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DUBLIN — The name on the jersey is new, but the ambition running through Brave Christian Academy’s gym feels anything but.
On any given night in the west Dublin hills, the noise is sharper, the roster longer and the expectations louder than anyone remembers when the school was called Valley Christian-Dublin.
What was once a small-school schedule filler has turned into one of the Bay Area’s most interesting stories – a team winning now, gathering talent boldly and thinking far bigger than its enrollment suggests.
Rebranded as Brave Christian, the boys basketball program has surged into relevance behind a roster reshaped by improved talent and elevated by two international players from the Ivory Coast – freshman star JP Oka and sophomore Adama Kone – who have quickly become among the area’s most intriguing talents.
Driving the vision is coach Joe Fuca, a former executive at DocuSign and basketball architect intent on building more than a winning season.
His goal is long-term and ambitious: Turn a small Christian school into a regional powerhouse.
“We want to be a classic Christian school that you see on the I-680 corridor,” Fuca said. “You’re either going to go to Berean Christian or De La Salle, two great Christian schools. I feel like we can build our own little thing there in Dublin and have a really good success.”
Perfect timing
Brave Christian has an enrollment of just under 200 students and offers 11 sports. The Lions have never been a basketball power even at the small-school level, having two winning seasons since 2004.
Fuca got involved with the boys basketball team in January of last year after a pastor from the school’s church asked him if he could try to revive the athletics department.
Fuca took on the challenge.
The tech executive already had a deep background in basketball as his sons were decorated players at nearby San Ramon Valley. Christian Fuca won a Division I state championship with SRV in 2015, helping the Wolves beat a Lonzo Ball-led Chino Hills team. Fuca’s other son, Joey, was the head coach of national prep school powerhouse Prolific Prep and runs a local Adidas Circuit AAU team called Lakeshow Basketball.
Despite making the North Coast Section Division VI playoffs, Brave Christian struggled last season, going 8-16.
For senior point guard Logan Reth, who transferred from nearby California, last season challenged him in ways he did not expect.
“I came here last year, the skill gap was a lot different. I was surrounded with a lot of great people, but just kind of beginners to basketball,” Reth said.
But Fuca credits Reth and other returners for getting into the postseason, which he believes built a foundation for this year’s team.
“There were seven basketball players in the school when I came in,” Fuca said. “I think some people who came to watch us at the end of last year were attracted to come here. So then we had a lot of kids transfer in the summer because they wanted to go to school at Brave.”
Arrival of the stars
The team started to take shape in the offseason as transfers were becoming eligible and the team started to mesh behind Oka and Kone – two players who were playing basketball together on the Ivory Coast just a couple of years ago.
Both were highly decorated international players. Kone came to Brave Christian in January of last season while Oka has been playing in the states for the last few years.
The duo presents nightmare matchups for opponents. Oka, a 6-foot-8 freshman, is a natural scorer who has a shifty handle and defensive tools to shut down any top player. At 6-4, Kone is a bouncy wing who overpowers defenders with brute strength and agile footwork.
Kone said he and Oka had a learning curve to try to get adjusted to the American game.
“Back home, we never play basketball inside, always outside,” Kone said. “The rules are kind of different. It’s a lot more physical back home where it’s more technical here.”
While their highlights make social media on a regular basis, it’s their chemistry on the court that really separates Oka and Kone from the rest.
“JP is my homeboy from my home country,” Kone said. “He’s like a brother to me. So he knows me. I know him off the court, on the court. We just like playing together, sharing the ball with each other. If I score 20, he usually scores 20.”
Added Oka, “I’ve known him for two years, so it’s good to have him by my side.”
Turning heads
While most people didn’t know who the Lions were before the season started, they knew exactly what they were capable of.
Once the team was finally together in the offseason, Brave Christian impressed at local summer league games and built up some hype at the start of the season after starting 7-1. The Lions participated at the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic in San Diego where they played the likes of St. Ignatius, Cathedral Catholic and Priory.
Though they didn’t come away with wins, their willingness to play high-level competition got attention from the basketball community.
“I have a lot of friends who play basketball and they watch us and they’re like, “Woah, where did you get those guys,’” Reth said. “I’ve heard so many people tell us that we look good and I know in a few years we’ll be a lot better.”
Games against higher competition have paid dividends when Brave Christian returned to the B Division of the Bay Counties League East.
Through 10 league games, Brave Christian has blown out every opponent with a point differential of plus-520.
The Lions have beaten teams by video-game like numbers. They defeated Fremont-Christian 78-8 and routed Making Waves Academy 101-31.
“We really just came to Brave Christian trying to change the culture,” Kone said. “We want to change everything about this school – academically and athletically.”
The start of a powerhouse?
What’s happening at Brave Christian is already rippling beyond the basketball court.
The Lions’ breakout season has already become a blueprint for what administrators believe can be a full-scale athletic revival – one fueled by visibility, belief and proof that winning can be had at a small Christian school in West Dublin.
According to Fuca and athletic director Steve Stokes, enrollment has increased, student interest has grown and the athletic department is preparing for expansion. The school is adding 8-man football next year with hopes of creating a full 11-man team in the coming years, a significant step for a school that struggled to field any athletic teams at all.
Fuca believes this season will be remembered less for the lopsided scores and more for the foundation it created.
“We went from eight basketball players to 26 basketball players,” Fuca said. “We have a JV team now and a freshman team. So we just rebuilt the whole thing. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
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Nathan Canilao
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