Piedmont will face St. Patrick-St. Vincent
Piedmont High School’s boys basketball team overcame a third quarter scoring drought to rally back for a 60-53 win over visiting Windsor on February 26 in the North Coast Section Division 4 semifinals.
The Highlanders advanced to the championship game on March 1 against St. Patrick-St. Vincent at the new gymnasium at San Leandro. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m.
P.J. Brayer scored 19 points to lead Piedmont, including 11 in the second quarter. Dillon Casey also had 19 points, with 12 coming in the fourth quarter.
Piedmont’s Dillon Casey (12) drives to the hole during an NCS Division 4 semifinal on February 26. The Highlanders defeated Windsor, 60-53. 
Windsor’s Charlie Kramer (20) loses control of the ball as Piedmont’s P.J. Brayer (24) and Cash Panico (23) defend during an NCS playoff game. 
Piedmont’s P.J. Brayer (white, left) passes out to Cash Panico (23) while Windsor’s Charlie Kramer defends during the Highlanders 60-53 playoff victory.
Ravi Silverberg scored 17 for the Highlanders, making seven of nine free throws in the fourth quarter. More important, Silverberg and Windsor’s Zakk Woolsey were guarding each other and Silverberg held Woolsey to two points.
“I’m glad the coaches have confidence in me,” Silverberg said. “My teammates trusted me, they were in help all day long. So I didn’t have to worry about the drive because they would step in.
“He can shoot from anywhere. You never could leave him because he could pull up from volleyball line or deeper than that. But he still attacks so I had to be aware of both.”
Said Highlanders coach Ben Spencer, “The stud of the game was Ravi Silverberg. He was guarding their best player. He was unbelievable. He wanted that role. He held him to two. We won the game because of Ravi Silverberg tonight.”
The first half was back-and-forth with Piedmont emerging with a 28-25 lead. With Silverberg shutting down Woolsey, a good chunk of the Jaguars offense came from the 3-point line – they made five in the half.
The Highlanders built a 36-28 lead in the third quarter but then Charlie Kramer single-handedly rallied Windsor.
“We were starting to play really well, about to put it away,” Spencer said. “So I called timeout and challenged the guys to get stops defensively.”
Said Silverberg, “It was definitely a little bit nervous but I kept confidence. They gave us a punch, but I knew it was our turn to come right back and get our own run.”
In the fourth quarter, Piedmont righted the ship. Lucian Fang Ring hit a 3-pointer that put the Highlanders up six.
“It gave us some breathing room and it gave me confidence if we could make one more stop we could put the game away,” Silverberg said.
This will be the third NCS final for Piedmont in six years. The Highlanders won the Division 4 championship for their only NCS title in school history in 2020 and made the Division 3 title game where they lost to University last year. Piedmont came into the playoffs on a four-game losing streak and with a mundane 12-14 record.
“Our guys just have a lot of heart,” Spencer said. “I said a few weeks ago that heart doesn’t win you games. It can get you far. We’ve got to play good basketball. We lost four in a row coming into postseason, we were pretty low and just in two weeks, we’re on Cloud 9. A lot of that is we have the heart, but we’ve actually started to play good basketball.”
Said Silverberg, “All of us are going to be very locked in for Saturday. That’s what we dream of. One more game. Championship.”
