DANVILLE >> San Ramon Valley’s offense is a symphony of crisp passes and free-flowing ball movement, which often leads to open shots all over the floor.

But on Thursday night, the high-powered offense was no match for the brute force and power of De La Salle’s defense.

De La Salle shut down SRV in a gritty 60-51 road victory in the East Bay Athletic League boys semifinals. The Concord school will play at Dougherty Valley for the EBAL title today.

“We were just ready defensively,” De La Salle coach Marcus Schroeder said. “They’re such a good offensive team with so many weapons and we guarded them well. ... The start for our team is on defense. If we can guard and we can get buckets in transition, it helps our offense.”

Oklahoma commit Alec Blair led De La Salle with 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Senior center David Balogun had nine points and 11 rebounds and senior guard Bryce Patton added 11 points with three made 3-pointers.

“We didn’t do too much. We just played our game,” Blair said. “We’re the best team in NorCal. I think that win clinches us a high seed in the North Coast Section Open Division, which is big time.”

SRV, which came into the game as the top overall seed in the EBAL playoffs, struggled to find any flow on offense. Coach Brian Botteen didn’t mince words when asked what went wrong on Thursday.

“I thought we played our worst game of the year,” Botteen said. “I thought we relied on self and not the team, and they exposed us for that. There’s a difference between other teams and De La Salle. Credit to them. They punched us in the mouth.”

De La Salle didn’t let the home team breathe from the opening tip.

The Spartans jumped out to a 10-0 lead, capped off by a powerful one-handed slam from Balogun. A layup from Braddock Kjellesvig pushed the De La Salle lead to 16-2 just minutes into the first quarter.

Though back-to-back 3s from SRV point guard Mason Thomas and a transition layup from Elliot Conley cut the lead to nine toward the end of the first quarter, the shock of De La Salle’s start silenced the usually energetic SRV crowd.

SRV started to find its rhythm to start the second quarter as the Wolves cut the De La Salle lead to three on a layup from Luke Isaak. But the Spartans didn’t let their foot off the gas as they closed the second quarter in a 9-2 run to take a 32-22 lead at halftime.

In classic De La Salle fashion, the Spartans slowed the game down in the second half and took control of the tempo. On the other end of the floor, De La Salle’s defense, anchored by Balogun, forced the Wolves into contested shots at the rim and on the perimeter.

“We’re really good on defense and that’s one thing we take a lot of pride in,” Balogun said. “We always focus on playing team defense and not individual defense.”

Thursday’s win also had bigger postseason ramifications as both programs are expected to be in the NCS Open Division. As of Thursday night, MaxPreps has De La Salle as the top team in the North Coast Section and SRV right behind the Spartans.

“The MaxPreps computer rankings has us No. 1 by a lot,” Schroeder said. “I think that means a lot in the committees’ eyes, so I’ll just leave it at that.”

No. 2 Salesian 90, Bethel 34 >> Alvin Loving became the 12th player in Salesian history to reach 1,000 points in his career during a dominant Tri County Athletic League Rock Division semifinal victory. The 6-foot-4 senior, who is headed to Yale University, scored 20 points as the Pride improved to 24-2 this season. Elias Obenyah had 13 points for the winners. Next up for Salesian is St. Mary’s-Berkeley in the TCAL Rock title game today at 2 p.m. at the Henry J. Kaiser Center in Oakland. Loving joined former Salesian stars Jabari Bird, James Akinjo and all-time leading scorer Myron Jordan with 1,000 points at the Richmond school.

No. 4 Dougherty Valley 70, No. 8 California 54 >> The Wildcats outscored the visitors in every quarter while earning a berth in the EBAL title game against De La Salle. Dougherty Valley (20-7), playing at home, beat DLS earlier this season 59-48. Wildcats’ star senior Jalen Stokes scored 20 points against California and Kenny Cloud added 14. Brayde Kuykendall and Ketan Kumar each had 16 points for the Grizzlies (23-5).

