Marin City native and St. Ignatius alum Darrion Trammell was at the center of the basketball universe on Friday.
Trammell, who played at Golden State Prep, City College of San Francisco and Seattle University before transferring to San Diego State ahead of the 2022-23 season, scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Aztecs to a 71-64 upset of overall No. 1 seed Alabama and the program’s first Elite 8 berth.
The 5-foot-10 Trammell scored the first eight points of SDSU’s 25-7 run that turned a 48-39 deficit into a 64-55 lead, eliminating the Crimson Tide. He shot 9-of-16 from the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. He finished the game with five rebounds and a pair of steals while committing just one turnover.
Alabama (31-6) had been considered a villain by fans around the nation—not because the school has had so much success in football, but because of the decision to not punish star freshman Brandon Miller for bringing a gun to a teammate that was involved in a fatal shooting (opens in new tab). Miller finished with nine points, but shot just 3-of-19 and committed six turnovers.
Oakland native Keshad Johnson, who spent his senior year of high school at San Leandro after spending three years at tiny Envision Academy, finished with eight points for San Diego State (30-6).
The Aztecs will play on Sunday against either Creighton or Princeton with a shot to advance to their first Final Four since becoming a Division I program.
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Trammell isn’t the only Marin County native within arm’s reach of the Final Four. Marin Catholic alum Joey Calcaterra scored five points for Connecticut in Thursday’s 88-65 thrashing of Arkansas.