In basketball, size matters. Taller players – especially athletic ones – often have a natural advantage over their shorter opponents. That immutable fact underscores what happened Thursday night when a relatively small Denair team squared off against a much bigger Priory squad in the second round of the NorCal Division V Tournament.

Needing to shoot efficiently from distance on offense and fight hard to avoid giving up second-chance points on defense, Denair did neither. Instead, the Coyotes were dominated 70-49 by Panthers in Portola Valley.

Priory leaned on 6-foot-5 senior Oliver Conn (15 points, six rebounds) and 6-9 sophomore Steve (eight points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots) to dominate inside against Denair, whose tallest player is 6-3. The Panthers also got a strong game from guard Tayo Sobomehin, who led all scorers with 21 points, including four three-pointers.

Priory (18-11) led 20-10 after one quarter, 37-21 at halftime and 53-30 after three quarters. Denair (27-5) never got closer than 14 points in the second half.

“We just didn’t make shots,” said Denair coach R.J. Henderson, whose players were a frigid 4-for-24 from the three-point line. “We just didn’t have it and they arguably had the three best players on the court. We ran up against a better team.”

The loss, though disappointing, does nothing to diminish the amazing success of not only this year’s Denair team, but the program built by Henderson that has achieved in ways matched by few others in school history.

The Coyotes have won or shared the past three Southern League championship, something no other Denair team has done. During that span, they are 32-2 in league play and 64-10 overall. This year’s team won the school’s first Sac-Joaquin Section title since 2002 and made it to the second round of the NorCal Tournament for only the third time ever.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the locker room after the game,” said Henderson, who will step down as coach after 10 seasons. “The finality of it hits and it’s over. You get a feeling of what it’s like in March Madness when a team is eliminated.”

Henderson admitted to having a special bond with the team’s four seniors – Mario Plasencia, Connor Leonard, Cooper Feldman and Jack Henderson (the coach’s nephew).

“That group leaves a really, really valuable legacy for Denair basketball,” said Henderson. “They have a lot to be proud of. Those kids are like my second family, I’ve been around them so long. It was special to coach that group.”

The “core four,” as Henderson often refers to them, were at the heart of Denair’s recent success. They committed to playing basketball not only during the school season, but also in travel ball in the summer and fall that saw Denair going up against bigger schools in places like Roseville and Reno.

Henderson also had kind words for school officials and parents, without whose support the Coyotes couldn’t have accomplished so much.

“It took a lot of support from administrators and parents to trust in this program because it wasn’t on the map when a lot of these kids decided to play for me in the seventh grade,” he said. “We kept the home-grown kids and added some kids from other schools. The stars aligned. You’ve got to play nine or 10 months of the year to make this happen at a small school like Denair.”

Henderson, who teaches physical education at Denair Middle School and independent study at Denair Charter Academy, is only 47 years old. He would like to coach again, if he can find the right situation. In the meantime, he is proud of his time at Denair High. 

“Most of what I take out of last 10 years is the relationships,” he said. “With the kids, watching them grow and hopefully setting an example of the life skills you build through the program. And secondly, the relationship with the parents. I’m very grateful for their support.”

It wasn’t a normal first half at all for Denair on Thursday night. Playing at home before a partisan crowd, the Coyotes uncharacteristically struggled to score near the basket and didn’t do any better from distance against Orland. The result? A narrow 22-17 lead for Denair – the lowest-scoring first half for the Coyotes all season.

It didn’t take long for things to change after the halftime break. Connor Leonard scored eight quick points to open the third quarter and Jack Henderson and Cooper Feldman heated up from the three-point line.

The Coyotes grew their lead to 15 points by the end of the third quarter, then pulled away for a convincing 64-38 victory in the first round of the NorCal Division V Tournament.

“In the first half, we missed a ton of stuff at the rim. We just couldn’t finish,” said Denair coach R.J. Henderson. “I told them at halftime that we still have to put pressure on the defense and on the officials to make calls by going inside.”

The victory vaulted fifth-seeded Denair (27-4) into the NorCal quarterfinals, where they will face No. 4 Priory (17-11) of Portola Valley on the road Thursday at 8 p.m. Priory eliminated Mariposa 48-35 on Tuesday night.

The second-half surge against Orland (19-11) looked more like the Denair team that earned a share of its third straight Southern League title this season and won its first Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship since 2002.

Jack Henderson (19 points) made four of his five three-pointers in the final two quarters while Feldman (17 points) netted both of his three-pointers. Leonard (15 points) and Mario Plasencia (10 points, 11 rebounds) did most of their damage inside.

“Orland was physical,” said R.J. Henderson. “Their leading scorer rolled his ankle in the previous game and he was out. That was unfortunate, but it was an opportunity and we took advantage of it.”

Reaching the NorCal quarterfinals matches the success of the 1990 Denair team and is one round further than the 2002 and 2020 teams advanced.

