As the San Francisco Pro-Am enters a period of uncertainty due to the upcoming renovation of Kezar Gym, East Bay beat a tough Bay Raiders squad, 89-71, in a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday night in San Francisco to capture the 2025 Pro-Am championship.

Pro-Am legend Jovan Harris led the way for East Bay, despite suffering a lower leg injury. His squad picked up the slack, led by center Ty Verhorden and guard Vincent “Tutu” Golson, resulting in Harris’ fourth SF Pro-Am title. Easy Bay fought off a solid effort from the Bay Raiders, which featured guard Mikey Lewis and center Drew McKeever of Saint Mary’s.

The game was much closer than the score indicates, as the fourth quarter was hotly contested before East Bay pulled away. In the end, East Bay’s savvy and versatility were too much for the Bay Raiders’ youth.

After the Bay Raiders took a 7-0 lead, East Bay slowed the pace and worked the paint, stymying the young Bay Raiders’ transition game, led by Lewis. Verhorden led East Bay’s effort down low, battling the taller McKeever for tough buckets in the paint.

East Bay’s strategy led to a 16-14 lead after it fell behind early. By the end of the first quarter, Harris and company had a 23-19 advantage.

“We were down at the beginning, and I knew we had to bring the energy, so I kind of took that upon myself,” Verhorden told the BASH postgame. He led all scorers with 24 points. “But these guys picked it up right from there, and we just started rolling, and we were able to get over that slow start.”

In the second quarter, East Bay added aggressive defense to the mix, further extending its lead over the Bay Raiders. The aggressive defense fueled fast-break opportunities, but the squad kept feeding Verhorden in the paint, maintaining complete control of the game’s pace. East Bay’s lead grew to double digits halfway through the second quarter, and the squad took a 40-31 lead at halftime.

Lewis came out on fire in the third quarter, but Verhorden answered with a tough bucket down low and a breakaway dunk over McKeever on a fast break. Lewis returned fire with a skillful layup, followed by two free throws after being fouled on a drive to the cup. After the Bay Raiders’ Wrenn Robinson and East Bay’s Malik Duffy traded 3-pointers, the score sat at 51-45, East Bay.

A stolen inbound pass by East Bay resulted in an easy bucket and yet another double-digit lead. Robinson hit another 3 for the Bay Raiders, but East Bay went to the post again to maintain its advantage. Lewis kept chipping away, however, hitting another layup to pull his team to within four points. A big 3-pointer from East Bay’s Gokul Nateson gave his team a 64-55 advantage, and East Bay took a 64-57 lead into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter started off just like the first quarter, with Verhorden and McKeever battling down low. A McKeever bucket pulled the Bay Raiders to within one point of East Bay, 64-63. Verhorden was fouled near the basket on the ensuing possession and converted two free throws. A rebound and putback from McKeever again made it a one-point game. Verhorden answered with a bucket over McKeever in the paint for a 68-65 East Bay advantage with 6:41 left to play.

It appeared the Bay Raiders had an opportunity to take control, but East Bay switched it up; guards Golson and Davis Kinole changed the team’s pace on offense, driving to the basket with ease as the Bay Raiders appeared caught off guard. Kinole converted a layup and then hit another, drawing a foul and completing the And-1 opportunity for a 73-65 East Bay advantage.

Golson hit a big 3-pointer and converted a layup to extend the lead to 78-67 with just 3:38 to play. He followed that up with yet another bucket in the paint, drawing a foul and hitting the free throw for an 81-67 advantage, sealing the Bay Raiders’ fate.

Postgame, Golson reflected on how the game unfolded.

“We had a good three quarters when our big guys, Ty and Malik, did their thing,” Golson told the BASH. “And usually it ends with us because then we give them a different look: pick and rolls, isos, still kicking it out too, you know, while scoring. So it feels really good to be able to do that.”

The best two-out-of-three series went the distance, and it took a team effort from East Bay to thwart a talented Bay Raiders squad.

“It’s tough because you’ve got one guy, Mikey Lewis, who can score from anywhere: Threes, twos, layups, floaters, anything,” Golson said. “But then you’ve also got Wrenn Robinson, who’s a good shooter, and you’ve got their big guy [McKeever]. So it’s tough, but we figured it out.

“We learned from the last game that even if we go up by five or 10, we’ve got to keep pushing.”

East Bay kept pushing after Harris left with a lower leg injury. Harris, a multiple-time Pro Am champ who first appeared on the Kezar court in 1996 as a young baller from El Cerrito High School, told the BASH pregame he was, “Trying to win one more and ride off into the sunset.”

However, his Pro-Am days might not be over.

“It might be my last one; it all depends. You know the competitive juices will come back. [My team is] telling me, ‘one more’, you know? ‘Come back.’

“It feels good because the majority of these guys have never won one. They’re going down in history because the Pro-Am has been going on since the 70s.”

Harris, who has been a mainstay for East Bay for two decades, praised his younger teammates for following his team-first approach. His message was well received, according to Verhorden.

“We’ve got vets. We’ve got guys who’ve seen a lot. So we understand it’s going to take a team to win. Shoutout to Jovan, TuTu, Leroy [Anderson], Franko [Harris], all the OGs, man, those guys keep us all together,” Verhorden said. “It’s just a really good group.”

Said Jovan Harris: “I told them this is what we do, and this is how we do it. And they bought in.”

As for the upcoming $140 million renovation at Kezar Gym, AKA Kezar Pavilion, the BASH has seen conflicting reports about how it will affect the San Francisco Pro-Am. The gym will close when construction begins, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which also states that construction could start in 2026.

However, a source tells the BASH that the San Francisco Pro-Am could continue at Kezar Pavilion next season, due to funding that currently falls just short of the $140 million price tag.

“Myself and the young guys, we’ve got to keep it alive. Just keep playing, man,” Harris said. “Don’t worry if we’re going to be at Kezar. If we want to do it at Potrero Hill, let’s play at Potrero Hill. We just got to keep it going.

“We can’t die like that. LA has their [Pro-Am], Houston has theirs. We’ll move forward accordingly, but hopefully, we’ll just keep it going.”