St. Patrick-St. Vincent High's Derek Walker has all kinds of hardware in his 14 years as head boys basketball coach.

Section title? Check. Northern California title? Check. State title? Check.

Now Walker can add a Tri-County Athletic League Rock Division tournament championship to his resume.

St. Pat's accomplished that feat on Saturday evening, streaking past visiting Salesian in the fourth quarter en route to a 50-42 win.

Maybe it was fitting that the Pride were the Bruins' opponent. They have stood in St. Pat's way of a conference title for a number of those 14 seasons. In 2021-22, St. Pat's grabbed both meetings from Salesian, with the other a one-point thriller on Jan. 20.

The game was tied 40-all with 3:39 left in the fourth quarter before Jevon Blackmore found Nick Medeiros streaking to the basket to begin a 10-2 spurt to end the game. Medeiros had 13 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. Blackmore added 14 points and five boards.

Medeiros had just four points by halftime but started to heat up in the third quarter and then sizzled throughout the fourth period.

"He just had a rough first half," Walker said. "The adrenaline, the emotion of a championship game kind of got the best of him. The good thing about Nick is that he trusts himself. He kept punching. He kept trying to figure it out. He made some plays late. He made some really big shots."

The senior point guard said the first-half struggles were mental.

"It was in my head a little bit," he said. "I got that first basket but then I was really forcing it and stuff. The coaches kept me in the game. Honestly, it's the defense. We start playing defense and it starts to become fun. I had a talk with myself at halftime and then I was ready to come back."

The Bruins (19-1) made their first three field goals of the game and led 6-2 but then went ice cold for the rest of the quarter as the Pride (9-8) went on an 11-0 run to lead 13-6 at the end of the period. Logan Coverson (12 points) had six points in that spurt.

Salesian's run extended to 13-0 early in the second quarter, but a pull-up jumper from Blackmore started the Bruins' 10-0 spurt. Josiah Jones set up James Gallagher for a bucket to conclude the run and tie the game 16-all, forcing Salesian head coach Bill Mellis to call timeout.

The remainder of the half remained close and Salesian took a 19-17 lead into the locker room.

The third quarter was much of the same. The Pride led by six points at 27-21 after a put-back from Eric Watson, but Medeiros answered with a 3 to make it a one-possession game. Salesian took a 32-28 lead with 1:07 left on a Coverson bucket, but Medeiros knocked down his jumper to trim the lead to 32-30 going into the final 8 minutes.

Every possession in the fourth quarter seemed huge. Medeiros' biggest shot might have come with 49 seconds left when he made it 48-42. Salesian went down the court but couldn't convert its shot. Jones grabbed the rebound and Salesian fouled Medeiros with 20 seconds left. The senior swished both foul shots to ice the win.

Jones, a sophomore, had two big buckets in the fourth quarter and the aforementioned rebound in the waning seconds. Jones, who finished with seven points, said energy was the difference in the final stretch.

Jones is excited to be going into the North Coast Section playoffs. Brackets will be released on Sunday.

"We feel great. We talk about it every day," he said. "We haven't lost to a team in California and we're 19-1 now. We're ready for everything."

Walker expects his team to play in the NCS' Open Division for the first time. The Open Division is considered the elite division in the section where the best schools play, regardless of enrollment.

"We're competitors," he said. "If we didn't want to be the best, we'd be doing ourselves a disservice. We want to play the best teams and see where we stack up."

The score

St. Pat's 50, Salesian 42

Next game: Thursday vs. TBA, 7 p.m.