Boys basketball: Clovis West falls flat in championship rematch. Kingsburg prevails in D-III
There was no grand comeback in this championship for the Clovis West High boys basketball team.
No overtime excitement, either.
A year after rallying from a 20-point deficit and going overtime to win a thriller over St. Joseph for a Central Section title, the Golden Eagles failed to put up much of a fight or play with focus Saturday during a championship rematch.
St. Joseph scored 22 points off 14 Clovis West turnovers to knock off the defending champion Eagles with a 74-58 victory in the Central Section Division I final at Selland Arena.
The game marked the Central Section’s most lopsided title game featuring its highest division since Edison defeated Bullard 58-41 in the D-I final in 2014.
“We just did not take care of the ball,” Clovis West coach Vance Walberg said. “That was really disappointing. Any mistake we make, they’re going to score. They just killed us on the boards.”
St. Joseph (26-6), in fact, outscored the Golden Eagles 50-30 in the paint.
In addition, Clovis West (29-3) was outscored 15-1 to end the first half as St. Joseph built a 36-23 lead.
Clovis West’s Marshel Sanders finished with a game-high 22 points. St. Joseph was led by Luis Marin, who had 18 points.
St. Joseph has eliminated Clovis West from the sectional playoffs in two of the past three seasons.
Division III, Kingsburg 63, Sierra 43
Kingsburg won its sixth section title, third in the last four years.
Chris Browe led the Vikings with 13 points.
The game featured seven lead changes, but the Vikings found a way to break the game open in the second half, building their lead to 22 points.
Kingsburg held the lead for 25 minutes. The Vikings bench outscored Sierra 23-2.
Conner McFall, Noah Brown and Jensen Hirschkorn each scored 12 points apiece for the Vikings.
Division V, Madera South 71, McFarland 64
Madera South coach Corey Edmiston walked around the gym this week and noticed there wasn’t a banner hanging. He figured that has to change.
Daniel Valdez helped ensure it, scoring a game-high 27 points.
Valdez never figured he would put together such an impressive performance.
“I wouldn’t believe it, honestly,” he said. “I was going out there and doing whatever to get the ‘W.’ Twenty-seven points, that’s amazing. I surprised myself. It’s pretty special for a Valley game, to be honest.”
The Stallions had 26 points off turnovers and outscored McFarland 24-4 on the fast break.
The Cougars led by 15 in the first half before Madera South rallied.
“We had a lot of nerves at the beginning,” Edmiston said. “That was kind of our game plan. We really wanted to keep the pressure on them and keep subbing, and we knew we were going to lose some battles, but we were hoping at the end of the game that we would wear them down and finally chip away at the rock and crack and finally break through.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2023 at 11:00 PM.
