Jalen Stokes has made an early case as the East Bay Athletic League’s top player after another sensational performance on Friday night.

In a highly anticipated matchup against Oklahoma commit Alec Blair, Stokes exploded for 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Dougherty Valley to a 59-48 win at home over De La Salle.

Dougherty Valley’s defense stepped up in a big way as the Wildcats used a 2-3 zone to stifle the usually high-powered De La Salle offense.

“It’s always a battle against Blair,” said Stokes, a UC Davis commit who transferred from Dublin. “We’re both the top players on our respective teams and it’s definitely a battle I love to have. I’m just glad we got to pull this win out as a team.”

Stokes’ 32-point game came just a week after he scored 47 in a loss to San Ramon Valley. Dougherty Valley, De La Salle and SRV are in a tie for second in the EBAL, one game behind first-place California, which edged Monte Vista on Friday night.

“This win just means we’re back in the thick of things,” said Dougherty Valley coach Mike Hansen, whose team is ranked sixth by the Bay Area News Group. “Losing to San Ramon, we knew we couldn’t fall two games back, so we knew we had to get this one if we wanted to stick around for a league title. We just had to play our way and play our pace and we got it done.”

Blair finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists for No. 3 De La Salle. Junior guard Ibrahim Monawar had a team-high 15 points for the Spartans and grabbed three rebounds.

“We were just way off,” Blair said. “It happens. We don’t really practice a lot against the zone. We just got to play better against it. I just don’t think we were ready and it showed tonight.”

Homestead 71, Monta Vista 59 >> In basketball, the tallest, fastest, strongest team usually wins. But when that team also plays harder than the opposition, that’s almost a certain victory. So it was on Friday night at Homestead High School.

Homestead, which had a distinct size advantage, also was the more assertive team, taking charge in the second quarter to build a 17-point halftime lead. The Mustangs maintained their double-digit advantage from there, cruising to a win and improving to 4-1 in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division play.

“We played really good team basketball,” Homestead coach Matt Wright said. “Right now, in the last three games, our defensive effort has been really, really good.”

It was a strength in numbers sort of night for Homestead (12-3), which has won its past four games and seven of the past eight. Brian Chou led the Mustangs with 30 points, but Homestead also got contributions from James Yoshida (nine points), Kyle McDivitt (eight), Will Hamburger (seven) and Ashton Tam (six).

Daniel Ji led Monta Vista with 14 points, followed by Stanley Du with 13.

No. 2 Salesian 66, Pinole Valley 33 >> Salesian won its 11th straight game, defeating Pinole Valley for the second time this season. Senior Elias Obenyah led Salesian with 13 points and sophomore De’ari Simmons had a team-high 11 points for PV. Salesian (17-1, 7-0) plays Clovis West at the MLK Classic at De La Salle on Monday. Pinole Valley (7-11, 2-5) hosts San Lorenzo on Monday.

No. 4 San Ramon Valley 86, Livermore 60 >> The Wolves bounced back after Tuesday’s close loss to De La Salle, beating Livermore on the road. Luke Isaak led SRV with 22 points and Amari Chandler had a team-high 15 points for Livermore. SRV (11-7, 2-1) is slated to play Clayton Valley at the Sacramento Block Party showcase at Sheldon on Saturday. Livermore dropped to 13-6, 0-3 and will host Newark Memorial on Monday.

No. 5 Oakland Tech 78, McClymonds 48 >> Oakland Tech dominated from start to finish as Saddiq Alarbesh scored a game-high 15 points along with six rebounds. Star point guard Ardarius Grayson and Luther George each had 12 points. Senior guards Demarrion Gardner and William Tidwell each had nine points for McClymonds. Oakland Tech (14-4, 3-0) will play at Inderkum-Sacramento in the MLK Dream Day Basketball Classic on Monday. McClymonds dropped to 7-11, 1-2 and will play Oakland Military Institute on Monday.

No. 9 St. Ignatius 57, No. 10 Mitty 45 >> SI took down West Catholic Athletic League rival Mitty in the City thanks to 17 points from Raymond Whitley and 16 from Vince Crisp. Joseph Seifu led Mitty with 15 points, and Daniel Ryan added 10.

