A few weeks ago, after a tough league loss at home, Granada 7-footer Andrew McKeever emerged from a somber locker room and went back to the court.

McKeever shot free throw after free throw with the gym nearly empty and the winning coach doing a postgame interview.

At some point, it seemed, the extra work might pay off.

Thursday night, it did.

McKeever was almost flawless at the foul line after halftime and dominant near the basket as Granada held off Dublin 72-64 in the first round of the North Coast Section Open Division playoffs.

The fourth-seeded Matadors (22-8) advanced to play in the semifinals Wednesday at top-seeded Dougherty Valley, which had a bye after beating Granada on Saturday in the East Bay Athletic League tournament final.

The Saint Mary’s-bound McKeever finished with 33 points and 15 rebounds. He was 10 of 12 from the free-throw line in the second half and 11 of 14 in the game.

“I almost don’t think twice when he’s at the line anymore,” Granada coach Quaran Johnson said. “It’s almost a positive when he’s at the line because we get him as many repetitions as he possibly can in practice. He’s confident knocking them down, and I am confident with him shooting it.

“We’re just in a good rhythm right now.”

McKeever did much more than make free throws. He towered over defenders for easy baskets and sent electricity through a packed student section with numerous dunks, including on an alley-oop in the second half off a feed from Marco Wilde.

“Came out a little flat,” said McKeever, who had nine points through two quarters. “They played a zone, so they kind of played more in the middle. But we knew that we’ve got shooters and they had to stretch out. I was more open in the second half.”

Behind Tyler Harris’ hot first-half shooting, Granada led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter before Dublin began a long climb back.

The visitors cut the margin to 36-27 at halftime, 52-45 through three quarters and 62-59 with 1:58 left on a three-point play by Courtney Anderson Jr.

Harris finished with 22 points,16 before halftime.

Dublin (18-10) had four scorers in double figures: Anderson (22), Jalen Stokes (13), Mehki Thomas (13) and Donovan Cooks (12).

Salesian 55, San Ramon Valley 39 >> Salesian had San Ramon Valley figured out from the opening tipoff of a first-round playoff victory at Contra Costa College.

The Richmond school allowed nine — yes, nine — points in the first half of an NCS Open Division game.

“Defense isn’t fun, it’s a mentality,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. “It’s about effort, and they have those intangibles.”

For SRV, it seemed like a continuation of last week’s league playoff loss at Dougherty Valley where the Wolves squandered a 27-point second-half lead.

Coach Brian Botteen pushed back at that notion.

“The next day, they responded and were ready to go,” Botteen said. “We didn’t play like ourselves in the first half tonight, but then we fought, and then that was us again.”

With Salesian’s defense playing at such a high level, the Pride’s offense didn’t need to light up the scoreboard. Alvin Loving and Evin Goodwin each finished with 15 points, and Aaron Claytor had 12.

Girls basketball

Carondelet 66, Acalanes 62 >> Carondelet, the fourth seed in the NCS Open Division tournament, was up 60-47 with 5:46 to play on Jamie Kent’s 3-point basket.

Acalanes, seeded fifth, was far from done.

The Dons outscored Carondelet 15-2 in a span of just less than 4 minutes and were tied at 62-62 with 52.4 seconds to play after a steal and layup.

Carondelet, however, scored the last four points of the game on a follow by freshman Layla Dixon, and two free throws from Allie Cummins, who was fouled after chasing down a loose ball on an errant Cougars inbound pass.

The Cougars survived and advanced.

“They clutched up late and hit shots and we got a little confused on our assignments,” Carondelet coach Kelly Sopak said.

“It was Layla Dixon’s first start tonight and she delivered.”

Carondelet (22-5) moves on to face top-seeded Salesian in the second round.

Acalanes (20-7) will play a consolation game Wednesday at home against Heritage before moving on to NorCals.

Dixon led all scorers with 17 points, with Kent adding 15 and Cummins 12 for the Cougars.

For Acalanes, Ariana Hallstrom got hot late and finished with 13 points (10 in the second half), with Emily Du and Dulci Vail getting 12 each.

Staff writers Joseph Dycus and Jerry McDonald contributed to this report