Jesuit Basketball Stuns De La Salle- How Far Can They Go?

CONCORD - There are two teams left in Northern California playing high school basketball and the Marauders of Carmichael are one of them.

The Marauders, , stunned top-ranked De La Salle on Tuesday 44-41, thanks to stingy defense, making big shots and all-around standout performances from its group of seniors.

Parker Uu led the Marauders (28-6) with 12 points and Bryce Pressley added nine. Akachi Okugo finished with seven points, Kurt Parker had six and Brian Glodowski chipped in with five.

The NCAA Tournament may have begun Tuesday but forgive Jesuit if they feel their own sense of March Madness as they're in California's version of the Final Four.

"It's crazy," said Uu, after his team shocked the longtime state and national powerhouse Spartans (28-3), whom The Sacramento Bee reported entered with an 18-game winning streak and as a program have won five Northern California titles including 2011 and been in the title game 11 times. Jesuit, by comparison, is in only its fifth Nor Cal final ever, having made it in 1993, 1994, 2000 and in the mid-2000s.

"We seniors are trying to go as far as we can so I knew I had to go off tonight," Uu said as his Marauders teammates and fans celebrated around him.

Jesuit showed it came to play from the start, as the Big Red frustrated De La Salle on offense, closing off passing lanes and forcing them into no made field goals in the first quarter and turnovers. The Marauders started on a 7-0 run and didn't let the Spartans get their first point until 2:20 left in the first, ending the quarter up 10-4.

De La Salle finally was able to make back-door cuts and the low-scoring affair was tied at 14 at halftime.

A big factor on the night was that Jesuit was able to contain Spartans junior guard Elliot Pitts, whom The Bee reported has received national recruiting attention, and hold him scoreless until there was 1:22 left in the third quarter and finishing with five points on the night. But De La Salle still led 30-21 entering the fourth.

The Big Red charged back with big shots from Uu, Parker and a go-ahead three pointer by Okugo with about 35 seconds left. After Jesuit got the ball back from De La Salle, Pressley was fouled and hit two clutch free throws for the final score.

"I just knew we would win tonight, as a team," Pressley said. "We're not going to lose (Saturday); we're going all the way (to the state championship, set for March 24 with the North champ facing the South winner)."

Senior guard Amadi Udenyi led the Spartans with 19 points.

"My guys played defense real well tonight," Harcos said. "I trusted in those guys to make plays; I'm really proud of everyone tonight... they showed a willingness to sacrifice and go for it."

It was this group of seniors' biggest win at Jesuit -so far.

The Marauders will play for the Northern California championship on Saturday at Power Balance Pavilion against- who else? - their toughest rival and Delta River League foe, the Sheldon Huskies, which beat McClymonds of Oakland at home on Tuesday.

Sheldon has against the two teams, including three .

"I want to beat them," Uu said matter-of-factly.

After coming close in the teams' last two matchups, Jesuit players and coaches must feel that they are overdue for a win Saturday.

"We've been on the short end of the stick," coach Greg Harcos said. "Hopefully, this (win) gets us going."

It will be historic as two Sacramento teams will for the first time face off for the prestigious large-school championship, The Bee reported. This will be the first time since regional championships began in 1982 that an East Bay team will not participate in the NorCal Division I championship game, The Oakland Tribune reported.

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