Despite falling short of their ultimate goal of winning the East Bay Athletic League (EBAL) Tournament, this past week was evidence that both the Boys and Girls Basketball teams are peaking at the right time.
The Dublin High School Varsity Boys Basketball team went on the road to defeat Dougherty Valley 64-53 in the East Bay Athletic League (EBAL) Tournament Quarterfinals following a 91-51 win by the Gaels over Amador Valley in their opening round of action on Tuesday night. In their EBAL Semifinal game at De La Salle, Dublin battled closely with the Spartans throughout before falling 63-59 in front of a near-capacity crowd on Thursday night.
Dublin jumped out to a 15-4 lead and led throughout large segments of the game. The Gaels even took a 46-42 advantage into the 4th quarter, but after playing their 3rd game in as many nights ended up not having enough left in the tank to withstand a late De La Salle Rally
Dublin finished the regular season with an overall record of 21-8, After an impressive showing this week combined with strong road wins earlier this year at Monte Vista, Ygnacio Valley, and the Classic at Damien, the Gaels are projected to either in a bid into the North Coast Section Open Division or one of the top seeds in Division 1 when the brackets are announced on Sunday. This will mark Dublin’s 13th consecutive NCS appearance, which is the highest ongoing streak among all teams on campus.
In Girls Basketball action, after defeating Amador Valley 54-40 in the 2nd Round of the EBAL Girls Basketball tournament, the Gaels dropped a 54-53 Quarterfinal contest at Monte Vista. The Mustangs scored the winning points in the final seconds after Dublin nearly overcame a 12-point 4th quarter deficit to nearly pull off the upset.
Dublin finished the regular season 16-12 overall and may end up getting one more opportunity against Monte Vista in the NCS Quarterfinals depending upon the committee’s seedings on Selection Sunday. The Gaels are projected to be a #5 or #6 seed in Division 1, and this will be Dublin’s 19th appearance in the past 20 NCS playoff tournaments.
Another team awaiting their fate on Selection Sunday is the Girls Soccer team. The Gaels finished the regular season 5-5-5 overall after winning its season finale 2-1 at Dougherty Valley to end the year with an NCS qualifying record. Considering that Dublin posted ties against the top teams in Division 1 (Amador Valley and Carondelet) along with having a robust strength of schedule and other positive results against top teams, Dublin will likely be seeded somewhere between 9-12 despite finishing with a .500 record.
Brackets will likely be posted at around Noon on Sunday, February 11th on the NCS website at www.cifncs.org. More details will be posted on the Dublin High Athletics website later that day or the following morning.
