EBAL Champs! De La Salle routs Dougherty Valley to win league crown​on February 16, 2025 at 8:33 am

David Balogun scores 25 points and grabs 10 rebounds to lead De La Salle to EBAL championship over Dougherty Valley.   

 

​

SAN RAMON — For the second straight game, De La Salle’s defense shut down another prolific offense. 

Two days after stopping San Ramon Valley’s high-scoring attack in the East Bay Athletic League semifinals, De La Salle locked up Dougherty Valley on the road in a 73-43 win to capture the EBAL championship.

De La Salle senior David Balogun had a game-high 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Oklahoma commit Alec Blair finished with 19 points, four rebounds and six assists. Senior guard Bryce Patton added 13 points

After losing in shocking fashion to California just eight days ago in the regular season finale, the Spartans ran the table in the EBAL tournament, beating Dublin, SRV and now Dougherty Valley in the span of four days. 

“A lot of people have been doubting us ever since we started to lose,” Balogun said. “We didn’t really have a grip and I feel like we started to get complacent after getting so many wins. A lot of people said we’re just a rich school. 

“We just had a chip on our shoulder and we wanted to prove to people that we were better than what they think we are.”

De La Salle held Dougherty Valley’s high-scoring forward UC Davis commit Jalen Stokes to just 13 points and forced 14 Wildcat turnovers. 

“Our inability to make shots is what made it feel like an avalanche,” Dougherty Valley coach Mike Hansen said. “If we make a couple of open shots early, we’re right in it. It was just a steady butt whooping.”

Earlier in the season, Dougherty Valley defeated the Spartans using a matchup zone that held De La Salle’s offense in check. But on Friday night, De La Salle made quick work of Dougherty Valley’s zone defense.

The Spartans jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, but blew the game open in the second behind Blair’s playmaking. 

De La Salle started the period on a 10-2 run to take a 15-point lead. With Blair playing as the distributor in the middle of Dougherty Valley’s zone, the 6-foot-7 forward found Balogun inside and Patton on the perimeter for easy buckets. 

“The first time we came out here about a month ago, we didn’t do a good job against the zone,” De La Salle coach Marcus Schroeder said. “We’ve worked on it, putting Blair in different spots. He’s a unique weapon because he can play in the high post, he can play at the top, he can play along the baseline. He’s really good at every spot.”

The third quarter was much of the same for De La Salle, but as Dougherty Valley continued to miss shots, the frustration started to show. 

The game got tense in the third with the Spartans holding a 21-point lead. 

On an offensive rebound, Stokes was fouled hard by Blair as he went up for a layup. The two players got in each other’s faces after the foul in a tense moment between the two teams. As referees separated the two players, a water bottle was thrown on the floor from someone in the Dougherty Valley student section. 

That person was later thrown out of the game. 

But the heated moment didn’t rattle the Spartans. 

“It got a little physical, but I didn’t really care,” Blair said. “We were up by 20. It was really about the next play and getting home.”

Balogun was huge in the third as he scored 10 consecutive points to help De La Salle build its lead. The Spartans outscored the Wildcats 21-14 in the quarter. 

“I just continued to be the aggressor and punch them in the mouth first,” Balogun said. 

Blair put a bow on De La Salle’s win in the fourth quarter when he scored on a fast break layup and got fouled in the process to give De La Salle a 27-point advantage. 

As the Spartans celebrated their first EBAL championship game win since 2022, Blair was noticeably unhappy. While his teammates jumped for joy and posed for pictures, he was peeled away from the group with a stone cold look on his face. 

Blair said while he was happy the team got the win, he was already focused on the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs, where De La Salle will likely be the top seed. 

“We were supposed to do that,” Blair said. “It was good that we won by a lot, but at the end of the day, no one cares. … It was a good win, but it’s already in the past. I already flushed it.” 

With Sunday’s NCS seeding meeting fast approaching, both teams feel confident that they’ve earned Open Division consideration. The committee heavily relies on MaxPreps computer rankings, but other criteria such as head-to-head and strength of schedule are also taken into consideration.

As of Saturday night, the top six teams in the NCS (in order) MaxPreps rankings are De La Salle, Salesian, San Ramon Valley, Dublin, Liberty and California. California could be ultimately switched out with Dougherty Valley as the Wildcats have two blowout wins over their San Ramon rivals. 

More on third quarter madness

Hansen was not pleased with the Dougherty Valley fan who threw the water bottle on the court during the third quarter. 

“It’s ridiculous. Fans shouldn’t be throwing any on the court,” he said. 

But in the midst of the chaos that ensued, Hansen said he took exception with older De La Salle fans who were heckling him from behind his bench. 

“Adults need to act like adults and high school kids are going to act like high school kids. It’s high school sports. It’s not a big deal. No one got hurt. No one got shot. Like it’s very mild EBAL. 

“I said to Marcus and the refs, ‘Tell me who it is and I’ll throw them out.’ But no one knew who it was, and then you got their parents yelling and screaming at me. Like I’m not Steve Kerr, I don’t make $4 million dollars a year. You don’t get to yell at me, I’m a high school coach. I teach special ed on Monday through Friday.”

Schroeder said he was proud of how his guys responded in the moment. 

“It’s high school basketball and in a lot of ways, it was good to see competitiveness,” he said. “I think our team responded great.”