No. 11 California 47, Monte Vista 45 >> The Grizzlies survived a close game as they beat Monte Vista on the road to take sole possession of first place in the East Bay Athletic League standings. Dane Wallace led California with 16 points and seven rebounds while Ketan Kumar had eight points and six rebounds. California (18-2, 3-0) will play Granada at home on Tuesday. Monte Vista (13-7, 1-2) will face Foothill at home on Tuesday.

No. 18 Menlo-Atherton 62, Carlmont 60 >> M-A pulled out a nip-and–tuck win over Carlmont to remain perfect in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division play, improving its league record to 5-0. The Bears trailed 35-33 at the half but rallied with an 18-9 third-quarter advantage to take a seven-point lead, then held on down the stretch to pick up the victory.

Amador Valley 65, Granada 57 >> The Dons had three players score in double figures as they defeated Granada on the road. Kasen Krueger had a team-high 19 points, Biruk Menna scored 14 and Jaylen Smith added 12 for Amador Valley (16-3, 2-1). Granada forward Damien Miles scored a game-high 20 points and senior Seth Downey chipped in 14. Granada is 7-12, 1-2

Mountain View 48, Los Gatos 41 >> Mountain View picked up a nice league win over Los Gatos on the road Friday night. Senior Jayden Minor led MV with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Ben Maller added 12 points with two 3-pointers made. Anthony Martin led Los Gatos with 19 points, and Zach Otoupal chipped in nine.

Girls basketball

Sidwell Friends 53, No. 1 Mitty 40 >> Facing its first elite test since losing star junior forward McKenna Woliczko to a season-ending ACL injury, Mitty was unable to hang with Sidwell Friends of Maryland at the HoopHall Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts. Freshman Maliya Hunter led Mitty with 14 points in the showcase game, followed by junior Abi James with 10. The Monarchs went 10 of 20 from the free-throw line. Sidwell was led by Jordyn Jackson with 20 points and nine rebounds and Autumn Fleary with 15 points and nine rebounds.

No. 5 Pinewood 69, Notre Dame-San Jose 27 >> This matchup of WBAL Foothill schools was no contest. Pinewood had six players score at least eight points: Katherine Garr (12), Vallory Kuelker (11), Abigail Yew (11), Caitlyn Kramer (9), Jolyn Ding (8) and Sloane Parenti (8).

St. Mary’s-Stockton 56, No. 8 Priory 49 >> St. Mary’s was a bit too much for the Priory on Friday in Stockton. Vienn Sheng led the Panthers with 15 points, and UGreat Daniels contributed 12 points and nine rebounds. Nyah Bunton led St. Mary’s with 15 points. A 16-8 third-quarter advantage proved to be the difference for the home Rams. —

No. 10 Riordan 63, No. 9 St. Francis 53 >> Riordan traveled well to Mountain View on Friday and handed St. Francis a double-digit defeat in this top-10 WCAL clash. The Crusaders were dominant in the first quarter, opening up a 15-4 lead that nearly matched their final margin of victory.

No. 18 California 82, Monte Vista 34 >> Sofie Addiego totaled 21 points, five assists and six steals to lead California to a blowout win over Monte Vista at home. Junior center Rachael Osicka had 11 points and nine rebounds and Trinity Chu added 11 points and two steals. Naliyah Sefidi led Monte Vista with 15 points. California improved to 10-6, 3-0 and will play St. Mary’s-Berkeley on Saturday at the Bishop O’Dowd MLK Classic.

No. 19 Menlo School 51, Sacred Heart Prep 38 >> Menlo handled rival and next-door neighbor SHP with a comfortable victory. Karen Xin led visiting Menlo with 25 points, including seven 3-pointers. Ruiqi Liu added 19 points for the Knights in a supplementary role.

No. 20 Castilleja 56, Crystal Springs Uplands 40 >> The last team in the BANG rankings topped Crystal Springs on the road. Antonia Vlahos led Castilleja with 25 points, and freshman Mia Samaan-Molinero paced Crystal Springs with 22.