Moreau digs deep, survives NCS D-I semifinal thriller vs. California

HAYWARD — There was nothing easy about this game. Not in the first quarter when California surged to a quick 10-point lead. Not in the fourth quarter after Moreau Catholic opened a double-digit advantage itself.

But the home team met its objective.

When the final second rolled off the clock Tuesday night, second-seeded Moreau survived 71-69 to advance to the North Coast Section Division I final on Saturday against Clayton Valley Charter at Dublin High.

“They dug deep,” coach Frank Knight said. “That’s a show of character what happened. They could have given up, down 10. They kept fighting and kept digging and thinking about the next play. There was never a time in the locker room or the huddle where we thought we couldn’t win the game.”

Moreau, aiming to avoid a loss in this round for the second consecutive season, trailed the entire first half and well into the third quarter against a talented opponent from the powerful East Bay Athletic League.

But a flurry of blocks, dunks and clutch shooting turned the tide.

LeBrie Goudy-Lee, a senior wing, nearly brought the house down during the third-quarter surge when he made a spectacular block at one end, hustled up the court and finished strong to even the score 47-47.

Later, Joseph Cid buried a 3-pointer from the corner — right in front of his own bench — to put Moreau in front 52-50.

Then, as third-seeded California (19-11) was trying to work the clock for the final shot of the quarter, Jesse Ybarra knocked the ball loose and it ended up in Kellen Hampton’s hands for a breakaway dunk that widened the margin to 54-50.

Bedlam.

“I was hyped,” said Hampton, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. “But I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They set up all my buckets for me.”

California tried again for the last shot of the period but lost the ball out of bounds with 1.5 seconds left.

Inbounding the ball, Ybarra threw a long pass to Cid, who caught it and then floated up a short jumper that went in as time expired.

The basket made it 56-50 going to the final period.

Moreau (23-5) wasn’t finished.

Hampton began the fourth quarter with a three-point play — basket, foul, free throw — and then Goudy-Lee followed another block with a dunk to stretch the advantage to 61-50.

Goudy-Lee finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

“LeBrie is one of the best kids I have ever coached,” Knight said. “He’s played varsity for me for four years. He bought in. He plays hard. He’s a leader.”

But on this night, no double-dight lead was safe, not even for the home team.

California chipped away at the deficit and had a shot to send the game to overtime when Moreau missed the second of two free-throw attempts with 16.2 seconds left, leaving the score 70-67.

But as the visitors tried to bring the ball up the court, Kevin Chapman stepped into a passing lane to make the game-saving steal for Moreau.

The Mariners made one more free throw with 9.8 seconds left to stretch the lead to four, then gave up an uncontested layup.

With California out of timeouts, the Mariners let the final seconds tick off the clock without inbounding the ball.

One year after losing a heartbreaker to Dougherty Valley in the semifinals — a defeat that ended its season — Moreau didn’t let a second chance go for naught.

“We’ve won Division IV since we’ve been here, we’ve won Division III since we’ve been here, we’ve won Division II since we’ve been here,” Knight said. “We’ve never won Division I. The goal was just to just get to that game. Let’s see if we can win Division I.”

By reaching the final, Moreau has locked up a spot in a Northern California regional next week.

California could advance, too, but will need top-seeded Campolindo to win its Division II semifinal on Wednesday against fifth-seeded Cardinal Newman.