No. 10 Liberty 65, Heritage 54 >> The Lions capped a perfect 10-0 season in the BVAL and won their 19th in a row. Liberty (24-2) led 53-36 after three quarters. Andrew Vixon had 18 points and Jaiden Miller scored 16. Heritage finishes the regular season at 11-14, 5-5. Jace Bernard and Nate Grube scored 11 points apiece for the home team.

No. 12 Oakland 59, Berkeley 44 >> Dominque Trotter poured in 16 points and Romyn Waugh had 10 in a non-league contest that pushed the Wildcats to 19-7. Berkeley slipped to 11-4.

St. Mary’s-Berkeley 53, Albany 39 >> Jaden Jones and Donovan Mikel each scored 15 points, helping send St. Mary’s to the TCAL Rock final against Salesian today. The Panthers (20-8) have already lost twice to Salesian this season, but neither game was a rout. The score were 64-50 in the first game and 61-50 in the rematch. Albany is 21-6 and likely to receive a North Coast Section playoff berth when seedings are announced on Sunday.

Sacred Heart Prep 57, Priory 52 >> The Gators led by nine points after three quarters in this West Bay League matchup. Alex Straser, a 6-5 senior, had 18 points for the home team and Matthew Norris contributed 15. Sacred Heart Prep is 7-2 in league play, a half-game behind first-place King’s Academy. Priory (6-3,17-6) is in third place, 1 1/2 games behind TKA. The Panthers were paced by Mate Palotai with 18 points.

Girls basketball

No. 4 San Ramon Valley 85, Dublin 31 >> The Wolves rolled into the EBAL title game with three sophomores leading the way in scoring. Ella Gunderson had 18 points, Hania Bowes tallied 17 and Maya Knapp added 13. San Ramon Valley (24-3) led 55-18 at halftime against a Dublin team that’s 22-6. Makaela Beltran had 11 for the Gaels. The Wolves will host Carondelet today for the EBAL championship. The Cougars (23-4) advanced by beating California 59-34.

No. 11 Oakland Tech 47, No. 10 Bishop O’Dowd 44 >> The visiting Bulldogs received 17 points from Jhai Johnson and 15 from Terri’A Russell in a nonleague match between two of the East Bay’s better teams. Oakland Tech improved to 18-8 this season. Bishop O’Dowd is 14-8.

No. 15 Salesian 71, St. Patrick-St. Vincent 51 >> Senior guard Janiya Sawyer pretty much did it all in the Pride’s TCAL Rock semifinal victory. She led her team with 18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals to send Salesian (19-8) into the championship game today against Pinole Valley (18-9), a 56-43 winner over St. Mary’s-Berkeley. Freshman Emma Bryant had 14 points including a trio of 3-point baskets, Vanessa Parilla had 12 points and Jamia Sawyer added 11.

Kennedy-Richmond 53, Swett 34 >> The Eagles ran their season’s record to 16-3 by beating Swett in a TCAL Stone semifinal contest. Almbria Gallon scored 20 points for Kennedy, and Amyira Shaw contributed 12. Swett is 12-11. Kennedy will face Albany for the TCAL Stone title.

Westmont 46, Leigh 29 >> Lara Macian scored 24 points as Westmont (17-7, 7-3) clinched at least a tie for the BVAL Santa Teresa title. Only Silver Creek can finish the same 7-3 in league play, and Westmont beat the Raiders earlier in the season. Adina Freudenblum had 10 points for the Warriors. Cali Wallace led Leigh (6-4, 11-12) with nine points.

Santa Teresa at Sobrato, suspended >> The Saints were clinging to a one-point lead at Sobrato when the game was stopped because a leaky roof made the floor a little too dangerous for the players. Santa Teresa, which was leading 39-38, could finish 6-4 in BVAL Santa Teresa play if it hangs onto the lead when play is resumed.

Correspondent Mike Lefkow contributed to this report.