Nueva falls in CCS D5 finals

Eastside Prep senior Isaiah Saams-Hoy didn’t miss a beat, scoring a game-high 31 points. And any time Nueva got any kind of momentum on offense, Saams-Hoy had an answer with strong ups, fast releases and an impeccable tenacity to play wire to wire.

“He had an answer to everything,” Nueva head coach Chris Brandin said. “That’s a legit player. He scored most of their points and carried them all season. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t come up and play big in the championship game, and he did. That’s a credit to him. And congratulations to Eastside.”

Eastside Prep (20-7) is built to last, even with just six players on its roster.

Endurance, however, was never an issue, especially with Nueva in foul trouble all day. While no Mavericks fouled out, big men Cooper Mills and David Shields each played with four fouls down the stretch. And with the Panthers getting in the double bonus with two minutes remaining in regulation, they took six trips to the foul line from there.

Not only did the late free-throw game leave Nueva looking uphill at a big deficit, but it allowed Eastside Prep to consistently rest its legs late in the contest.

“If the deficit was a little bit less, we would have used our trapping press,” Brandin said. “We just didn’t have time to let them get the ball across half court six possession in a row. So, we just had to come after them.”

Nueva forward Kyle McGraw showed why he was the Private School Athletic League North Division Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, especially in the fourth quarter. The senior scored a team-high 20 points, 10 of them coming in the final period.

The closest the Mavericks got in the closing period was 48-41 with two minutes to play when McGraw sidestepped a defender and crushed it from downtown for one of his five 3-pointers. He would hit one more, as would his younger brother, freshman guard Connor McGraw, but Eastside Prep kept answering, as was the case all morning.

“We hit shots in the fourth,” Brandin said. “We just didn’t hit enough in the first three quarters.”

Kyle McGraw started strong, scoring seven points in the first quarter. The Mavericks were down by the slimmest of margins, 12-11, heading into the second.

The Panthers, though, opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run. Kyle McGraw scored Nueva’s first points of the period with 3:14 remaining in the half on another athletic, side-step 3 to close the deficit to 18-14. But Saams-Hoy fired right back with a 3 from up top. The senior went on to close the half with a step-back 17-foot jumper to send Eastside Prep into halftime up 25-16.

After the break, Eastside Prep’s defense did another number on Nueva, as the Mavericks needed three minutes to score their first points of the second half.

“Pretty much we’ve been playing great defense all year,” Panthers head coach Donovan Blythe said. “That’s what we work on in practice, getting stops. If you can get stops, you have a chance to win every night. So, I’ve got these guys believing in playing defense.”

Nueva refused to go away though. And when Connor McGraw powered to the bucket to score an exciting and-1 midway through the fourth quarter, drawing the Mavericks within 8, it seemed the small San Mateo private school program might have a big comeback left in them.

Eastside Prep, though, proved it is a team on a mission. And hoisting its eighth all-time CCS trophy — but first under Blythe — is only a stepping-stone for the small East Palo Alto private school’s ultimate vision.

“This is not what they want,” Blythe said. “This is a stop. But you have to stop here in order to move on.”

The CIF State Basketball Championships open Tuesday, with both Eastside Prep and Nueva advancing. Nueva enters as the No. 12 seed in the CIF Division V bracket, and will travel to No. 5 Liberty-Madera Tuesday for a 7 p.m. start. The winner will face either No. 4 Eastside Prep or No. 13 Williams, who meet Tuesday in East Palo Alto at 7 p.m.

Brandin said it was a tangible goal from the outset of the season to reach the state tournament. It has been a fast ascent for the upstart for Nueva, a school that has had a varsity basketball program for just four years, and has been CCS and CIF eligible for only three.

Mills and Kyle McGraw, the team’s only two seniors, have both played at Nueva since the inaugural 2015-16 season. The two have played together since sixth-grade at Nueva Middle School, and have been coached by Brandin since seventh-grade.

“It’s been a wild ride,” Mills said.

In its first year of CCS eligibility, Nueva reached the CCS Division V tournament, only to be knocked out in the quarterfinals by eventual section and Northern California champion St. Francis-Watsonville.

“That was the year we realized we could be a really legitimate team,” Mills said.

The Mavericks have now made three CCS tournament appearances in three years. And Brandin is optimistic the team will keep the streak going next season, despite the graduation of Mills and Kyle McGraw.

“They’ve been a big part of this program from day one, and we’ll miss them,” Brandin said. “But we reload. We only lose two seniors. So, we’ve got a bulk of the team coming back. We’ve got a full JV squad and we’ve got a couple more coming in. So, we’re looking for big things next season from this group.”