After finishing the regular season with the best record in the highly competitive East Bay Athletic League at 8-1, the Varsity Boys Basketball team has earned the #1 seed and home-court advantage throughout the entire duration of the league tournament this week. De La Salle earned the #2 seed after a 7-2 league finish, followed by San Ramon Valley who finished 6-3 with the #3 seed.
Dublin’s first game will be on Tuesday, February 8th at 7:00 p.m. in the Sports Complex against #9 seed Monte Vista, who defeated #8 California on Monday night. If the Gaels get past the Mustangs, the winner of Tuesday’s night’s tilt between #4 Dougherty Valley and #5 Granada will be coming to the Sports Complex on Thursday, February 10th for the EBAL Semi-Finals. The Gaels need 2 victories this week to advance to the EBAL Championship on Saturday.
It promises to be an incredibly wide open tournament, as most league games this season went down to the final minutes and very little separated the top five teams. Even seeds #6-9 (Amador Valley, Foothill, California, and Monte Vista) all have wins over the top regular season finishers.
On the Girls side, Dublin earned the #6 seed and will travel to face #3 Monte Vista on Tuesday, February 8th at 7:00 p.m. If the Gaels win they will likely go on the road to face Carondelet on Thursday. If the Gaels lose, then they will feed into the Consolation bracket and will set the stage for a rare Varsity Girls/Boys Doubleheader on Thursday where Dublin will be at home at 5:00.
Crowd restrictions and COVID policies will vary by site throughout the EBAL Tournament, and all games of both the Boys and Girls brackets will be played at the home of the higher seed. While limits on attendance are in place for the Girls game at Monte Vista on Tuesday, we do not have any restrictions on attendance at this time at Dublin (but that is subject to change with little notice so please continue to check back for the latest information). Assuming crowds continue to be allowed at full capacity, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required along with a photo ID.
In addition, since these are officially EBAL playoff games and not regular season DHS home games, Digital Sports passes, ASB stickers, and even EBAL passes will not be accepted. All adults must pay $8 for admission, while the price for students and senior citizens is $5. For those purchasing tickets to games at Dublin High School, the GoFan page for all events including the EBAL Tournament is here.
All games taking place in the Sports Complex will be live-streamed on GaelsTV, with highlights in real time on our ScoreVision FanApp and regular updates on Twitter @GaelsDublin.
