Carpinteria boys basketball kicked off their Jim Bashore Holiday Cage Classic Tournament with a thrilling 45-44 win over De Toledo on Monday.
“Our grit and perseverance shone through today,” Warriors coach Jackson Hall said. “We couldn’t buy a bucket for three quarters but our guys remained steady and played their best basketball in the fourth.
“When faced with adversity, we chose to endure and that kept us close enough to compete for the game when it counted.”
After the Warriors held the early lead, De Toledo battled back to take an 18-16 advantage into halftime.
The Jaguars stayed hot from there, extending the lead out to 37-29 with one quarter to go.
Carpinteria came out on fire on defense, holding De Toledo scoreless for the first four minutes of the fourth while chipping away at the lead on the other end.
A pair of clutch three-pointers by Sawyer Kelly and a late steal by Carlo Suarez helped inch the Warriors closer with minutes to go.
With Carpinteria down one point, Aiden Alcaraz was fouled and sent to the charity stripe. Alcaraz nailed both free throws to give his squad the victory. In the end, the Warriors outscored De Toledo 16-7 in the fourth.
Suarez and Kelly paced the scoring attack with 14 points apiece while Alcaraz ended with nine points.
Micah Smith also turned in a solid all-around performance with some clutch plays in crunch times and great rebounding.
The Warriors (5-4) take on Grace on Tuesday for the second round of play.
Dos Pueblos 73, Pasadena Poly 47
The Chargers opened up their tournament with a 73-47 win over Pasadena Poly.
Dos Pueblos found success on both ends of the court throughout the matchup en route to the blowout victory.
After a strong first quarter from Dos Pueblos, Pasadena Poly fought back in the second quarter to keep the game close.
However, a 26-14 third quarter by the Chargers put the game out of reach and allowed them to cruise to the 73-47 victory.
Justin Stock led the offense with 26 points, nailing six three-pointers along the way. Meanwhile, Matthew Zamora dropped 11 points while facilitating the offense.
On the boards, the sophomore pairing of Wyatt Gardiner and Coulter Jay had solid rebounding performances.
Dos Pueblos will be back in action on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
Santa Ynez 67, Bishop Diego 40
The Pirates bested the Cardinals in their first-round matchup of the Jim Bashore Classic, 67-40.
“We just can’t get five guys to consistently play well,” Bishop Diego coach James Coronado said. “If it’s not rushing shots, then it’s defensive rotations. If it’s not defensive rotations, then it’s boxing out and rebounding.
“If it’s not rebounding, then it’s sloppy turnovers or not getting back on defense. You name it, and we have a lapse in that aspect somewhere throughout the game.”
After a tight first quarter, Santa Ynez began to pull away in the second by utilizing their size advantage on Bishop Diego.
That momentum carried over into the third quarter, building upon the lead even more for the Pirates. While Santa Ynez scored 39 points over the middle two quarters, the Cardinals managed just 16.
“We do some things really well at moments, but we are way too inconsistent for us to win games,” Coronado said. “Tonight I thought we were getting good looks but because we were turning the ball over so much and not getting back on defense, we had to shoot 100% to win today.”
The Pirates were led by another big performance from Ikenna Ofiaeli, who accumulated 18 points and 12 rebounds. He was joined in double figures by Lucas Ollenburger and Hale Durbiano with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
As for the Cardinals, Ryder Torres had 15 points and Eddie Perez chipped in 11.
“Just really inconsistent is the word that comes to mind,” Coronado said. “We are still working on a solid rotation with our guys because of the inconsistency… We just need to be more consistent, period.”