Awaiting Thursday night will be Priory, which features something that Denair hasn’t seen much of this year – size. The Panthers are led by 6-foot-9 sophomore Steve Emeneke (11.6 points per game), 6-4 junior Rostand Olama Abanda (9.2 ppg) and 6-5 senior Oliver Conn (7.7 ppg). Junior guard Tayo Sobemehin (10.8 ppg) directs the offense.

Leonard is Denair’s tallest player at 6-3. Plasencia, Feldman and Henderson all are about 6-1.

“Priory is very good – very dynamic and very big,” said R.J. Henderson, adding that the Coyotes will have to “fly all around” on defense to overcome their size disadvantage.

“We can’t allow their bigs to just camp out around the rim,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough task. … If we can keep them off the offensive glass and hold them to one shot, we’ll have a chance.”

The other thing Denair will have to do is shoot well from the outside, like it did in the second half against Orland.

“We’re going to have to shoot efficiently and get to the line,” Henderson predicted. “Survive and advance. That’s the mode we’re in. We don’t want it to end.”

Denair’s magical soccer season ended Tuesday night with a 1-0 loss to Wheatland in the NorCal Division V playoffs. That result, however, doesn’t diminish what the Coyotes accomplished this year.

• A Southern League co-championship with Delhi
• The school’s first-ever Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI title
• An overall record of 16-2-5, best in school history

“I told our players to leave the field with our heads held high,” said Denair coach Miguel Hernandez. No Denair team has ever done what this group has done. I told them they should be proud.”

The Coyotes were seeded fourth in the eight-team NorCal bracket, earning them the right to host No. 5 Wheatland (15-3-3), which is in Yuba County north of Sacramento. The Pirates finished second in the Butte View League during the regular season and also in the Northern Section playoffs.

In the first half Tuesday at Jack Lytton Stadium, both defenses put the clamps on the opposing offense. Denair got off four shots, but none of them found the net. Still, Hernandez was satisfied with how the Coyotes were playing.

“A halftime, I told them that we were a team all season that didn’t need the ball,” Hernandez said. “Our system is counterattacking. I told them that possession and passing doesn’t win games, as long as we score. We only needed one good look, but it never came.”

Wheatland snapped the scoreless tie with about 10 minutes left in regulation on an outstanding individual effort by its best player.

“He juked three or four of our guys and kicked a long-distance shot that was unstoppable,” Hernandez said. “It was a rocket up high in the right corner.”

Suddenly needing a goal to keep its season alive with time running out, Denair pressed the attack and moved more players forward to help on offense. Wheatland’s defense was stout, however, and the Coyotes could only get off a couple of long shots that were easily swept aside.

The disappointment doesn’t diminish an outstanding season for Denair, which is a young team that will return many of its key players next year. Their collective experience and deep playoff run this season will no doubt be a benefit to whoever replaces Hernandez, a walk-on coach who already had announced he would step down after three seasons to concentrate on coaching his daughter’s youth team in Merced County.

“Our Cinderella story ended last night,” he said Wednesday morning, “but I told our team they should be very, very proud of all they accomplished this year. Winning league, winning playoff games and then the Section, hosting a NorCal game. No team had ever done that before.”

Wheatland advances to the NorCal semifinals on Thursday against top-seeded Leadership (18-1-1) of Hayward. The other semifinal matches No. 3 Live Oak (16-3-3) against No. 7 King City (11-6-1), which shut out Denair’s Southern League rival Delhi 3-0 on Tuesday. The championship game will be played Saturday.

It’s been two decades since Denair won a Sac-Joaquin Section boys basketball title, but loyal fans of the Coyotes sensed early on this season that this year’s team might be capable of something special. The Coyotes are led by four versatile seniors with nearly interchangeable skills who have been playing together since junior high school. Coach R.J. Henderson calls them the “core four.”

One of those players, Mario Plasencia, has started on the varsity since he was a freshman. The others – Cooper Feldman, Jack Henderson and Connor Leonard – have been part of the varsity since they were sophomores.

They were part of a group that has won or shared the past three Southern League titles, reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V Tournament twice and even earned a spot in the NorCal Tournament two years ago. Collectively, they have won 64 of the past 73 games.

Now, after Saturday’s convincing 62-45 victory over Bradshaw Christian in Golden One Arena in Sacramento, they can call themselves Section champions.

“It’s a euphoric feeling. I’m really happy for the kids, the other coaches, the community and the school itself,” said Denair coach R.J. Henderson, who credited players who graduated in the past few years for helping to create the foundation for this year’s squad. 

“There’s a lot of kids on previous teams who helped build this,” he said. “It’s all about the kids. We’ve been blessed and fortunate. We’ve got some real basketball players who want to perfect their craft. They’re going 10 months of the year.”

Denair (26-4) now moves on to the NorCal Division V Tournament, where the Coyotes earned a No. 5 seed in the 14-team bracket. They will open Tuesday at home against No. 12 Orland (19-10). Tip-off is at 6 p.m. Orland lost Wednesday to Pierce of Arbuckle in the Northern Section semifinals.

