California boys basketball team breaks 121-game league losing streak

Led by highly-touted sophomore Amare Chandler's 27 points, Livermore wins first East Bay Athletic League game since Feb. 14, 2014; Student body storms court, stuffed monkey trashed

Years of frustration were released on Friday, including by star sophomore forward Amare Chandler, shown here dunking the ball in a 2024-25 game. / Photo courtesy of Bob Bronzan/Livermore-Granada Boosters

Livermore boys basketball coach Mike Tripp has been telling his team the last two seasons they are doormats no longer. 

On Friday, the Cowboys might have made a serious case to move into the penthouse of perhaps the Bay Area’s top boys basketball league. 

Livermore finished off a 121-game East Bay Athletic League losing streak with a 74-63 home win over highly touted Amador Valley-Pleasanton. 

Star sophomore forward Amare Chandler scored 27 points, 6-7 senior post Dylan Wherry had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks and point guard C.T. Harper, battling foul trouble all night, added 12 points.

History for Livermore. Breaks 121-game EBAL losing streak. Congratulations Cowboys! https://t.co/cu61C5fjEo

— Mitch Stephens (@MitchBookLive) January 10, 2026

The biggest contributor might have been senior guard Zach Lininger, whose primary duties were to control Amador Valley's star junior guard Jaylen Smith, who came in average well above 20 points per game. Smith finished with seven.

All of it led to a packed Cowboy student body storming the court and Tripp finally able to throw a stuffed money he bought last year into the garbage can.

"I can officially say now that the monkey is off our back," Tripp said by phone shortly after the game. "I'm so proud of these guys. They were so locked in. We played connected and on all cylinders. We shared the ball. We defended. It was a beautiful thing.

"I'm so happy for the guys and our school."

Tripp, in his 40th year of coaching and second season of a second stint at Livermore, watched his team improve to 14-3 overall and 1-0 in EBAL play. 

The Cowboys last win was Feb. 14 of 2014, a 65-60 home win over Foothill-Pleasanton. The Cowboys no doubt loved ending the streak.

Signs last season the Cowboys would end the drought came during a 15-14 campaign, which featured their first North Coast Section playoff win in more than 30 years. That's why Tripp bought the monkey.

However the EBAL is one of the toughest in Northern California and they went 0-9 in league play last season, the same as 2024, 2023 and 2022 and 0-3 in a pandemic-shortened 2021. The Cowboys were 0-13 in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 0-14 in 2016 and 2015 after losing the last two EBAL games in 2014.

All those zeroes were wiped clean on Friday night.

"I can't tell you how great it was to throw thank monkey in the garbage," Tripp said. "They guys went crazy."

C.T. Harper drives in for a bucket in a game earlier this season. / Photo by Bob Bronzan/Livermore-Granada Boosters

With the return of all five starters, including Chandler, now a 6-foot-6 sophomore, 6-3 points guard Harper and 6-7 post Wherry, the Cowboys breezed through the nonleague season with impressive wins over Del Oro-Loomis (71-47), Benicia (62-53) and Sacred Heart Cathedral (65-40), the latter in the first Bay Area Challenge. 

After the win over Sacred Heart Cathedral, Tripp said: “They share the ball, they can put the ball in the basket and they just care about each other. They know we’re not doormats anymore.”

Said Chandler, who had game-high totals of 22 points and 16 rebounds against Sacred Heart Cathedral: “We all eat on this team. We all feed each other. We’re one big family.”

But after the Sacred Heart Cathedral win on Saturday, the Cowboys took a step back in one last tune up for league, losing to San Lorenzo 56-51.

"That was actually the perfect wake up call heading into league," Tripp said. "They got in our face and turned us over with their defensive pressure. That's just what Amador Valley does but tonight we were ready for it."

Amador Valley (10-6) came into the game ranked No. 9 in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle and Livermore was No. 19, the first time in the Top 20 rankings in more than a quarter century.