CIF North Coast Section boys basketball playoff finals roundup, brackets: De La Salle with masterpiece

Despite injury to Oklahoma-bound star Alec Blair, Spartans win 15th NCS title, first at Open Division; Dougherty Valley rolls in D1, Moreau Catholic wins miraculous D2 game

After winning the East Bay Athletic League banner decisively two weeks earlier, the Spartans did it at the North Coast Section Open Division level as well, with a 58-42 win over defending NorCal Open champion Salesian March 1 at Dublin HS. / Photo: De La Salle HS

A minute into the second half, disaster struck De La Salle's boys basketball team.

Or so they thought.

The team's heart and soul, the Spartans' star player, career scoring leader and four-year standout Alec Blair rolled his right (jumping) ankle.

Until that point, De La Salle had played nearly flawless in the CIF Northern California Open Division championship game against defending Northern California champion Salesian at Dublin High School. The Spartans led by 14 on their way to hopefully breaking a string of three consecutive Open Division championship game defeats.

Now they were hoping their star player hadn't broke his ankle.

He didn't and the Spartans didn't break either.

In fact, by the end of the third quarter they led by 20 and then held off a brief fourth-quarter rally by Salesiian in the fourth quarter to post a truly impressive 59-42 victory, their 15th NCS title — but first at the Open level — behind an absolute team effort led by Blair of 17 minutes and Ibrahim Monawar with 12 points and Braddock Kjellesvig 11.

The rest of the squad, which included starters Bryce Patton and David Balogun, put on a defensive clinic, while holding Salesian 32 points below its season average 35 below what it scored in a 77-69 semifinal win over San Ramon Valley.

"We played with a chip on our shoulder after losing to them last year," Kjellesvig told Pat O'Rourke of DLSTV after the game. "We got them again so we wanted to show what we could do. We came out hard."

SEE GAME HIGHLIGHTS BELOW COURTESY NFHS NEWORK

When Blair went out, helped off the court and to return only late in crutches, De La Salle (27-4) didn't waver in the least. "We're such a tight team, we have so much depth off the bench and they were ready," Kjellesvig said. "Maybe we were a little worried, but we were ready to go."

Evidently. By the end of the third they had increased their lead by six to 49-29. When Salesian (26-3) scored the first seven of the fourth quarter finished off with a fastbreak hoop by Elias Obenyah (12 points), But Marcus Schroeder called a timeout and Balogun powered in an inside deuce the Salesian never got within single digits.

Combined with a 74-44 East Bay Athletic League playoff final win over Dougherty Valley, which breezed to a NCS D1 title win Saturday over Redwood, the Spartans are absolutely peaking and seemed primed for a NorCal run. Much will depend on that right ankle of Blair, who last year injured a knee to end the third quarter in a season-ending loss to Modesto Christian.

The Oklahoma-bound standout, a top 50 national recruit, was all smiles during a championship ceremony Saturday, with crutches in hand. The Spartans will likely get a No. 2 or 3 seed, depending on if Central Section champion St. Joseph is moved to the North. If DLS is seeded second, it will get a first-round bye, giving Blair time to heal.

All will be known more Sunday.

Salesian, which also got 10 points from Carlton Perrilliat, will likely be seeded fourth through sixth the Open. Coach Bill Mellis was hoping for a better showing Saturday, but gave major kudos to the Spartans.

"We didn't play our best game, but that has to do with De La Salle's defense more than anything. Tonight, they were the tougher team and executed their game plan."

The CIF's North Coast Section boys basketball playoffs and its 2025 boys basketball brackets are down to the championship games in all seven divisions.

All six teams in the Open Division advance to the CIF Northern Regional championships next week and three teams from all other divisions advance. The third-place games are actually more pressure-packed than championship games. Losers of third-place games are done for the season. Losers of title games still continue on.

• NCS Open | Dublin, San Ramon Valley surge on

Top seeds coming into the tournament in each divisions were De La Salle (Open), Dougherty Valley (Division 1), Moreau Catholic (D2), Branson (D3), Piedmont (D4), International (D5) and St. Bernard's (D6).

Defending champions were Salesian (Open), Dougherty Valley (D1), Benicia (D2), University (D3), Justin-Siena (D4), Head-Royce (D5) and Cornerstone Christian (D6).

Below are the links to each North Coast Section 2025 brackets by division and a Pick 'Em link that allows you to predict every game throughout the two-week tournament.

The semifinal and champions scores and summary from each of the divisions are also revealed.

