CONCORD — Alec Blair garners much of the attention and headlines for De La Salle. He has pretty much since his freshman season. But the Spartans are not just about one guy, even one as good as their 6-foot-6 do-it-all junior.
On a night in which Blair labored from a nasty cough, top-seeded De La Salle needed someone else to step up down the stretch in an East Bay Athletic League semifinal against Dublin.
David Balogun, another 6-6 junior, answered the call.
The big fella scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter on Thursday night as host De La Salle survived 63-59 to advance to final on Saturday at home against San Ramon Valley, which thumped second-seeded Granada 80-56 in the other semifinal.
“We really had to step up,” Balogun said.
No one did that more over the final eight minutes than the reserve power forward.
With Dublin leading 46-42 after three periods, Balogun began the final quarter with a putback, then grabbed a defensive rebound and scored on another putback, drawing a foul along the way.
When Balogun sank the free throw, De La Salle led 47-46.
After another defensive stop, the ball found Balogun again, this time along the perimeter. He let it fly against what is normally a red stop light for him, knocking down a 3-pointer that made it 50-46.
“He’s a load, man,” De La Salle coach Marcus Schroeder said. “He’s so strong. He’s an incredible rebounder. His ball goes in a lot. His three was a ‘no, no, no, no, yes!’ He was incredible.”
Arshawn Salkhi wasn’t too bad, either.
The senior sharpshooter was feeling it big time in this one, especially after Dublin (21-8) delivered the first punch to take a double-digit advantage in the first quarter.
Salkhi led all scorers with 20 points, burying four 3-pointers in the first half and two more in the second. His three at the end of the opening period cut what had been a 15-4 deficit to 17-15.
“I just take what the defense gives me and trust my work,” Salkhi said. “I feel like I’ve worked harder on my shot than anyone in the state. That’s where my confidence comes from.”
Blair fought his way to the finish line, subbing out far more than he typically does but still managing to score 16 points.
He delivered the dagger shot with just under a minute to go. Isolated one-on-one against a smaller defender, Blair made a shake-and-bake move near the free throw line and hit a jumper that made it 61-57.
“It took us a second to get going,” Schroeder said. “Once he kind of got his legs under him, we started playing better. But you know what, we took another great punch from Dublin in the third quarter, got down seven and we punched back. We seem to make it a habit of making big plays in the fourth quarter. That’s a credit to all of our players.”
Dublin won’t be going to the EBAL final but will move on to the North Coast Section playoffs next week, presumably as a high seed in Division I.
Given how the Gaels played in the second half Wednesday against Dougherty Valley and the entire game Thursday, they will not be an easy out for anyone.
Jalen Stokes led Dublin with 16 points before fouling out with 1:47 left. The Gaels also got 14 points from Evan Bautista and 12 from Cameron Anderson.
“A couple of tough breaks,” Dublin coach Tom Costello said about the outcome. “A couple of things you can’t control. You know what that means. There were some interesting things that happened. Some weird angles.”
De La Salle (24-3) now has one day off to get Blair healthy before facing San Ramon Valley, a team the Spartans beat 60-58 last week.
“A lot of soup, a lot of IV, a lot of Pedialyte,” Schroeder said. “We’ve got to get him ready. That will be an awesome championship game.”
