Wednesday night’s NBL boys’ basketball battle between powerhouses Windsor and Cardinal Newman featured the ultra-deep and well-balanced Cardinals versus the dominating front-line height of the Jaguars.
Depth won out over height as the host Cardinals emerged victorious, 50-40, to clinch at least a co-championship of the regular season with one game to go.
Friday night the heavily- favored Cardinals (22-3, 12-1) will play at Casa Grande and will secure the championship with a win.
“We didn’t play all year long to get into a three-way tie,” Cardinal Newman coach Tom Bonfigli said prior to Wednesday’s game. “We want to win the league outright.”
Meanwhile, the Jaguars (19-6, 10-3), last season’s defending NBL champ, fell back into third place behind Montgomery. Windsor plays at Ukiah on Friday and will attempt to regain momentum going into the NBL postseason tournament.
“Of course we are disappointed that we lost tonight but I told the kids to keep their heads up. We are playing to our potential,” Windsor coach Travis Taylor said. “If we win the last game it’s a 20-win regular season.”
The Cardinals pulled the hat trick this season against the Jaguars, winning all three meetings between the squads.
In the third meeting Wednesday, the Cardinals even won the rebounding battle 32-26 against the taller Jaguars. Cardinal Newman outscored Windsor 21-9 in the second quarter to take a 29-17 lead at the half.
“I thought we had an exceptional second quarter. All year long the second and fourth quarters have been our best quarters. I think because of our depth,” Bonfigli said. “Windsor is really big around the basket and in the second half they started making some shots and getting rebounds.”
Cardinal Newman hit seven 3-pointers to Windsor’s five.
The Cardinals’ Brad Morato scored all six of his points on two critical 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to turn a one-point lead into seven points.
“Cardinal Newman has a deep bench and a lot of talent,” Taylor said. “They made a lot of tough shots.”
The Cardinals were led by Damien Wallace (15 points), Cody Baker (11 points) and Jalen Dural (12 rebounds).
The Jaguars were led by Travis Carlozzi (15 points) and Riley Smith (14 points).
Montgomery 47, Maria Carrillo 37
The visiting Vikings (19-6, 11-2) took care of business — albeit not in sharp fashion — by defeating the second-tier Pumas (8-16, 3-9) in a relatively close game.
The win keeps Montgomery’s faint hopes of at least a co-championship alive and propels it into sole possession of second place.
“It was kind of a slow night. Both teams didn’t shoot very well,” Montgomery coach Zac Tiedemann said. “We have played better of late.”
Montgomery was led by Alex Soria with 14 points and Riley O’Neil with 10 points.
Montgomery hosts Santa Rosa on Friday night.
Analy 57, Petaluma 33
There was not much drama in a game between first- and second-place teams in the SCL. With Analy (20-5, 11-0) a runaway winner for the league title, the Tigers continued their march toward a perfect regular season in league play with one game remaining. The Tigers played all 10 seniors on senior night.
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