2025 NCS BOYS BASKETBALL BRACKETS

Open Division

Semifinals

No. 1 De La Salle 47, No. 4 Dublin 37

No. 2 Salesian 77, No. 3 San Ramon Valley 69

Friday's third-place game

No. 3 San Ramon Valley 59, No. 4 Dublin 56

Saturday's championship

No. 1 De La Salle 59, No. 2 Salesian 42

Division 1
Pick 'Ems

Semifinals

No. 1 Dougherty Valley 64, No. 4 Clayton Valley Charter 55

No. 2 Redwood 49, No. 6 Amador Valley 47

Friday's third-place game

No. 4 Clayton Valley Charter 59, No. 6 Amador Valley 47

Saturday's championship

No. 1 Dougherty Valley 69, No. 2 Redwood 37

Davis-bound Jalen Stokes had 17 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Alonzo Walker had 15 points as the host Wildcats (24-8) won their third straight NCS title, second in a row at D1 after claiming the Open title in 2023. Dougherty Valley thought it should have been an Open Division team this season but this probably worked out better. They have another banner to hang. TT Carr, the dynamic Cal-bound guard, had 22 points for Redwood (22-7), but none of his teammates had more than three points.

Division 2
Pick 'Ems

Semifinals

No. 1 Moreau Catholic 68, No. 4 University 55

No. 2 Cardinal Newman 60, No. 11 Marin Catholic 35

Saturday's 3rd-place game

No. 4 University 65, No. 11 Marin Catholic 49

Saturday's championship

No. 1 Moreau Catholic 58, No. 2 Cardinal Newman 57

In one of the wilder final sequences imagineable, Jalen Arnold sank two free throws with 0.4 seconds left at San Leandro High School to lift the top-seeded Mariners (25-5) to the improbable victory. Improbable because Newman led almost the entire game, including 57-53 with four seconds. According to reports by the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat and the Bay Area News Group, UOP signee Kellen Hampton (22 points) went length of the court to drill a three-pointer remaining after which the horn sounded. Newman celebrated, but 0.4 was put on the clock with a Moreau Catholic timeout. No problem. Newman just needed an inbound pass to basically connect with a player on either side. But before a long over-the-top pass could, two players tangled and referees ruled that Arnold was fouled. He swished both fouls shots and the Mariners won their fifth NCS title under Frank Knight, all between 2014-2019. Their finally tally put them ahead for the first time since 6-3 early in the first quarter. Newman, which got 29 points and nine three-pointers from Tatum Kurpinsky, dropped to 26-6. Newman was after its fourth NCS title, but first since 1993.

Division 3
Pick 'Ems

Tuesday’s semifinals

Branson 61, San Rafael 52

San Domenico 50, Berkeley 47

Friday's third-place game

No. 6 Berkeley 62, No. 5 San Rafael 50

Friday's championship

No. 1 Branson 61, No. 2 San Domenico 41

Nj Gray had 20 points and Heath French chipped in 15 as the top-seeded Bullls (21-10) defeated San Domenico (23-10) at College of Marin in the first meeting between the teams that are located just five miles apart. Gavin Early had 15 points for San Domenico. It was Branson's 16th NCS title and 14th since 2000.

Division 4
Pick 'Ems

Wednesday’s semifinals

No. 1 Piedmont 60, No. 12 Windsor 53

No. 11 St. Patrick-St. Vincent 74, No. 2 Middletown 48

Saturday's 3rd-place game

No. 2 Middletown 55, No. 12 Windsor 50

Saturday's championship

No. 11 St. Patrick-St. Vincent 75, No. 1 Piedmont 70

Isaiah Wilson had 20 points and Christian Trusclar added 19 according to the Times-Herald, as the Bruins won their third NCS title and first since 2020. As the 11th seed, it wasn't expected. SPSV started the season 7-12, but have since won 11 of 12. Ravi Silverberg led all scorers with 31 for Piedmont (15-14).

Division 5
Pick 'Ems

Tuesday’s semifinals

No. 1 International 70, No. 5 Kelseyville 45

No. 2 Alhambra 62, No. 11 Sonoma Valley 58

Friday’s third-place game

No. 11 Sonoma Valley 76, No. 5 Kelseyville 61

Friday’s championship

No. 2 Alhambra 50, No. 1 International 41

At famed Kezar Pavilion, Chael Collins had 12 points and 18 rebounds and Samuel Gillaspy added 10 points as second-seed Alhambra (16-14) won their first NCS title. International (20-12), the top seed, was also after its first title but could never get going offensively. Melvil Cozzolino had 12 points and 12 rebounds, Wil Savill-Welch contributed 14 points and leading scorer Conor Mcguire added 12 points for International.

Division 6
Pick 'Ems

Wednesday’s semifinals

No. 1 St. Bernard’s 53, No. 5 Mendocino 42

No. 2 St. Vincent de Paul 68, No. 3 Point Arena 51

Saturday’s final

No. 1 St. Bernard's 56, No. 2 St. Vincent de Paul 39

Liam Dyer had 20 points as the top seed from Eureka at the very top of the state took a 21-7 lead after one quarter and never looked back. Jack Ellis led St. Vincent (19-11) with 13 points. St. Bernard's (22-5) won its second NCS title.