De La Salle overpowers Monte Vista: Northern California basketball scores, stats update (1/9/2024)

Spartans too big for 15-2 Mustangs, who get 24 points and miraculous 70-foot shot by Daniel Cojocaro but not enough to take down California's No. 20 team

Monte Vista's boys basketball team, riding a 15-1 record and coming off a Senator's Division championship at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic, showed Bay Area fans its record is no fluke. 

Tuesday NorCal boys scores: NCS, CCS, SJS, NS, CS

A team largely of 6-foot guards simply couldn't match up with length and overall size of host De La Salle-Concord, which posted a very entertaining 65-54 East Bay Athletic League opening win. (see video highlights at top of page). 

While the Mustangs got a game-high 24 points from 6-foot-3 senior guard Daniel Cojocaru, including a miraculous three-quarter court buzzer-beater right before the half (see video below), De La Salle controlled the paint, getting 22 points from 6-6 wing Alec Blair and 10 points and six rebounds from beefy 6-6 post Braddock Kjellesvig. 

Look: 70-foot shot by Monte Vista's Daniel Cojocaru beats halftime buzzer

Arshawn Salkhi, a talented 6-3 senior guard, also drilled three 3-pointes and had 11 points for the state's No. 20 team which improved to 14-3 overall. Teammate Darrell Cenido came off the bench to score nine. 

Cojocaro made five 3-pointers and added two old-fashioned 3-point play for the Mustangs who had won nine of their 15 games by five points or less, including all four at Torrey Pines by four or less. 

Blair, who can play about every position on the court including point guard, showed off all his skills with seven rebounds and a couple of nifty assists, including a no-look pass that led to a dunk by 6-6 junior David Balogun. 

Top 25 California High School boys basketball rankings (1-8-2024)

Blair scored four straight De La Salle buckets in the second quarter, extending De La Salle's lead to 31-21, a cushion it kept most of the second half. Monte Vista Never lost contact however. 

Check back for more highlights later

More games and scores from throughout Northern California. 

DAL
Campolindo 87, Concord 35: Tim Smith had 16 points and Luke Devine and Joe Revelos 11 apiece for the Cougars (14-3) 

More EBAL
San Ramon Valley-Danville 64, Dougherty Valley 61: The visiting Wolves, ranked 15th in the state by SBLive Sports, got 23 points by Matthew Diekmann, 17 by Luke Isaak and 13 from Mason Thomas in a hard-fought win at Dougherty Valley.  

WCAL
St. Ignatius 69, Sacred Heart Cathedral 51: Via Bay Preps Insider Ethan Kassel from USF, Sebastian Fisher came off the bench with 15 points and Vincent Crisp played a excellent all-around game to give the Wildcats their ninth straight head-to-head win over the Irish, who got 25 points from Fedrick Pernell. 

Scoring:@SHC_BASKETBALL:@PernellFed2 25 (11-13 FT, 7 rebounds)@MykelPatton 12 (6 fourth quarter)
Wong 6 (all second half)@siwildcatsmbb:@hooplife_raym 16 (14 second half)
Fisher 15 (13 first half)@MarcusBast1 13
Labagh 10 (8 second half)
Cerchiai 6

— Ethan Kassel (@KasselMedia) January 10, 2024

Raymond Whitley led St. Ignatius with 16 points and Marcus Bast added 13.

Riordan 65, Serra 48: Serra gave Riordan (8-4) a rugged fight and trailed just 30-28 at halftime and 45-42 after three, but the talented Crusaders, coming off a huge nonleague win over national power Bishop Gorman at Crypto.com Arena, pulled away with a 20-6 run in the fourth quarter. 

Mitty 70, St. Francis 41: 

Monarchs beat St. Francis 70-41 at home. Great team effort in the win. Thanks to all our fans and The Pit for the support tonight. #GoMonarchs pic.twitter.com/nntMeTgrp7

— AMHS Mens Basketball (@mittymenshoops) January 10, 2024

Valley Christian 65, Bellarmine 56

MVAL
Moreau Catholic 85, Washington 56: Kevin Chapman, Jaylen Arnold and Andrew Placido had 12 points, and Kareem Jackson, Jalen Thomas and Cole Loud each added 10 points for the winners in this Mission Valley Athletic League tilt.  

TCAL Rock
Salesian 63, St. Mary's-Berkeley 26: Hawaii-signee Aaron Hunkin-Claytor had 13 points and Alvin Loving and Zander Jimenez added 11 apiece as the Pride (16-1, 3-0), the No. 6 team in the state), blew out the Panthers (7-8, 0-3), who got a combined 13 points from Jaden Jones and Jonathan Fernandez. 

TRAC
Clovis North 68, Clovis East 54: Connor Amundsen had 22 points, Loukas Jons 14 points and nine rebounds and McKae Amundsen 11 points in the win over Clovis East, which got 21 points by Asher Thompson and 12 from Jeremy Pierro. Clovis North came in No. 3 in the Central Section by SBLive Sports, and Clovis East No. 8. 

GIRLS BASKETBALL

WCAL
Mitty 83, Saint Francis 27: McKenna Woliczko had 14 points, Elana Weisman and Tee McCarthy added 13 and UConn-signee Morgan Cheli added 11 as the nation's No. 1 team improved to 12-0 and 2-0. Paige Spencer had 10 points for the Lancers (10-3, 1-2). 

EBAL
San Ramon Valley 84, Dougherty Valley 18: Sofia Bowes had 22 points, Avery Knapp and Sierra Chambers with 13 and Rachel Setiwan 10 for the Wolves (15-1, 1-0,), the state's No. 9 team according to SBLive Sports, who host Pinewood (7-1) Wednesday night. Dougherty Valley dropped to 2-11 and 0-1.  

TCAL Rock
Salesian 71, St. Mary's-Berkeley 54: Madalyn Kanazawa had 24 points, Ayla Rege 15, Janiya Sawyer 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks and Jamia Sawyer added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the defending state Division 1 champions (6-7, 2-0). 

WBAL
Menlo School 55, Notre Dame-Belmont 45: Ruiqui Liu had 23 points and Karen Xin 10 for Menlo (6-5, 1-0). 

TRAC
Buchanan 58, Clovis 44: Aloni Oliver had 23 points and Vanna Quintana added 13 for Buchanan (14-6), ranked fifth in the Central Section by SBLive, over the No. 3 Cougars (11-7). 

Clovis West 62, Central 48: The visiting Golden Eagles (16-2, 1-0), No. 14 in the state and No. 1 in the Central Section, opened and closed strong, taking a 23-11 lead after the first quarter before outscoring Central 17-9 in the fourth. Athena Tomlinson had 15 of her 23 points in the first half for Clovis West.