SARATOGA -- Only one school has reached the 3C2A Elite 8 in each of the last five seasons. It's not the City College of San Francisco, the North's top seed and reigning state champion. It's not Fullerton, last years' runner up and the top seed in the South. It's West Valley, which reached its fifth straight 3C2A Elite 8 after a near-perfect second half against a very strong Yuba College team in a rematch of the 2024 Final Four.

The Vikings (24-6, 10-2 Coast-South) led by just a couple of points going into the second half but became completely lockdown in the games' final 20 minutes just a week after an incredible all-around performance against the College of San Mateo. The 49ers (22-8, 14-2 Bay Valley) seemed to be rolling early on, but stalled as the West Valley defense picked up its intensity. In the end, West Valley won its tenth-straight game, all by double-digits, in a 75-58 takedown.

"We are consistent," said Viking head coach Danny Yoshikawa. "I think that's what we do. I think that's what we are. You watch our style of play. You watch how we guard people. We're pretty consistent with what we do. And I think that's just a derivative of being a consistent program."

West Valley opened the game with quick tempo, as sophomore guard CJ Willenborg pushed a pass to freshman Isaiah Ackerman on the wing, and with a quick touch he found an open Caleb Asante in the paint who scored the Vikings' first points of the game. But Yuba and the Vikings traded baskets early on from there, with Aidan Triplett and Kanyon Rice creating shots for the 49ers. Early on, Yuba sophomore Austin Ito nailed a couple of contested 3's from plays that just had that kind of feel to them, like nothing could go wrong for the 49ers. 

"Our whole game plan," said Yoshikawa, "was [to not] give them 3's, and we gave them 3's. And we can't let their drivers drive, and we can't let their shooters shoot, and we did that. Drivers drove and made baskets, and shooters shot and made baskets, and that's why we gave up so many points."

The Vikings and 49ers went back-and-forth for the first half, as Yuba pushed its lead to a game-high five with around ten minutes to go in the first half. But Asante, who finished the win with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, continued to attack the interior while William Amoah played off of Asante with the high-low game that the two have become in sync with in the seasons' second half.

It was evident from the beginning that the 49ers would have either Isaiah Chandavong or Ito one-on-one with the Vikings' top shooter, Ryan Roth, who was over 50-percent over his last stretch of games from beyond the arc. But with just under five minutes remaining in the first, Roth drilled his first 3 of the game, and Willenborg followed with his a couple of possessions later. Both were huge for the Vikings, who had traded 2's for 3's for a majority of the period but showed they could hang with the big dogs on the outside right before the half.

"[Willenborg and Roth] are two of the best shooters in the state," said Yoshikawa. "We're just focusing on getting stops. I never really felt like we were in control of the game until the second half. And even then, I think we were up 15, and I didn't even know it. You know, I just felt like, 'hey, let's just keep getting stops.' That was the deal, and sometimes they went on a run, we went on a run. They're just a good team. So we kind of just talked about it, and I just think our guys kind of locked in. A lot of times it takes these guys a half to figure out, even though they know what they're playing against, it just takes them a half to figure out how to guard them."

'Getting stops' is exactly what the Vikings did in the second half. West Valley entered the final 20 minutes with a 38-36 lead, one that was just 46-42 five minutes into the second half. But picking off of the strong perimeter shooting from the first half, freshman guard Antonio Kellogg Jr. (who himself had been over 40-percent from beyond the arc in his latest stretch of games) got a friendly bounce on a right-win triple to spark a 13-4 Vikings run, finally getting them some separation. 

From there, Asante's efficiency was the motor for the Vikings offense. They used him both in the high post as a facilitator and, when the defense sagged off of him, as a guaranteed two points. With 18 points, five rebounds and three assists, it was by far the best postseason game of Asante's two seasons in Saratoga.

"He's a really good player," said Yoshikawa. "In big games, your sophomores have to play well. Honestly, I think we got a little lucky because CJ didn't play well. It's amazing what that would be like if CJ played well, but [Asante is a] quiet assassin. He's not demonstrative, he's not loud, but he is a sneaky, sneaky competitor. Everyone focuses on what he does offensively, but they don't see what he does defensively. He's one of the best defenders in the state, maybe in the country. He never complains, ever. Never gets flustered, always composed, just such a great human being, and that translates to him being such a winner."

Equally as dominant was Amoah, who finished with 20 points for the first time as a Viking. After being named to the Coast-South First Team, Amoah described himself as someone who could still "get a bucket", even though he wasn't averaging 18-plus points per game like he did last year at Shasta. Against Yuba, he plucked off six offensive rebounds and seemed to have perfect touch on everything near the basket, closing out a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double and securing the victory with a fadeaway shot with just a couple of minutes left.

"We talked about throwing punches, and he was aggressive," said Yoshikawa. "His motor is incredible. More than anything, I'm just so proud of him and how much he's improved, and how effective he is. He was really, really effective. And he's right. He can score. But it's about being efficient. He's made himself into such a good player that he's efficient with everything he does now. There's some times where he goes a little bit too fast and so forth, but that's because he plays so hard. I'd rather have him being that vicious competitor and playing that hard. He might take a couple off-balance shots, but I'm okay with that."

Finishing with seven points, seven rebounds and three blocks, Ackerman was also near-perfect, blocking two jump shots and hitting a big momentum 3 late in the game. The starting five was incredible, scoring almost 90-percent of the Vikings' points in the third round victory.

Now, the Vikings take on the top offense in the state, facing Citrus College in the Elite 8 on Friday evening. The Vikings' path through the playoffs is almost identical to that of their run in 2022, Yoshikawa's first full, non-pandemic season since returning to West Valley. In that season, the Vikings also faced a Coast-North enemy (replacing San Mateo with Chabot) before taking down Yuba in the third round before they took on Citrus in the Elite 8. This season, Citrus is the top-scoring offense in the state, averaging 104.1 points per game. For comparison, the Vikings have only allowed 75 points twice -- in an early-conference loss to San Jose City college and a November victory against the College of Marin. Now, the Fighting Owls await in the State Championship Tournament opener.