Ahmad Smith had 20 points, Dominic Driggs 17 and Tyler Berkness 12 as No. 6 Bella Vista held on to beat No. 10 Del Campo 63-58 in tonight's Capital Valley Conference boys basketball opener in Fair Oaks.
Bella Vista (13-4), which led by as many as 10 points late in the third period, couldn't rest easy until the final second when Driggs made two free throws.
Otherwise Del Campo was within one to three points through the game's final four minutes.
Semir Cahtarevic led Del Campo with 14 points. Joe Ramirez added 11 points and Vasilije Saraba 10 for the Cougars (12-5).
"They call it the Battle of the Oaks in football, and it carries over to us, too," Bella Vista coach Dave Gonzalez said. "It's a special rivalry.
"We knew when we got up 10 that they were going to make a run because they have such a good offense. We made some plays at the end to pull it out."
In other games involving boys Top 20 teams reported to The Bee:
NO. 2 SACRAMENTO 91, HIRAM JOHNSON 47 - Freshman Devin Young's 18 points led the Dragons (11-4, 3-0) over the Warriors (7-9, 1-2) in a Metro Conference game.
NO. 7 GRANITE BAY 72, NO. 14 ROSEVILLE 50 - Sophomore Kendrick Jackson's 20 points led the Grizzlies (12-6) over the Tigers (15-3) in the Sierra Foothill League opener in Granite Bay.
N0. 9 ROCKLIN 68, NO. 11 DEL ORO 59 - Devin Moss's 30 points drove the Thunder (13-5) past the Golden Eagles (12-6) in the Sierra Foothill League opener in Loomis. Trevor Pistochini topped Del Oro with 15 points.
NO. 12 BURBANK 100, FLORIN 44 - David Straughter had 21 points and 16 rebounds and D'Shaune Faulkner added 18 points and was eight of nine from the floor as the Titans (10-6, 2-1) topped the Panthers (1-14, 0-3) in the Metro Conference game at Florin.
FOOTHILL 57, NO. 13 COLFAX 53 - Anthony Williams had 16 points and Douglas James 15 to lead the unranked Mustangs (7-10) over the Falcons (14-4) in the Pioneer Valley League opener in Foothill Farms. Will Buell had 28 points for Colfax.
NO. 20 LINCOLN 51, BEAR RIVER 44 - Logan Stayner had 16 points and Marcus Salgado 12 as the Fighting Zebras (14-4) topped the Bruins (13-4) in a Pioneer Valley League game in Lincoln.
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