Nueva snaps Pacific Bay’s 73-game league win streak

With the win, Nueva moves into sole possession of first place in the PSAL North, one game ahead of second-place Pacific Bay. The two teams meet once more this season in the regular-season finale Feb. 12 at Pacific Bay Christian in Pacifica.

“They were definitely disappointed,” Pacific Bay head coach Mark Bermudez said. “… But, it’s like I told them, even the chance at a league title is still there.”

Nueva School hadn’t even opened the doors of its current San Mateo campus when Pacific Bay’s winning streak started. Win No. 1 of the streak came Feb. 5, 2013 at Mid-Peninsula, when Pacific Bay was still known at Alma Heights Christian; the school changed its name to Pacific Bay Christian prior to this school year.

The Eagles went on to win the PSAL championship in 2012-13, and followed by going undefeated in league the next five seasons, earning six straight league titles.

Most of the Eagles’ 73 wins were blowouts. There were a few close ones along the way though. Jan. 9, 2015, with the streak at 20 wins, the Eagles went to overtime to defeated Summit Prep 56-52. In 2016-17, the Eagles finished the regular season with two close ones, getting past Nueva 62-60 on Feb. 7, 2016, then two days later topping Jewish Community 46-42.

Then last season, in a 57-55 win over Summit Shasta, the Eagles overcame a four-point deficit with one minute to go by finishing on a 6-0 run.

“We had some tight ones,” Bermudez said. “These guys, they refuse to lose sometimes.”

It took a standout performance from Nueva forward Kyle McGraw to stop the streak this season. The senior scored a game-high 32 points to counter Pacific Bay’s wonky shooting night. The Eagles shot just 37 percent from the field, led by center Dwight Bumgarner’s 18 points. Junior guard Diego Sotto was just 2 of 9 from the field for six points.

“You want to keep it going,” Bermudez said. “But the real big goal is … we want to make a run at it in [the Central Coast Section playoffs].”

Bermudez stacked a tough non-league schedule against his Eagles this season. Pacific Bay lost eight straight non-league games to start the year.

“They knew that was just going to make them better,” Bermudez said.

Bermudez took over the Eagles’ basketball program in 2009-10. It was the first season for the modern program. Then Alma Heights, the team had existed before, but as an even smaller school than it is now, with its basketball team rivaling nearby Highlands. In 2009-10, the two private schools merged under the Alma Heights banner.

It took four years for the Eagles to ascend to the top of the PSAL North, but it was at the beginning of that 2012-13 season — with just one senior on the roster in 5-10 center Ben Yeeles — that Bermudez realized his program was on the rise.

“I could tell that was the year we could really get something going,” Bermudez said.

This year’s squad is reminiscent of the 2012-13 in terms of youth. Only, this season, Pacific Bay has no seniors on roster. Of its 12 players, nine are juniors, two are sophomores and one — Bumgarner’s younger brother Dietrich — is a freshman.

“We’re a younger team this year,” Bermudez said. “Absolutely no seniors.”

Since their loss last week, the Eagles have already started a new streak, winning three straight in taking down Mid-Peninsula, Design Tech and Drew-SF.