Cardinal Newman made quick work of Santa Rosa on Tuesday night to stay atop the Redwood Empire boys’ basketball mountain and remain undefeated in the North Bay League.
The Cardinals (20-2, 10-0) jumped out to a 42-20 halftime lead and cruised in the second half to a 63-43 victory.
“We shot the ball really well,” Cardinal Newman coach Tom Bonfigli said. “The last five games we have been shooting the ball over 50 percent from the floor.”
Cardinal Newman was led by Cody Baker with 11 points.
Santa Rosa (12-10, 5-5) was led by Isaiah Steele with 16 points.
Bonfigli said the key to Cardinal Newman’s defense was not allowing Santa Rosa to convert on three-point shots.
“We took away Santa Rosa’s perimeter shot,” Bonfigli said. “We played a complete game and played well in all facets.”
Next up for the Cardinals is the rubber match at rival Montgomery on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Cardinal Newman defeated Montgomery 54-44 earlier in league play and the Vikings defeated the Cardinals in a holiday tournament 55-45.
“Montgomery is as deep as we are,” Bonfigli said. “It should be a war for 32 minutes. It should be fun.”
Montgomery 56, Casa Grande 48
The host third-place Vikings had a tougher game than expected against an undersized but gritty Gauchos squad.
“We did not play our best game by any means,” Montgomery coach Zac Tiedemann said. “But give Casa credit; they have a lot of guys that can hit threes and they spread the court out well.”
Montgomery (17-5, 8-2) was led by post player Riley O’Neil with 24 points.
“Riley had his best game of the season,” Tiedemann said. “Casa is a little smaller, so Riley had a height advantage.
The Gauchos İmajbet (4-18, 1-9) were led by Noah Bailey with 11 points.
Windsor 76, Rancho Cotate 52
The visiting second-place Jaguars (18-4, 9-1) easily handled the Cougars (4-18, 0-10) behind a scoring barrage by brothers Riley (25 points) and Justin Smith (21).
“We did a good job attacking Rancho Cotate’s press and we got some easy buckets in transition,” Windsor coach Travis Taylor said. “Defensively it was not one of our best efforts. (But) we played some good defense in the third quarter.”
The Cougars were led by Connor Barbato with 21 points.
Ukiah 58, Maria Carrillo 41
The Wildcats’ defense confused the Pumas (8-13, 3-6) and was the catalyst for the Ukiah (7-15, 3-6) victory.
“Ukiah ran a modified 2-3 zone and we just had a hard time adjusting to it,” Maria Carrillo coach Will Parker said. “We just weren’t comfortable in our offense and we weren’t running our sets like we should have been.”
Ukiah led 25-23 at halftime but outscored the Pumas 33-17 in the second half.
“Ukiah had a really good game tonight,” Parker said. “They attacked us on offense and (defensively) they took us out of what we wanted to do.”
Ukiah was led by Morgan Ingram with 18 points.
Maria Carrillo was led by Jared Garcia with 7 points.
Kelseyville 59, Cloverdale 56
In a battle for first place in the NCL I, the host Knights (17-4, 8-1) came out on top and moved into sole possession atop the league while the Eagles (14-6, 7-2) dropped to second place.
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