HAYWARD >> It was evident from tipoff that No. 16 Head-Royce was outmatched.

On the other side of the floor was top-seeded Moreau Catholic — an East Bay powerhouse led by three-star University of the Pacific commit Kellen Hampton.

At every position on the court, Moreau had at least four inches on any given Head-Royce player. When the game started, it was clear the Mariners were just bigger, faster and stronger than their Oakland opponent.

As expected, there was no upset in Wednesday’s Division II opening-round game. Moreau smoked Head-Royce 88-47 at home to move on to the quarterfinals, also at home, on Saturday against Urban.

But the bigger question after Wednesday’s game was whether Head-Royce should have even been in the Division II bracket. The Jayhawks came into Wednesday’s game with a 14-13 record, finished second in the Bay Counties East Division and had their best nonleague win against Hayward in December.

Head-Royce coach Ryan Diew said he believes the new competitive-based NCS format, which positions teams largely based on MaxPreps’ computer rankings, should be changed.

“I think the system is broken and it needs to be changed,” Diew said. “We definitely should not be competing in Division II against Moreau yet.”

Since Head-Royce played a strength of schedule much higher than its league opponents, the Jayhawks were essentially locked into the Division II bracket and the loss bumped the Oakland school all the way to No. 16.

Meanwhile, St. Joseph was rewarded the No. 3 seed in Division III and has already secured a spot in the quarterfinals after beating Washington-Fremont on Tuesday.

While he acknowledged that the format needs to be fixed, Diew said the system worked the way it was meant to.

“We knew the cards that we were potentially going to be dealt,” Diew said. “The ball was in our court and we didn’t do what we needed to do in order to make sure that this didn’t happen.”

Diew scheduled tough games in hopes that his team would actually lose a few and get a higher seed in a lower division. If he had a chance to redo his team’s schedule, Diew said he would have replaced some of the Jayhawks’ tougher games with more winnable matchups.

— Nathan Canilao

MOREAU CATHOLIC SIZZLES IN PLAYOFF OPENER >> While it wasn’t a great night for Head-Royce, Moreau fired on all cylinders.

Hampton scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Dominic Walker totaled 19 points and Cole Loud added 13.

Moreau went up 22-4 in the first quarter and didn’t look back. The Mariners cruised to the Division II quarterfinals behind hot shooting and lockdown defense.

“I told the kids before the game that yesterday there were two upsets in Division I, and there will be upsets today. We don’t want to be one of them,” Moreau coach Frank Knight said. “We’re really senior heavy, so the guys know it’s lose or go home. We don’t want to go home.”

— Nathan Canilao

HERITAGE UPSETS ST. MARY’S-BERKELEY >> Heritage came into Wednesday’s Division II first-round game with a losing record, but that didn’t matter as the Patriots stunned St. Mary’s-Berkeley on the road to advance to the quarterfinals.

“If we get to NCS, the last four months don’t matter,” Heritage coach Jeff Carter told the Bay Area News Group on Wednesday night. “We got a whole new season starting today.”

Senior Nate Grube finished with a game-high 18 points. Josiah Thomas scored 11 points and Jace Bernard had eight.

The Patriots finished the regular season 11-14.

Heritage will play another underdog, No. 11 Marin Catholic, on Saturday on the road. Marin Catholic upset No. 6 McKinleyville on Wednesday.

— Nathan Canilao

BIG NIGHTS OF UPSETS IN BOYS BRACKETS >> In Division IV, three double-digit seeds advanced to the quarterfinal round. No. 13 San Lorenzo knocked off No. 4 Redwood Christian, No. 12 Windsor toppled No. 5 Gateway and No. 11 St. Patrick-St. Vincent beat No. 6 Casa Grande.

Both Division II and Division IV are guaranteed to have a double-digit seed reach the semifinals. San Lorenzo and Windsor will face off in the quarters on Saturday.

In Division VI, No. 10 Valley Christian of Dublin laid a smackdown on No. 7 Averroes, winning 57-32. Valley advances to face No. 2 St. Vincent de Paul on Saturday.

On the girls side, chalk ruled the day. The biggest upsets were in 8-9 games, where the No. 9 seed won in both Division II (Pinole Valley) and Division IV (Archie Williams).

Pinole Valley won by a single point, topping Lick-Wilmerding 60-59 on the road.

— Christian Babcock