Seniors Donez Lindsey and Anthony Moore from Lincoln of Stockton made big plays on both sides of the ball during team’s win on Friday vs Monterey Trail. Photo: Mark Tennis.
State No. 22 Trojans were too quick on defense and in transition for No. 24 Monterey Trail of Elk Grove in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 quarterfinals, 77-43. The team will now play three-time defending SJS D1 champ Modesto Christian (No. 18) in next week’s semifinals. The other semi will feature No. 19 Inderkum of Sacramento vs No. 25 Folsom.
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There were five teams from the CIF Sac-Joaquin D1 playoffs that were inside the top 25 in the latest Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 30 boys basketball rankings. Since only four of them can qualify for the CIF Northern California regional playoffs, Friday’s quarterfinals were essentially a knockout round similar to the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs when well-known teams like Mater Dei of Santa Ana and Campbell Hall of North Hollywood lost and had their seasons end.
The one game out of the four in the SJS D1 quarterfinals that brought together two of those five state-ranked teams was at Lincoln of Stockton where the host Trojans (No. 22 in the state) played Monterey Trail of Elk Grove (No. 24) in a No. 4 vs No. 5 seed contest. Lincoln (27-3) flashed its senior leadership and defensive intensity all night long and posted a surprisingly lopsided 77-43 victory.
The Mustangs (24-6) had a big regular season win over Folsom plus an avenging win over Sheldon of Sacramento in the Delta League, which is one of best leagues in the section. Nothing much went right for them on Friday after taking a 6-3 lead in the early minutes. The Trojans went on a 16-0 run to end the first quarter and then it went to 22-6 when freshman Tre Simmons buried the first of four three-pointers that he had on the night.
Simmons led all scorers with 20 points. He isn’t as tall at 6-4 as Monterey Trail freshman Devaughn Dorrough, the 6-foot-7 center/forward who is considered one of the leading freshmen recruits in the state, but in this particular game it was Simmons who had the edge.
Freshman Tre Simmons led all scorers with 20 points in Lincoln’s SJS D1 quarterfinal playoff win vs Monterey Trail. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Lincoln’s team this year is more about the present than the future and its three senior standouts all had strong nights vs the Mustangs. Weber State-bound Anthony Moore, the team’s top honors candidate, had 16 points. So did super-quick point guard Donez Lindsey. Senior Isaiah “Zeke” Davis also showed he can finish in traffic and ended with 17 points.
“We just told ourselves to play tough and give everything we can,” said Lindsey when asked if the margin of victory was a surprise. “We knew our assignments against this team and were ready for them.”
Monterey Trail senior guard Derron White battled Lindsey straight up on both sides of the ball throughout the game in a matchup that was impressive to see. He led the Mustangs with 16 points.
Head coach Anthony Matthews’ squad is looking to reach the SJS D1 final at the Golden One Center for a second straight season after it lost to league rival Modesto Christian last year. It will be impossible, however, for the Trojans to have a rematch with the Crusaders in this year’s final. Those two were placed on the same side of the bracket so the next game for Lincoln against the Crusaders will be in the semifinals Tuesday on the road.
Modesto Christian, which is going for its fourth straight SJS D1 title and is the top seed, won in its quarterfinal game on Friday, 71-61, over No. 8 seed Franklin of Elk Grove. In the two games between Lincoln and the Crusaders already played, the Trojans lost by four points on the road and in overtime at home.
“That first game we came out bad and were down 15 early, and in the next one we had it but let it get away from us and lost in overtime,” Lindsey said. “We know if we stay in the present and go hard for the full four quarters we can win.”
In Modesto Christian’s win on Friday, the Crusaders (23-7 but has played the toughest schedule of any team in the section) got out to a 27-12 lead in the second quarter and were never seriously threatened. Franklin scored the final eight points of the game to make the score appear closer than the game really was. Junior guard Myles Jones had his three-point shot falling and led MC with 29 points. Leading NorCal Player of the Year candidate Gavin Sykes had 26 points on the night.
Inderkum, which suffered its only loss in a 28-1 season so far to a Mission Bay of San Diego squad that Lincoln beat by 64-45 at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic in San Diego, rolled in its semifinal game, 72-51, on Friday over Weston Ranch of Stockton. Weston Ranch was the 10th seed, but had upset Sheldon in the second round. The Tigers have now 22 straight games.
Folsom will come into Tuesday’s semifinals at 25-3 after rolling past Vanden of Fairfield, 76-32, on Friday. The Bulldogs had a 67-60 win over Lincoln back in December, but later lost to Monterey Trail in their first game after their eye-opening 87-46 win over Mater Dei at the Desert Holiday Classic in Rancho Mirage. Chase Rawlins had 16 points and Joven Dulay had 12 points to lead Folsom against Vanden.
It’s obvious that any of the four teams left in the SJS D1 playoffs can win the title while playing at their best.
All four also will be going to the NorCal playoffs, but will it be only the champion going to the Open Division with the other three going to D1? The best guess based on the other teams in the state rankings from the CIF North Coast Section and CIF Central Coast Section is that it will be both finalists. And that also depends on where the CIF will send expected CIF Central Section D1 champion St. Joseph of Santa Maria (ranked third overall in the state and in the FAB 50 national rankings). That team by rule can be in either regional. If it’s to the north, that’s one less spot for an SJS team. If it’s to the south, then the odds are higher a second SJS team will be in the NorCal Open Division.
