Central Catholic wins first section basketball title in 28 years

Joshua Hamilton drove the ball into the floor at midcourt as the bench emptied onto the floor at Sleep Train Arena.

Mike Wilson stayed out of the melee, content to celebrate Central Catholic High School’s first Sac-Joaquin Section championship in nearly 30 years from afar.

His top-seeded squad earned the right to dance on center stage, holding off a game opponent in No. 3 West Campus 47-46 in an intense Division IV final Saturday.

Hamilton scored a game-high 18 points, but the outcome was decided on the defensive end.

After Hamilton missed the front end of a one-and-one with 16.2 seconds left, West Campus forward Isaiah Bates drove the lane for the potential winning basket. Bates stepped inside Raiders sophomore forward James Bland, putting his shot on the rim. It caromed back to the Warriors’ Jeryn Lucas, who couldn’t get a second shot off.

The buzzer sounded.

Wilson breathed a sigh of relief.

And the title-starved Raiders (25-5) danced on the Kings’ crown logo.

It had been 28 years since Central Catholic won a boys basketball section title. The Raiders suffered double-digit losses to Capital Christian in the 2012 and 2014 Division V finals.

“This is the reward after all the hard work,” Wilson said. “Not only from these guys but teams in the past, (such as) the two that got here and lost. This is a wonderful stage I haven’t even experienced, and I’ve been here three times. It’s a dedication to the game of basketball, and these kids are starting to listen and get it. I think there’s a lot of good things to come.”

Hamilton also had six rebounds and two assists. Amrit Dhaliwal finished in double figures for the fourth consecutive postseason game, making the go-ahead free throw with 2:44 left. The reserve guard had 11 points, including two three-pointers.

Football and basketball standout Jared Rice had nine points and six rebounds, savoring his second section title in three months, and Peter Hamilton pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Peter Hamilton, a fourth-year varsity player, was held scoreless in his third appearance in a section final but was honored with the sportsmanship award.

“This means everything to me,” Peter Hamilton said. “I got to give all the credit to the guys around me. They’re the best team I feel I’ve played with – and I’ve played with a lot of good teams. They have so much heart and put in so much effort.”

For the fourth time this postseason, the Raiders slumped out of the gate. Central Catholic shot just 2 of 12 in the first quarter and didn’t make its first basket until the 1:26 mark.

West Campus (26-5) had no problem from long range. Lucas connected on two three-pointers, and Bates, a 6-foot-6 forward with springs built into his soles, threw down a backdoor lob to give the Warriors a 14-9 lead.

But as they’ve done so often this season, the slow-to-start Raiders fell into a rhythm in the second quarter.

“It’s happening too often,” Wilson said. “My blood pressure goes up and down in spikes, but it’s working out right now.”

The catalyst in the comeback: the youngest player on the floor, Joshua Hamilton. He scored 10 of his 15 first-half points in the second quarter, including a basket-and-foul to tie the score 14-14.

On the next possession, Rice sliced to the rim for a three-point play to give Central Catholic its first lead, 17-16.

Momentum slid back and forth over the final five minutes of the half. The teams exchanged the lead eight times in the quarter.

Hamilton got the last laugh, beating the halftime buzzer with an NBA three-pointer, defying chants of “Too deep!” from the crowd.

Despite its frigid start in a drafty, cavernous NBA arena, Central Catholic led 27-25.

“It’s our perseverance. The whole season we wanted to win sections so bad,” Joshua Hamilton said. “When we were down and they hit that alley-oop, I thought, ‘Uh-oh, there’s no way we can lose this game.’… I thought our determination and perseverance got us through.”

West Campus assisted in the turnaround.

Bates hardly played in the second quarter because of foul trouble. He picked up his third foul with 1:17 left, sending Hamilton to the line, where he gave Central Catholic its biggest lead of the half, 24-21. Without Bates, West Campus had no one to protect the rim, allowing Central Catholic’s fleet of guards to buzz about the paint.

Bates finished with eight points and 10 rebounds, but he was a liability at the free-throw line, where he was 2 of 9 and missed the potential game-winning pair with 1:14 left.

Guard Darien Davis, built like a bowling ball, paced the Warriors with 14 points, but he fouled out with 2:44 to play.

Lucas had 11 points but only three after halftime as West Campus was doomed by its shooting woes.

The Warriors finished 9 of 21 at the free-throw line, including 3 of 11 over the final 16 minutes.

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Central Catholic wins first section basketball title in 28 years."