returned to play last week with four straight wins, capped by a 54-42 win at Serra on Saturday as Cole White had 18 points and Hilman 14. … On Saturday, Riordan's 6-8 power forward JP Pihtov committed to USF, where he'll join Hilman, who signed with the Dons in November.
This article originally published at A week of triumph and tears for Dougherty Valley boys basketball coach.
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