History was made Thursday at River Islands, with the boys basketball team wrapping up Central California Athletic Alliance play undefeated with a 71-43 win over Ben Holt College Prep Academy.
Earlier the night, Riptide girls punched their first-ever ticket into the playoffs with a 40-34 win over the Bobcats.
“This is just awesome,” boys coach Justin Graham said. “One of our goals was to win league, but winning all of them feels pretty nice.
“I keep telling the kids the job is not done and we have more work to do. I am very proud of this accomplishment — one of the first league championships in school history. This is something they will be able to take with them forever, which is really, really cool, and I am looking forward to playoffs.”
Charles Mapanao (17 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals) set the tone for River Islands (8-0 CCAA, 17-11 overall) when he started the game with three consecutive 3-pointers for an early 9-0 lead.
“My play comes from confidence,” Mapanao said. “I have the coach’s trust and everyone’s trust, and that helps me to shoot better.
“I try to help my teammates out this time, because it was senior night and some players got their first points ever. I just wanted to focus on having a good night.”
A sophomore, Zachary Basurto (13 points) has a ways to go before his senior night, but his seven-point second quarter helped the Riptide get out to a 38-25 halftime lead.
“It was high energy out there,” Basurto said. “I loved it, and it was a great night.
“My team was really helping me out, and I just went out there and did my thing.”
Dylan Peter flirted with a double-double for River Islands with eight points and eight rebounds Darius Radoc Factoran added six points and 10 rebounds, and George Dayeh chipped in nine points and five rebounds. Amav Ragbotra brought the house down when he scored the last points of the night, his first points of the year.
Ben Holt’s Asa Gonsalves led all scorers with 18 points. Samson Helsby chipped in 12 points for the Bobcats (3-5, 15-11).
As a result of their third place finish in league, the Riptide girls will most likely have a play-in game on Monday.
“This is the first time in school history the girls are playoff bound,” River Islands coach Jessica Hutton said. “This feels amazing.
“We went from being the last-place team last year to now making playoffs. We are growing by leaps and bounds, and it is only going to go up from here.”
The score was tied 18-18 at halftime and River Islands (5-5, 10-17) started the third period on a 12-3 run, holding on for the six-point win.
Octavia Orndoff led the Riptide with 14 points.
“It was really fun watching our seniors get to play in their last home game,” Orndoff said. “It was a close game, closer than last time, but everyone had fun and we worked together to get the win.”
Veronica Erilim chipped in 13 points for River Islands.
“Tonight we played really hard for our senior night,” Erilim said. “We showed a lot of determination and power and we a worked together to win.”
The pairings for the Sac-Joaquin Section basketball playoffs will be announced on Saturday.
