SAN RAMON — Dublin was still waiting for the switch to ignite as it went into halftime in this East Bay Athletic League quarterfinal.
Through six quarters in Dougherty Valley’s gym the past five days, the Gaels had managed a measly 52 points. They were held to 32 in a loss on Friday and 20 in the first half Wednesday.
Something had to change — and fast.
It did.
Led by Cameron Anderson’s and-one three-point play to start the third quarter, Dublin turned the game around and went on to a defeat Dougherty Valley 64-53 to advance to the semifinals on Thursday night at top-seeded De La Salle.
“It’s a big secret,” Dublin coach Tom Costello said about his halftime address. “We just tried to motivate each other a little bit, the power of positivity. Our guys woke up. It was gut-check time.
“We had three halves of just kind of mediocre basketball. Nothing against Dougherty at all. They’re very good. But we didn’t really play to our strengths. We finally figured that out in the third quarter.”
Anderson, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, took charge coming out of the locker room, scoring the first seven points in a 12-0 run that gave the visitors a lead they did not surrender.
Trailing 28-20 at halftime, Dublin outscored Dougherty 17-5 in the third quarter and eventually widened the advantage to 10 with six minutes to go.
“At halftime, (coach) was saying we have to move the ball more and feeding all of our teammates,” Anderson said. “Definitely after halftime we started sharing it a lot more than we were in the first half.”
Dougherty (17-10) had no choice but to launch three-pointers and foul down the stretch in a comeback attempt. But Dublin (22-7) was up to the challenge at the free-throw line, making 15 of 17 in the final quarter and 20 of 24 for the game.
Jalen Stokes led the Gaels with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Anderson had 15 points — 13 after halftime — and Isaiah Wong added 11 points. Wong was 8 for 8 from the foul line in the final period.
“We really emphasized energy on defense and moving the ball on offense,” Stokes said. “They were loading up in the perimeter, so we had to feed our big man.”
Dougherty, which beat Dublin 45-32 on Friday to earn the home game Wednesday, had three players score in double figures in the rematch: Jayden Doty (15), Chris Fallgren (12) and Kenny Cloud (11).
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The Wildcats won’t play again until the North Coast Section playoffs start next week.
Dublin moves on to play its third game in three days when it faces De La Salle, which as one of the top two seeds in the EBAL tournament had byes until the semifinals.
The Gaels beat Amador Valley 91-51 on Tuesday.
Will Dublin be ready for Thursday?
“I think we’re motivated and we’re hungry,” Stokes said.