Henderson admitted some mild disappointment that the Coyotes weren’t seeded higher.

“We did what you’re supposed to do to receive a higher seed,” he said. “We won our league and won our Section. I just think that should be rewarded. … We’re 26-4 and played a harder schedule than two years ago.”

Tuesday’s winner will face the winner of the game between No. 4 Priory (16-11) of Portola Valley and No. 12 Mariposa (22-6) on Thursday. Denair and Mariposa tied for the Southern League title this year. The Coyotes have won two of their three games, including a 60-56 victory last week in the Section semifinals.

Looming in the NorCal semifinals – if Denair should win twice — is a potential matchup on Saturday against top-seeded Cloverdale (25-2), which received a first-round bye.

The other bye in the tournament went to No. 2 seed Head-Royce (21-5). Also on that side of the bracket is No. 10 Bradshaw Christian (12-19) and No. 11 Ripon Christian (20-8), teams Denair has defeated a combined three times this season.

Henderson is not worried about later rounds. Not yet, with a tough Orland team coming in.

“Our focus is all on tomorrow,” he said Monday. “It’s too daunting to look ahead.”

Henderson described Orland as a “very physical team,” based on what he’s seen on video.

“They kind of look like football player,” he said. “They look like they hit the weight room a lot. They look like they have a real good full-court and half-court man defense. They like to get out and run.”

For Denair to beat Orland, the Coyotes will have to play as well as they did Saturday against Bradshaw Christian in the Section finals.

After close victories over Aspire and Mariposa in the first two rounds, top-seeded Denair led almost from start to finish against Bradshaw Christian, a team it had beaten by two points back in December.

Denair led 25-16 at halftime and 40-33 after three quarters. Bradshaw never got closer than five points in the fourth quarter.

“To be honest, I thought they might have another run with 3 minutes to go. They just never got on a roll,” Henderson said.

Denair stretched the lead on a basket by Plasencia (20 points, seven rounds) and another basket and free throw by Feldman (16 points, six rebounds). The Coyotes lived at the foul line, shooting 17 free throws in the fourth quarter alone with Bradshaw was forced to foul to stop the clock. For the game, Denair made 20 of its 32 free throw attempts.

Part of Denair’s strategy had to do with the size of Golden One Arena, home to the NBA’s Kings. High school players often have trouble adjusting to the depth perception in a large gym. The Coyotes – who average about 20 three-point shots a game – only attempted 12 against Bradshaw. 

“We were adamant about getting to the basket. We talked about it before game,” Henderson said.

Izaiahs Plasencia added 10 points and six rebounds for Denair.

The Section champion Denair boys soccer team will open the NorCal Division V playoffs at home against Wheatland on Tuesday at 5 p.m. 

Fourth-seeded Denair (16-1-5) tied with Delhi for the Southern League championship before winning three playoff games to earn its first-ever Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI title.

Wheatland (14-3-3) finished second in the Butte View League, then lost 2-0 to Live Oak on Saturday in the Northern Section finals.

Tuesday’s winner will move to face the winner of the match between No. 1 Leadership (17-1-1) of Hayward and No. 8 seed Williams (17-2). That match will be played Thursday at 5 p.m. on the field of the higher seed. The NorCal finals are scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m., also at the home of the higher seed. (The complete NorCal Division V bracket can be found here.)

Denair hasn’t played since shutting out Gustine 3-0 on Feb. 19 in the Section finals. Coach Miguel Hernandez said the Coyotes practiced three times last week while waiting to see who they would play in the NorCal tournament. He said Denair – which hasn’t lost since the first game of the season – will again rely on its stifling defense and an opportunistic offense. 

“We know we’re going to play the same system; we’re not going to change anything up,” Hernandez said. “Everybody is healthy and ready to go.”

Hernandez said he will remind his players before the game that they’ve earned the right to still be playing this late in the season and that they can beat anyone if they continue to outwork the opposition.

He doesn’t know much about Wheatland, other than a few snippets of games he has seen on video.

“They look pretty good, to be honest,” Hernandez said. “They have three or four players who really stood out on offense. At this point, there’s not going to be any easy games, though.”

Despite sharing the league title and winning the Section Division VI banner, Denair finds itself seeded fourth in the eight-team bracket. Delhi (15-1-5) – a team Denair tied twice in league play – was rewarded with the No. 2 seed in the NorCal bracket after capturing the Section Division V title.

“I wasn’t a fan of being seeded fourth, especially with Delhi being two,” Hernandez admitted. “It’s something we’ll live with. I like being an underdog. I can use that to motivate the guys.”

Tuesday’s soccer match will be the first half of an historic day in Denair High sports history. The boys basketball team also will be hosting a NorCal playoff game on the same day. The Coyotes will face Orland at 6 p.m. in the Denair gym, which is only steps away from Jack Lytton Stadium where the soccer match will be contested.