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Burns leads way with 25 points and 14 boards 

The Berkeley Yellowjackets pounded the offensive glass and played tenacious defense on Friday night against the Pinole Valley Spartans, and it looked as if that would be enough to get them through. But to hand the Spartans their first league loss, the ’Jackets needed a bit of help from Lady Luck right at the end. 

Berkeley senior Lee Franklin put his team up 56-52 with two free throws with 14 seconds left in regulation, seeming to ice the victory. But Pinole Valley’s John Chapple sped down the floor for a score, then snagged the inbounds pass and put up a wide-open layup that would have tied the game. Unbelievably, his shot rimmed out at the buzzer to give the ’Jackets (14-7, 8-1 ACCAL) a spot top of the league standings with a 56-54 win. 

“I guess someone up there wanted us to win tonight, because that ball just rolled right out,” Franklin said. 

“That’s not exactly how we drew it up, but we’ll take it today,” Berkeley head coach Mike Gragnani said of the last-second dramatics. 

Berkeley was in position to win largely because of their work on defense and rebounding. Franklin, who had four steals in the first quarter, and Dontae Hall put constant pressure on the Pinole Valley guards in a full-court effort, causing numerous turnovers, and the ’Jackets dominated the offensive boards, with senior Damien Burns keeping his team alive with putbacks all night. In all, the ’Jackets out-boarded Pinole Valley 39-28. 

Burns scored a game-high 25 points to go with 14 rebounds, saving his biggest performance of the year for his team’s biggest game of the year. 

“This win means an awful lot to us,” Burns said. “We’ve been looked over all season. All the newspapers were picking Pinole Valley over us. Now they’ll have to give us respect.” 

Berkeley forward Nate Simmons had a productive night with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Franklin scored 7 points. Chapple led the Spartans with 22 points, and Decoud pitched in with 12. 

Looking at the Berkeley roster, one would expect Franklin and Burns to be leaders of the team as the seniors with the most playing time. But neither played for Berkeley last season, and Gragnani said he has been waiting all year for someone to take the reins of the team. 

“We’ve had a huge void in leadership this whole year,” Gragnani said. “Damien’s learning what it means to lead, and Lee’s natural leadership is finally starting to come out. Those two put us on their shoulders tonight. I can’t say enough about them.” 

Gragnani’s team almost managed to blow a lead they had maintained since the first quarter. After Pinole Valley’s Thomas Decoud put his team up 7-2 with a thunderous dunk, Berkeley turned it on. Burns got a tip-in and a short jumper, then Simmons scored on a drive to give his team an 8-7 lead. They sustained that lead, which grew as large as 10 points in the second half, until there were just four minutes left in regulation. 

But Berkeley’s aggressive defense usually means a lot of fouls, and Friday was no different, with Pinole Valley (14-4, 7-1) reaching the bonus late in the third quarter. After Decoud hit the Spartans’ first 3-pointer of the game to pull within 46-44, he tied the game 48-48 with two free throws. The momentum seemed to be swinging Pinole Valley’s way, but Burns pulled his team back from the brink of disaster. He got a putback on a Franklin miss, then blocked a shot by Gary Shields that Simmons took to the other end for a layup and a four-point lead.  

Berkeley point guard Shawn Burl hit a free throw to put his team up 53-48, but the Spartans refused to fold. Duran Davis got a putback of his own to pull within three, and Shields had two chances to tie the game with wide-open 3-pointers. But he missed both, the second going over the backboard to give Berkeley possession. Davis stole the ensuing inbounds pass, but threw up a wild bomb that missed badly, and Burns grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 30 seconds left. He made one free throw to give the ’Jackets some breathing room, but Chapple came right back with a driving layup to pull within two, sending Franklin to the line with the weight of the game on his shoulders. 

Although Pinole Valley head coach Mark Deluca called two straight time-outs before letting Franklin shoot his charity shots, the Berkeley three-sport star was well-prepared. The freshman game that started the day was delayed 40 minutes by a late-arriving referee, then an altercation during the junior varsity game pushed the varsity game back even further. Franklin spent the spare time at the free throw line, working on his shot. 

“They tried to ice me, but I spent about an hour-and-a-half before the game just knocking down free throws,” he said with a smile. “I was ready.” 

“If there’s someone we want on the line in that situation, it’s Lee,” Gragnani said. “He’s a money player.” 

With Pinole Valley winning the first meeting, the two teams are tied at the top of the ACCAL. The Spartans won a coin flip before the season for a tie-breaker for the league’s automatic bid into the North Coast Section playoffs, meaning they will get the bid if they win the rest of their games. But Deluca said both teams deserve a spot in the playoffs, no matter who wins the title. 

“I think our league is a lot stronger than most people give it credit for,” he said. “The bottom line is that we’re both going to be difficult teams to deal with in the playoffs.”