RICHMOND — Salesian came in waves.
Fresh legs. Locked-in defenders. And the same ruthless precision every time the lineups changed.
There was no lull, no mercy and no moment to breathe for Albany as the Pride – the top team in the latest Bay Area News Group rankings – overwhelmed the Cougars from start to finish en route to a 69-50 win at home.
The blowout marked Salesian’s first game in Tri-County Athletic League play after navigating a tough national nonleague schedule – a stretch designed to test the Richmond school’s depth and talent.
Even without Stanford-bound senior guard Elias Obenyah, who sat out Wednesday’s game with a hip flexor injury, the Pride showed why they are widely expected to breeze through league competition.
Salesian’s Asante Johnson (24) grabs Albany’s Muhammad Amin (5) from his jersey during a basketball game at Salesian College Prep in Richmond, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)Albany, coming off a buzzer-beating league win over Pinole Valley the night before, played solid basketball but simply didn’t have the star power or depth to match a Salesian program built to overwhelm their opponents in succession.
“As much as you try in practice, you can’t replicate that size and that quickness and that organization. They’re just so well coached,” Albany coach Bill Tressler, who was Salesian’s head coach in the early 2000s, said. “You hope maybe you could win the game. But there’s also a residual benefit. If you’re pushing yourself against better competition, that’s how we all improve.”
For Salesian, games like this provided valuable minutes for players still trying to get consistent playing time down the road.
“We had some defensive mistakes in the first half, but we’re playing a lot of guys. It’s only halfway through the season, but guys are still battling for minutes,” Salesian coach Bill Mellis said. “It’s not like we’re just settling into a rotation. We’re still looking at guys that can get significant minutes, or at least minutes in certain situations or whatever. So yeah,it’s still competitive.”
Carlton Perilliat Jr. led Salesian with 10 points, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Eight different Salesian players scored four or more points.
Senior shooting guard Pasha Azar led all scorers with 15 points on five made 3-pointers.
Albany made things competitive to open the game, but it was evident early that Salesian’s size and athleticism was going to wear on the Cougars as the game would progress.
After going down eight in the first quarter, Albany was outscored 16-7 in the second quarter to trail 34-17 at halftime.
The Pride’s six unanswered points to open the third quarter, capped off by a ferocious slam dunk on the left baseline from Perilliat, forced Albany into an early timeout.
Tyler Sadler’s buzzer-beating layup at the end of the period ended a 10-2 run from Salesian and gave the Pride their biggest lead of the night.
Salesian rested starters in the fourth quarter, allowing Albany to score 19 fourth-quarter points. But it didn’t matter as the Pride cruised to an easy victory in their league opener.
“Our mindset going into this game was just to get better,” Perilliat said. “We got to work on things we needed to work on. Taking charges, being in the lane – getting back to our principles that we might have got away from on the long break due to stress and tiredness.”
Salesian returned from a long eight-day road trip that included stops at the Damien Tournament in La Verne and at Hoophall West Invitational in Arizona. During that stretch, Salesian pulled off big wins over St. John Bosco and Bishop Gorman.
Mellis said the long trip was good for his team to see elite competition.
“It was a long trip. It was fun,” Mellis said. “I think our guys had a good time, but they were also very much about our business and about their business. With the competition that we faced, to go 5-2 on that trip was pretty good.”
Obenyah update
Obenyah was out of Tuesday’s game with a hip flexor injury that he played through during Salesian’s road trip.
Mellis said he is not concerned about the injury long term, but the team will monitor him and try to get the Stanford commit rest when they can.
“It happened kind of real early on, and he hasn’t quite rested enough,” Mellis said. “Even if this game was against the number one team in the country, he probably wouldn’t have played tonight. It was just that he needed a couple days. … I think the plan is for him to get back to practice tomorrow.”
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