There’s No Doubting Thomas as Dominguez Gets a Convincing Victory

Jason Thomas is a muscular 6-foot-4 forward, who’s slam-dunking one minute and making three-point baskets the next.

The Compton Dominguez High standout put on his latest show Friday night, scoring a game-high 28 points in leading the Dons to a 65-49 victory over Walnut Creek Northgate in the State Division II final.

Before 9,592 at Arco Arena, Thomas grabbed the spotlight. He single-handedly broke open a close game with five baskets in the first four minutes of the third quarter as part of an 18-2 Dominguez run.

The Dons outscored Northgate, 24-6, in the third quarter to take a commanding 46-25 lead.

The title was the first for Dominguez (34-2), which lost to Mountain View St. Francis in last year’s championship game. And for Coach Russell Otis, the good news is that Thomas is a 15-year-old sophomore.

The Dons, who ended the year on a 31-game winning streak, relied on Thomas from the start of the season.

As soon as he finished his duties as the starting quarterback on the football team, Thomas joined Otis’ talented lineup, which includes all-league players Kenny Brunner, a junior guard, and senior forward James Jones. Thomas led the team in scoring with a 24-point average and averaged seven rebounds.

He was at his finest in the playoffs, however, scoring 63 points in the three state tournament games last week. Against Northgate, Thomas was dominant from the opening tipoff, scoring 11 of Dominguez’s 22 first-half points, and adding 11 more in the pivotal third quarter.

“I’m happy about the way I played because I sprained my ankle in practice yesterday and I had to ice it and take aspirin all night,” Thomas said. “It’s really sore right now, but I figured I could heal it later.”

Brunner add 10 points for Dominguez.

Northgate, which won the Division III title last year, had trouble with its outside game. Senior guard Frank Allocco Jr., who came in with more than 2,000 career points, was held to a season-low 12.

DIVISION IV

Fresno Washington Union 56, Santa Rosa Cardinal Newman 42--At 5 feet 10, Washington Union’s Demetrius Porter was one of the shortest players on the court, but he finished with a game-high 27 points, four assists and three steals to lead his team to the title.

Washington Union (31-1) led, 23-22, at halftime, but outscored Cardinal Newman (27-8) by seven points in the third quarter and six in the fourth.

“We got yelled at a lot at halftime because we weren’t playing our game,” Porter said. “That motivated us in the second half to come out and get it done.”