CIF NorCal playoff roundup: Two basketball teams, Patterson boys soccer advance to second round
Coming off a heartbreaking loss to Vanden in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship game, the Central Catholic boys basketball team earned a six seed in the NorCal regional playoffs. The Raiders were rewarded with a home matchup against No. 11 Bullard High, which finished second in the County/Metro League and lost in the CIF Central Section Division I semifinals.
After leading 17-13 at the end of the first quarter, the Raiders’ offense went cold. They didn’t score more than nine points in each of the next three quarters.
On the other end of the court, the Knights couldn’t miss in the first half. They connected on six three-pointers in the first two quarters to take a 10-point lead into halftime.
Central Catholic spent the majority of the game in a 2-3 zone in an effort to utilize its size and protect the paint, but after Bullard’s shooting display in the first 16 minutes, they switched to man at times in the third quarter. Unfortunately, that didn’t work, either.
The Knights were already hot. They scored 18 points in the third and finished the game with a 15-point fourth quarter.
Central Catholic struggled with turnovers all night. The Raiders finished with 15 turnovers and 10 assists.
They will hope to build on this season next year as the majority of the team will return.
Malachi Miller finished with a team-high 15 points, Tyler Wentworth scored 10 and senior Julian Kuper added eight points in his final high school game.
Denair 64, Orland 38: The Coyotes extended their season at least two more days with Tuesday’s home blowout win against the Trojans. Denair’s four senior starters once again led the team in scoring. Jack Henderson finished with a team-high 19 points, Cooper Feldman had 17, Connor Leonard added 15 and Mario Plasencia had a 10-point, 11-rebound double double.
The Coyotes will be on the road in their second-round game against Priory High School.
Ripon Christian 64, Stevenson 53: The Knights made a statement in their NorCal Regional opening round game against the sixth-seeded Pirates in Pebble Beach. Griffin de Abreu had a huge game with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Eli Terpsma didn’t finish too far behind, scoring 19 points and grabbing five rebounds.
Ripon Christian is the 11 seed and will spend most of its NorCal run on the road. It will travel to San Francisco to play third-seed Stuart Hall on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Upcoming Boys Basketball games:
Open Division
No. 3 Modesto Christian vs No. 6 Archbishop Mitty: Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m.
Division VI
No. 4 Turlock Christian vs No. 5 Valley Christian: Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m.
Boys Soccer
Watsonville 2, Modesto 0: The Panthers’ historic season officially ended Tuesday night with a road loss to the Division I second seed, Watsonville. After scoring 71 goals in their first 21 games, the Panthers were held scoreless in their final two games of the season.
Patterson 3, Chico 2: The Tigers bounced back from their loss in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship with a win Tuesday night. Patterson will have a rematch against Vista del Lago, which beat the Tigers 2-0 to win the section title.
They will travel to Folsom to play the Eagles on Thursday. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. as the second leg of a boys-girls soccer double header.
Wheatland 1, Denair 0: In their first ever trip to the playoffs, the Coyotes won a section title and advanced to the Division VI NorCal Championships. Unfortunately, their best season in program history came to an end with Tuesday’s home loss to Wheatland.
