SAN PABLO – For the first time in a long time, Salesian was not the best team on the floor.
Despite more energy and made shots in the second half, the Pride could not overcome a 25-point game from St. Joseph’s-Santa Maria forward Tounde Yessoufou and fell 76-67 on Saturday at the Crush in the Valley showcase at Contra Costa College.
Elias Obenyah led Salesian with 20 points, six rebounds, two assists and four steals. Carlton Perrilliat had 19 points and three rebounds.
St. Joseph’s guard Julius Price scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out seven assists. Gunner Morinini added 14 points.
“We’re just not good enough yet,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. “We still got some work to do and they were just better than us. We didn’t play very good defense, we didn’t rebound very well, we didn’t make very many shots. But that had a lot more to do with them, probably than anything.
“We lost to a good team.”
A plethora of turnovers from Salesian in the first half gave St. Joseph’s a comfortable lead after two quarters.
The Knights took a seven-point lead after the first quarter and grew that advantage into the second. An easy layup from Julius Price gave St. Joseph’s a 26-14 lead early in the second. Salesian ended the second quarter strong to only go down nine at the half.
Salesian came out of the halftime break fired up, going on a 12-3 run to cut the St. Joseph’s lead to just two points early in the third. But it was all St. Joseph’s from there.
The Knights took an eight-point lead into halftime and started the fourth quarter on a 11-4 run, fueled by three 3-pointers from Morinini.
A Price 3-pointer with under three minutes to go in the game gave the Santa Maria school a 15-point lead – its largest of the game – and closed the door on any Salesian comeback
Despite the comfortable win, Yessoufou said he respected Salesian competed all night.
“They share the ball and play together,” Yessoufou, a Baylor commit, said. “You know, they went to the state championship for a reason. We knew coming in it wouldn’t be an easy game.”
Mellis knew Yessoufou would get his points, but said the gameplan was to stop the other four players on the court – something the Pride struggled with all night.
“We weren’t going to stop him,” Mellis said. “It was more about stopping the other guys and we didn’t do that. We just needed to do a better job on those guys.”
There is still uncertainty to whether or not St. Joseph’s will be put in the northern or southern section of the state playoff brackets, but both teams would welcome another rematch down the line.
“I would play against anyone, anytime and any day,” Yessoufou said about a possible rematch in the NorCal playoffs. “For me it’s about playing the best competition.”
“Hopefully we see them down the road,” Mellis said. “We’re gonna have to perform well in NCS and get ourselves into the open in NorCal to see them again. But that’s where we want to be, and that’s the tournament that we strive to be in. If we’re going to get there, we have to play better than what we played tonight and against teams of similar calibers.”
St. Joseph-Santa Maria’s Tounde Yessoufou (24) goes up for a basket against Salesian’s Carlton Perrilliat (21) in the second half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. St. Joseph-Santa Maria defeated Salesian 76-67. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
St. Joseph-Santa Maria’s Tounde Yessoufou (24) drives the ball against Salesian in the second half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. St. Joseph-Santa Maria defeated Salesian 76-67. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
St. Joseph-Santa Maria’s Tounde Yessoufou (24) shoots a free-throw against Salesian in the second half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. St. Joseph-Santa Maria defeated Salesian 76-67. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
St. Joseph-Santa Maria’s Tounde Yessoufou (24) dribbles the ball against Salesian in the second half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. St. Joseph-Santa Maria defeated Salesian 76-67. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Salesian’s Elias Obenyah (2) dives for a loose ball in front of St. Joseph-Santa Maria’s Julius Price (1) in the first half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Salesian’s Carlton Perrilliat (21) shoots past St. Joseph-Santa Maria’s Tounde Yessoufou (24) in the first half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Salesian’s Carlton Perrilliat (21) goes up for a basket against St. Joseph-Santa Maria in the first half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Salesian’s Carlton Perrilliat (21) goes up for a basket against St. Joseph-Santa Maria in the first half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Salesian’s Carlton Perrilliat (21) goes up for a dunk against St. Joseph-Santa Maria in the first half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Salesian head coach Bill Mellis gestures to his players while playing St. Joseph-Santa Maria in the second half of their game during the 10th annual Crush in the Valley High School Basketball showcase at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. St. Joseph-Santa Maria defeated Salesian 76-67. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Redwood 54, No. 9 Moreau Catholic 50
Cal commit Semetri Carr scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as Redwood defeated Moreau in what could be a crucial game that decides section seeding in a few weeks. Kellen Hampton totaled 15 points and hauled in nine boards. Sophomore Isaiah Clendinen had 11 points and four assists. Moreau (15-4, 8-0) travels to James Logan on Wednesday.
No. 20 St. Mary’s-Berkeley 85, Fortune Early College High School 52
Sophomore Donovan Mikel filled up the stat sheet to lead St. Mary’s to its third straight win. Mikel scored 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots for the Panthers, who improved to 17-5. Julian Hendrson added 15 points and five rebounds. St. Mary’s will travel to Bethel on Tuesday.
Bishop O’Dowd 73, Benicia 40
The Dragons cruised to a 33-point victory behind 19 points from senior Josh Green. Green made 5 of 9 of his 3-pointers to lead O’Dowd, which improved to 11-8. Benicia is now 11-10 and has dropped its last two games.
