Gauchos jump on Pumas early, never look back

Casa Grande bolted to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never looked back in defeating Maria Carrillo, 52-37, in front of an appreciative home crowd at Coach Ed Iacopi Gymnasium on Friday night.

Casa outscored the Pumas in both halves as coach Jake Lee cleared the bench on multiple occasions, with a number of Gauchos getting more than normal minutes of play.

Included for the first time were freshmen Noah Bailey and Garrett Siebels, who were both pulled up from the junior varsity in an effort to shake things up a bit as Casa emphatically halted a five-game losing streak in the North Bay League.

Neither of the first-year varsity players started the game, but both dented the scoring column while calmly rotating into the contest in both halves.

Overall, 11 Gauchos scored as the game was never in doubt. Also encouraging for Lee was a reduction of unforced turnovers that had been plaguing his club late in the season. Bailey had a couple of good passing sequences for Casa, and showed signs of seeing the entire floor with a couple quick assists.

While Casa got balanced scoring, it was its solid defensive effort in the first half that set the tone for the rest of the contest. The Gauchos picked up the Pumas closely at midcourt and forced Puma shooters to hoist many awkward shots that had little chance of bringing Carrillo back into the hunt. At one point in the first quarter, the aggressive Gauchos forced three consecutive ball-handling errors by the Pumas.

Additionally, Casa adjusted in the second half to successfully block out 6-7 Puma center Seth Vernon, who had kept the ball alive under both baskets in the first two periods of play. Vernon had six points and seven rebounds in the first half but was never a factor in the late going as the Gauchos, led by JJ Anderson, located him and forced the big pivot player outside of his comfort zone.

Anderson wound up controlling the game on the boards as he pulled down 16 rebounds. Vernon settled for eight points.

Leading the way for Casa Grande was top scorer Robbie Sheldon, who counted 12 of his game-high 14 points in the first half. Sheldon was suddenly left crumpled on the floor, and lost his breath temporarily in the second half, which led to his brief substitution as Gauchos rotated in and out in the final minutes.

Sophomore guard Ian Cerutti netted 10 points, including a couple of strong drives to the hoop, and played a solid floor game off the bench for the Gauchos.

Patrick Gavin remained a hot shooter for the Pumas as they came into the game following a win over Rancho Cotate. Gavin had 13 points in that one, and followed it up with 17 more against the Gauchos. At times, Casa didn’t really concentrate on the only real outside threat for Carrillo.

Casa improved to 3-6 in the NBL with still an outside chance of overhauling both Montgomery and Ukiah by the end of the season. The Gauchos are now 7-14 for the season.

The Pumas slipped to 2-7 in league play and 5-15 overall.

Home loss

The win over Carrillo followed a disappointing 48-45 home-court loss to Santa Rosa earlier in the week.

Santa Rosa led, 24-14, at the half and still had a 37-28 lead at the end of three quarters before the Gauchos charged for 17 points in the final period.

Anderson had dominating game for the Gauchos with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Jordan Smith scored 11 points and pulled down six rebounds. Thomas Cramer added 11 points.

Tommy LaVine led the Panthers with 19 points, hurting Casa with five 3-point connections.