Red-hot Yeaney leads Casa over Petaluma

Casa Grande junior guard Cetrick Yeaney blistered the net for eight 3-point connections and 34 points Friday evening to lead the Gauchos to a 58-44 victory over cross-town rival Petaluma in the second round of Casa's Brett Callan Memorial Tournament.

The win paired Casa Grande against Elsie Allen this afternoon at 3 p.m. in the consolation finals. Petaluma will play Albany at 1:30 p.m. for seventh place.

Yeaney seldom missed Friday, hitting four of six shots for 2-points and 8 of 11 3-point attempts.

The hot-shooting off guard almost single handily beat back a late Petaluma challenge with three straight 3-pointers to open the fourth quarter after Petaluma had closed to within 39-35 with a hustling third-quarter effort.

"We knew when he got started he was going to be hard to defend,." said Petaluma coach John Behrs of Yeaney. "We tried to defend him further out, but he still hit his shots. Whenever they needed a basket, the 3-pointer was there."

Although Yeanay carried the scoring load, Casa Grande received strong efforts from two of its big men with Kyle Kaupe scoring five points, grabbing eight rebounds, blocking four shots and making four steals, while Jake Ielmorini, although he scored only two points, had five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Aaron Dal Poggetto added five points for the Gauchos, while Tyler Nadolski, Miles Gardea and Jon Kristy scored four apiece.

Guards Clay Swanson and Noah Forrey carried much of the Petaluma offense, with Swanson scoring 14 points and Forrey 12. Post player Eric Hunsicker battled valiantly against a host of tough Gaucho inside defenders and rebounders, and finished with 12 points.

Although winless in the tournament, the game marked the second consecutive strong effort for the Trojans, who lost in the opening round to George Washington of San Francisco, 46-42.

"We play hard," Behrs said. "We ran our offense well tonight. We've added a couple of new wrinkles to get Eric and Clay more involved and we ran them pretty well tonight."

In other games Friday, Fairfield overcame a 10-point Windsor fourth-quarter lead to defeat the Jaguars, 50-48, and Alameda beat George Washington, 72-59.

Casey Myers had a huge game for Windsor with 25 points.

Fairfield and Alameda meet in the championship game this evening at 6 p.m., with Windsor and George Washington playing for third place at 4:30 p.m.

For complete tournament game story, see Thursday's Argus-Courier.