Northern California Basketball (2/08/24): De La Salle finds new hero in David Balogun
With the De La Salle basketball team fighting the flu bug and a fired up Dublin squad, the Spartans needed a new hero.
David Balogun, a physical, soft-shooting 6-foot-6 junior reserve forward, scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the host Spartans (24-3), ranked 17th in the state according to SBLive, scored a tough 63-59 victory Thursday in the semifinals of the East Bay Athletic League playoffs.
Trailing by 11 in the first quarter, seven late in the third, De La Salle rode the red-hot hand of Arshawn Salkhi (six 3-pointers, game-high 20 points) and the inside work of Balogun to win its 11th straight game to move into Saturday's championship against San Ramon Valley.
Salkhi, a starter, kept the Spartans in the game early with four of his 3-pointers in the first half. It helped take the pressure of star 6-6 junior Alec Blair, who took numerous breaks due to being under the weather.
Blair played well in stretches, scoring eight straight points for his team in the second quarter, and he added a spectacular spin move and bucket for the game-clinching basket with 30 seconds to play.
Blair finished with 16 points.
Balogun did most of the work inside, not only with his big surge in the fourth quarter - he scored the team's first 10 points of the stanza — but he also got Dublin's talented 6-8 sophomore Cameron Anderson (12 points) in foul trouble).
Balogun, whose previous career high was 10 points, finished 7 of 7 at the foul line and even drilled a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
"I surprised even myself with that one," Balogun told Pat O'Rourke of DeLaSalleTV. "We had a lot of guys sick so I wanted to make sure a started and finished strong."
Despite being ill, De La Salle's Alec Blair finished with 16 points.
File photo: Dennis Lee
Dublin, playing its third game in three nights, played gritty throughout and has a very promising future with nine juniors and three seniors. Junior Jalen Stokes led the Gaels (21-8) with 16 points before fouling out with 1:03 to go. Senior Evan Bautista added 14.
As the round-robin champion, De La Salle had a pair of byes and was off for six days. They looked rusty and tired at the begining and Dublin raced to a 15-4 lead. Thanks to the hot hand of Salkhi, who made a highly contested 3 at the end of the first quarter, the Spartans closed to 17-15 after the first quarter and actually led 29-28 at halftime.
Anderson, however, took over in the third with four straight buckets and 10 of his 12 points. Down the stretch, however, it was too much Salkhi, Balogun and Blair.
San Ramon Valley 80, Granada 56
Six first-half 3-pointers led to an 38-32 halftime lead before the Wolves put it into overdrive in the second half to score the semifinal win and turn around a 60-58 loss at Granada on Jan. 25.
A 14-0 run that ended midway through the fourth quarter broke this one wide open. The Wolves now play for the EBAL playoff final Saturday at De La Salle, which beat the Wolves 60-58 on Jan. 30. The Wolves are 23-5, while Granada dropped to 22-3.
According to Bay Preps Insider Ethan Kassel, Luke Isaak had 24 points (12 in the first quarter), Elliot Conley and Matt Diek added 12 points apiece for the Wolves. Seamus Deely contributed nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.
NaVaugh Vaughn had 14 points and Cortevious Taylor added 11 for Granada.
