Basketball Roundup: Four Stanislaus District boys teams advance to section quarterfinals
The Central Catholic boys’ basketball team faced constant pressure from Wood high school in Friday night’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division III first-round playoff game.
After made baskets and free throws, the Wildcats set up the their full-court zone press, falling back into a pressure man-to-man. When the Raiders came down with a defensive rebound, often they were met by two Wood defenders swiping at the ball or trying to tie them up for a jump ball.
Central Catholic handled the Wildcats’ pressure defense and executed on offense en route to a 70-56 playoff win.
“The key (for us) was getting the ball to the middle,” said head coach Mike Wilson. “Flashing to open areas of the court and finding where their trapping guy was coming from. In the second half, we did a much better job of finding that guy and then attacking and we got some good shots and some layups off of that, which kind of opened up the score for us a little bit.”
Malachi Miller scored a game-high 25 points and sophomores Wesley Payne and Tyler Wentworth added 15 and 12 points, respectively.
The Raiders are looking to advance to their fourth straight Division III section title game after winning in 2018 and losing in both 2019 and 2020. Senior Julian Kuper and junior Jaelen Nichols are the only two on this team who have experienced the playoff atmosphere. The team gets a large part of its offensive production from Miller, a junior, and its sophomores.
Senior leadership of Armaan Grewal and Kuper will be key to helping them advance in the postseason.
“I was in on that team (in 2020), I was around that atmosphere so I bring that now,” said Kuper, who had eight points Friday night. “We preach ... teamwork, execution, hustling for loose balls, stuff like that. They kind of feed off of me and Armaan. So we know we have to do our part and we know if we don’t, then the team’s not gonna function to their full potential.”
The Raiders will travel to Auburn Monday to take on third seed Placer at 7 p.m.
Inderkum 87, Downey 37: The Knights’ offense struggled against the section’s top Division I team. Downey was looking for its third win in a row, but couldn’t get things going against the Tigers, which have been ranked the No. 1 team in the section by MaxPreps for weeks.
Turlock 73, Capital Christian 54: The Bulldogs advance to the Division I quarterfinals with Friday’s big win over the eighth-seeded Cougars in Sacramento. Turlock took an eight point lead into halftime that they extended to 19 by the end of the third. Its defense gave up just seven points in both the first and third quarters.
Kyle Ericksen hit 5 threes en route to 27 points. Gavin Cox added 18.
Turlock will play top-seeded Inderkum in Sacramento Monday.
Modesto Christian 74, Gregori 55: The Jaguars looked like they would give the Crusaders a run after going into the intermission tied at 32. Modesto Christian scored 42 points in the second half to blow the game open and end Gregori’s season. Jamari Phillips finished with a team-high 29 points for Modesto Christian.
Gregori finishes with a 14-16 record but an impressive 8-2 record in the Central California Athletic League.
Modesto Christian will host Weston Ranch on Monday.
Placer 91, Beyer 71: After winning six straight and qualifying for the playoffs for the eighth straight year, the Patriots’ season came to an end on Friday night against the third seed Hillmen. Beyer finished the regular season third in the Western Athletic Conference with 11 wins.
Venture Academy 92, Escalon 67: The Cougars trailed 40-21 at halftime and gave up 92 total points to the Mustangs. Their highest point total allowed all season. The Central California Athletic Alliance’s top team advances to play Marysville on Monday at 7 p.m.
Ripon 2, Foothill F: The Indians won via forfeit due to COVID, the school announced on Twitter Thursday. They will play second seed Calaveras, which beat San Juan, 74-52.
Girls’ basketball first round scores (Games were played 2/17)
Oak Ridge 70, Pitman 13
St. Mary’s 85, Gregori 26
Whitney 53, Patterson 36
Orestimba 59, Escalon 45
Liberty Ranch 37, Ripon 20
Argonaut 85, Hughson 42
Capital Christian 57, Riverbank 48
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 10:04 AM.
