File photo – Liam Dyer

Only one H-DNL boys basketball program has ever won a North Coast Section and NorCal championship in the same year, and now they’ll get a chance to do it again.

On Saturday night, the St. Bernard’s Crusaders traveled to Merced and came away with a clutch 70-60 victory over Stone Ridge Christian in their NorCal Division-6 semifinal to set up a championship showdown on Tuesday night.

But they’ll have to have to travel for the decider once again, after the top seeds in the eight-team tournament, the Redding Christina Lions, also won on Saturday, comfortably defeating St. Vincent de Paul 57-38 in the other semifinal.

The win was an impressive one for the No. 3 SB boys, who showed bo ill-effects from the long trip and led for much of the night.

Even more impressively, they held their nerve late in the game, when the No. 2 Knights inevitably made their run in the second half to put pressure on the visitors.

But try as they may, the hosts could not rattle the Crusaders, a team that features no seniors and one that is playing beyond its years this postseason.

Through their five playoff games, the SB boys have won every game by double digits at an average of 20 points a game.

Playing in front of a large crowd on Saturday night, the Crusaders never trailed by more than three points.

The Knights held a slender one-point advantage after the opening quarter, but a Liam Dyer 3-pointer less than two minutes into the second period gave the visitors a four-point edge and they never trailed again for the remainder of the night.

Two successful Dyer free throws going into the break stretched the lead to nine, and although the Stone Ridge boys would claw their way back to within two points after a 9-2 run to start the third quarter, the Crusaders weathered the storm and quickly settled back into the game.

They then went on a 10-3 run, capped by a Garrett Shanahan put-back, to stretch the advantage back out to nine and they led by six going into the fourth.

The game, of course, was still in the balance at that stage, but every time the Knights tried to go on a run, the Crusaders had an answer.

File photo

A crucial Luke Brunton basket midway through the final period put the Crusaders up by 11 points, which was their biggest lead of the night, and even though the host school would pull within five twice in the final 74 seconds thanks to two clutch 3s, the visitors were able to seal the deal with some clutch free throws of their own down the stretch.

The Crusaders hit 7 of 10 from the charity stripe in the final 1:14, with Prince Latimer nailing 5 of 8 attempts.

Latimer also scored on a layup in the final minute after pouncing quickly on a loose ball.

The loss ended a 21-game winning streak for the Stone Ridge boys, who closed out their season 24-9.

With the win, the Crusaders improved to 24-5.

The Crusaders previously won both an NCS championship and NorCal title in the same season in 2022, which was head coach Issac Gildea’s first season in charge of the program.

They won back-to-back road games on the way to that NorCal title, including a two-point win at Redding Christian in the semifinal and a 48-34 victory at Weed in the decider.

The only other H-DNL boys team to ever win a NorCal title, according to CIF records, was the 2000 Hoopa Warriors.

Tuesday’s final will be the end of the road one way or the other for St. Bernard’s, as the CIF does not hold a SoCal or state championship game in Division 6, making the big showdown a de facto state decider.

More reaction and statistics to follow.

File photo