Note: Lincoln is one of several high schools in Stockton that currently has no local newspaper coverage for its high school sports. The others are St. Mary’s, Stagg, Edison, Franklin, Chavez, McNair, Bear Creek and Weston Ranch. Thanks to the Stockton Record no longer offering local high school coverage of any kind, Stockton schools represent the largest community in the state in which there is no local high school sports coverage. Cal-Hi Sports is based in Stockton and while we are a statewide-focused web site we will be looking for ways to recognize more high school student-athletes in our community. Lincoln had teams playing at home in Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs on Friday in girls basketball and boys soccer in addition to boys basketball and no one would know that from any local media.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
7 Comments
Santa Maria is 138 miles to Studio City and 148 to Sherman Oaks. Makes little sense as of today for any SoCal team to be placed in NorCal. Fresno is not Santa Maria so please let’s not say middle of the State. The Southern Section playoffs have ended the season for teams that might have gone Open.
Riordan should get #1 NorCal Open seed based on perfect league and section play.
SJS is the 2nd largest Section in the State and history shows have been awarded 2 teams. The Open bracket allows for 8 teams to be chosen.
I’m sure NCS will have the winner and runner-up. Not seen a semifinal loser awarded Open, so how would NCS send 2? Lower Divisions do not have that team to merit advance either.
CCS will have a hard time to get 2 invitations unless some how they lose.
SF, OS, or Northern Section nope.
So how would SJS not have winner and runner-up in the Open. That then allows for the Section to fill 2 spots for the teams that went open.
SoCal-6, maybe 5
I see St. Joesph in SoCal.
SD Section 2, maybe only 1 if #1Montgomery gets knocked out.
SS 3 really 2 sections in 1
CS 1
Norcal-5
CCS-1
NCS-2
SJS-2
Hard to argue why St. Joesph needs to be placed in the North this year with all of the talent in the North and the fact that Salesian showed last Open Championship game that regardless NorCal can play versus SoCal.
Love this time of year and would like to see more write-ups on all of the teams in California basketball. If this was Football, we would have breakdowns and analysis of every division in regional bowls up to the State Bowls. D1-D7.
If Santa Maria is Central Section then it should be eligible for a NorCal slot. That’s by rule. The team involved also has been actively trying to get the No. 1 seed in the north since it obviously knows its path to get to a state final would be easier that way. This is a once in a generation type of team for that part of the state as well. It’s a situation that hasn’t happened before any may not happen for a long time.
Why would CIF only put them in the north like two years ago when they have to be the road team? They therefore can only be in the north if they are traveling? How is that fair by any stretch? And if Riordan has another questionable outing like the one vs Mitty on Friday, the questions about St. Joe only grow. Also, the CIFSS Open teams are all going to bitch about any trip to Santa Maria just like anyone in the north would. Just tell the folks in Santa Maria no matter what, tough crap, you have to travel if you ever have a team good enough for an open division north or south. At least they’ll know well in advance that no matter what they do, no matter what happens, they are going to be on the road.
I live close to Santa Maria and as mark said this is a once in a generation team especially in this area. There has never been a team good enough to be in the open regional playoff and really not close. Hopefully as a local fan they get at least 1 home game. In my opinion cif owes that to them. This will be the 5th year in a row they will have been selected to the open regional playoff. They have never hosted a regional game in 4 years that’s crazy to me it’s almost like cif has something against them.
They didn’t have to put them in open regional all four years and make them play on the road every time. 2021 at Damien 2022 at Harvard westlake close game to. 23 at Dougherty valley and Modesto Christian. 24 at Sierra canyon and Roosevelt. I dont know off hand but would be very surprised if another school went 4 years and every game they played was on the road.
This years team is the best of all them and without question deserves to host a regional game. They’ve beaten top teams from Florida, Georgia, Texas, Utah, and California. The players, school, and community more than deserve home games in the open division.
Also it’s not like every regional game is hosted in Santa Maria only 1 or maybe 2 teams at the most would have to travel there. Most likely only 6 teams will be in the north or south this yeah just like last year. If st. Joseph’s wins there cif division hopefully cif committee or who ever picks the bracket does the right thing and gives them games at home this year. Thank you mark for everything u do for high schools. Love the website
If San Diego Section Number loses which is Montgomery, then Southern California Open will take St. Joesph as it’s #2. Which regardless of direction they get a home game.
They also could take both Montgomery and Carlsbad if it’s a close game.
Notre Dame also could beat Roosevelt on Saturday so then CIFSS gets top two SoCal Open spots.
They also won’t make Montgomery as a No. 6 seed travel all the way to Santa Maria to play St. Joe as a No. 3, which would make putting St. Joe in the south look even more ridiculous because the only reason they would do that is travel.
With Harvard-Westlake (two-time defending champ and beat Notre Dame twice) in the mix, St. Joe then falls to No. 4 and the CIF will just tell them to be happy with getting one home game to play Bosco.
Hey mark would they consider Sierra canyon who has a win over notre dame and has been very competitive against the top 4 teams from southern section? Or is there a rule against taking 5 teams from southern section for Regionals? Sierra canyon is better than Carlsbad or Montgomery in my opinion. Also just makes since for st. Joe to be in north for competitive balance if they go south the top 5 teams in the state are all on 1 side but no matter what hopefully st joes gets to host even if it’s 1 game.
There is no rule about taking a fifth team into the SoCal Open from the CIFSS. They almost would have to if St. Joe was in the north. Let’s see what happens with Montgomery-Carlsbad and St. Joe-Buchanan. Carlsbad didn’t win but only lost to Harvard-Westlake (eventual champion) by one point in last year’s regional semifinals.