Boys Basketball:
St. Anthony got out to a 13-point lead in the first half of their CIF-SS Division 1 opener at Damien.
The Spartans, however, would outscore the Saints, 26-8, in the third quarter, and pulled away for a 69-57 victory.
If you haven’t seen Nate Garcia play in person, you should.
He was the most dominant player on the floor, and there wasn’t a close second.
His size and impact was the difference.
Garcia finished with 31 points, which is 16 more than St. Anthony’s leading scorer (Tyler Small).
Garcia had 12 of Damien’s 26 third-quarter points.
Xavier Clinton chipped in with 14 points in the win.
As mentioned, Small led the Saints with 15 points, and Quincy Phillips finished with 14.
St. Anthony actually had a 24-9 advantage beyond the 3-point arc, and went 12-for-12 from the free-throw line.
The Spartans converted 14-of-19 at the charity stripe.
Up next: Damien and Colony will meet up on Friday night.
The Titans easily defeated Los Altos, 77-55, in Ontario.
Directly below the stats is video, interviews and all CIF-SS Division 1 scores.
I asked Damien coach Mike LeDuc what they did differently late in the first half and in the second half to pull away.
Quotable:
Damien coach, Mike LeDuc: “Nate is very difficult to stop, because he’s talented and he’s big. It’s our job to put him in a spot to be successful, and it’s his teammates job to get him the ball. Offensively, we didn’t a lot different. We played smarter and threw the ball inside more. Defensively, we went to a zone, because we had a real match up problem in man, and they seemed a little confused in their ability to score.”
Box Score:
SA: 7-14-8-18-(57)
D: 13-17-26-13-(69)
St. Anthony scoring: Tyler Small 15, Quincy Phillips 14, Santos Cordero 8, Joseph Wicker 8, Chandler Young 7, Amaan Zavahir 5
Damien scoring: Nate Garcia 31, Xavier Clinton 14, Eli Garner 7, Elijah Brown 6, Lucas Arrieta 4, Caiden Brown 4, Jacob Allen 3
Division 1 Scores:
Etiwanda had a bye
Oak Park 53, St. Francis 41
Los Alamitos 55, Santa Margarita 50
St. Paul 51, Village Christian 49
Canyon had a bye
Crossroad 52, Loyola 47
Rolling Hills Prep 62, Cajon 35
JSerra 64, Great Oak 53
Mira Costa had a bye
Brentwood 57, Fairmont Prep 46
Colony 77, Los Altos 55
Damien 69, St. Anthony 57
Heritage Christian 59, Foothill 51
Roosevelt 63, Dominguez 43
Crean Lutheran 76, San Juan Hills 66
Mater Dei 78, LB Poly 51
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