Sports

Mustangs' Magical Postseason Run Chugs On With Win Over Albany

San Marin improves to 27-4 with NCS quarterfinal victory on home court, next faces No. 1 seed Bishop O'Dowd.

For only the second time in ’s 43-year history, its boys basketball team is going to the Northern California championship tournament.

The Mustangs’ magical season continued Friday night with a 74-59 victory over visiting Albany in the second round of the North Coast Section Division III championships, pushing their record to 27-4 on the season and qualifying them for NorCals for the first time since 1993.

“With the 27-4 record now, the MCAL title and to lock up NorCals for just the second time in school history, it’s enormous. It’s huge,” said fifth-year coach Craig Pitti. “It’s happening because of them. This is not me. I’m just trying to put them in position to succeed. They’re the ones making me look good if it all works out well.”

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Senior center Stuart Wesonga had a game-high 27 points with 16 rebounds and five blocked shots for San Marin, which won for the 13th time in 14 games. Senior forward Chris Glennon had 23 points and junior guard John Seavey pitched in 15.

San Marin, the fifth seed in the NCS tournament, plays host to No. 1 seed Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland at 7 p.m. Wednesday. O’Dowd beat Del Norte 66-44 on Friday.

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Several Mustangs pointed to Glennon’s big game on Friday as the reason they earned an NCS semifinal berth. He had nine points in the first quarter and eight in the third as the team started to pull away from Albany.

“Chris, whether he scores or not, every night he just brings it,” Seavey said. “On the defensive end, he’s a great defender, and on the offensive end if he’s hot he’s a huge asset to the team. Tonight he was hitting and playing great defense, and he had an all-around awesome game. Without him, we wouldn’t be here.”

Wesonga had 10 in the second quarter and eight in the third quarter.

“I thought Glennon was great this time and Seavey played absolutely lights out in the second half, and everyone else just brought it tonight,” Wesonga said. “(Point guard Ryan) Zirkle always comes in and plays and I thought Jimmy (Burrows) was excellent on the defensive side, guarding his guy. Also, the team chemistry was more of a factor tonight. It was more of a team effort. Glennon brought his A game and everybody on the team didn’t let up.”

San Marin led 36-28 at the half and stretched the lead slightly to 54-41 after three quarters. Wesonga closed out the third with an offensive rebound and a put-back bucket as he was knocked down.

Albany led 13-10 in the early going, but Glennon hit a pair of 3-pointers and Seavey sunk a 3 at the buzzer to give San Marin a 21-15 lead after one quarter.

Just over a minute later, Albany’s Akwasi Agyekum went down hard on the court with a gash on his forehead and the game was delayed for about 4 minutes. Officials and coaches wiped blood from the floor as Agyekum was tended to on the bench and then taken to the locker room. He came back into the game in the second half and finished with 12 points.

San Marin gradually stretched its lead in the second half to as much as 15 points late in the third quarter. In the fourth, Seavey hit two 3-pointers within a minute to give San Marin a 64-52 lead.

“Those were probably the daggers right there,” Burrows said. “Multiple daggers.”


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