WALNUT — A young San Gabriel Academy boys basketball team is now finding that a daunting early schedule might have served its purpose of development.

The Eagles are slowly spreading their wings as they continued to soar Friday in The Classic at Damien tournament with a 62-47 win over Arcadia in the Silver Division quarterfinals at Mt. SAC.

San Gabriel Academy (4-5) will play Auburn (Washington) or Vista Murrieta in the semifinals tonight at 8 Ramona Middle School in La Verne.

“It was a good win and a big win,” said San Gabriel Academy first-year coach Danny Piepoli.

San Gabriel Academy was led by sophomore guard Xavier Wang with a game-high 18 points. He had a career-high 25 points in a 77-62 win over Aquinas in the first round of the tournament Thursday.

“We went small with a four-guard front and (Wang) has been tearing it up,” Piepoli said. “But it’s expected. (Wang) is a gym rat. He lives in the gym. I’ve known him for a long time and it’s nothing I’m surprised about.”

Wang was a catalyst in San Gabriel Academy pulling away from the Apaches in the second and third quarters.

He was fouled by Nick Wallace Jr. while shooting a 3-pointer in the second period with the Eagles up 22-17. He made all three free throws to put the Eagles up eight. They would go on to extend their lead to 13 at 31-18 before going into halftime up 31-24.

Wang later banked in a 23-foot 3-pointer with 1:41 left in the third quarter to give San Gabriel Academy a 45-31 lead.

Arcadia would get no closer than 13 points after that shot.

Center Mohamed Toure added 13 points and hauled down 17 rebounds for San Gabriel Academy. The 6-foot-8 sophomore was a force under the basket. He’s filling in at center spot for injured 6-foot-11 sophomore Mahmadou Diop, who is out with an ankle injury. Diop is one of the country’s top recruits in the 2027 class.

Toure was disruptive on defense, making it difficult for the Apaches when they drove to the basket. Arcadia had to settle for uncomfortable looks and missed many of those shots.

Toure’s three-point-play early in the third quarter stopped Arcadia’s momentum and started the second-half surge by San Gabriel Academy. After Arcadia cut San Gabriel Academy’s lead to 31-26, Toure made a layup, got fouled and hit a free throw that put the Eagles up 34-26.

Eagles junior Mamadou Traore scored 10 points while sophomore Sean Palmer added nine points off the bench. Freshman Oumar Dabo and junior Marquise Humphreys contributed five points each.

Dabo had the game’s only slam dunk while Humphreys’ third-quarter 3-pointer pushed the Eagles ahead 37-28.

The Eagles started the season 2-5 playing a schedule that included games against regional powerhouses Sierra Canyon, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Harvard-Westlake. Piepoli explained the reasoning behind such a strong schedule for a team with no seniors currently listed on the roster.

“Our league (San Joaquin League) is split into two divisions so we get a guaranteed playoff spot out of that,” he said. “What I did is just stack it up. These kids want to play Division I. They want to play at the next level. They want to be professionals so we got to see where the bar is against the best teams in the country.”

Has progress been made since those early losses?

“We’re a lot more mature now than we were at that time,” Piepoli said. “When bad things happen to us we preach battling through adversity. Bad things happened to us early on and when it rained it poured. Now we’re a little bit more battle-tested. We can withstand runs. We can get hit in the mouth a few times and respond rather than lay down. I’m very proud of our development from Sierra Canyon to now.”

Arcadia (7-5) was led by the Eteuati-Edwards brothers. Junior Noa Eteuati-Edwards scored 12 points while freshman Owen Eteuati-Edwards added 11 points.

Nick Wallace Jr., a freshman and the son of Arcadia coach Nick Wallace, scored eight points.

Arcadia will play a consolation bracket game Saturday at San Dimas High School at 5 p.m.