On a cold and stormy night, the Casa Grande High School boys basketball team got burned by Ukiah’s net-blistering Wildcats, 72-57.
Playing in Casa’s coach Ed Iacopi Gymnasium, Ukiah knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers in the final stage of what for most of the contest was a competitive game to record just its four North Bay League win of the season.
The loss was the 11th against one league win for the Gauchos, who are now 4-19 for the season. Casa will be playing for pride in its final two games, Wednesday night at Rancho Cotate and Friday at home on Senior Night against league-leading Cardinal Newman.
Monday night, Casa Grande showed one of its best offensive flashes of the season, scoring with the Wildcats right up until the finish when the Ukiah 3-point barrage put the game beyond reach.
As has happened to the Gauchos all too often this season, they stayed within catching distance of their opponents almost all the way, but never seemed to have the final effort needed to catch them and take charge.
It was an offensive battle from the beginning, with the Gauchos driving through holes or popping over the top of the Ukiah zone defense, while the Wildcats seemed to have a hot hand from all over the court, punctuating several drives with unorthodox shots that somehow found net.
Ukiah got a couple of baskets at the end of an Indy-paced first quarter to lead 19-16, and marginally increased the advantage to 38-33 at the half, despite spirited play from Casa senior captain Vikram Singh, who popped home a pair of 3-pointers and had 10 points in the second period.
The Gauchos hung close through most of the final period, sometimes on pure will, and got to within four points at 61-57 with three minutes left to play. During those final minutes, the Gauchos couldn’t buy a decent look at the basket and didn’t score a point.
Meanwhile, Ukiah’s Keegan Beebe and Ulysses Ruiz (twice) confidently hit the bottom of the net with 3-pointers to clinch the Wildcat win.
Singh had a sensational game for the Gauchos with 20 points, including four hits from distance. Sophomore Garrett Siebels also hit four shots from forever-land and finished with 16 points. Senior Ian Cerruti did a little bit of everything for the Gauchos, handling the ball, driving for 10 points, dishing off seven assists and pulling down three rebounds.
Ruiz tickled the nets for five treys for Ukiah, finishing with 20 points. Beebe scored 18 and Tony Zamora 11.
Casa Grande’s high-powered junior varsity continued to roll, romping over Ukiah, 70-54.
Bad start at SR
Casa Grande got off to a bad start and couldn’t quite recover Thursday night, losing at Santa Rosa, 49-40.
Casa scored just three points in the first quarter, falling behind, 11-3, and still trailed 29-15 at half. However, the Gauchos came out playing tenacious defense in the third period, pulling to within 34-29. The Panthers recovered in the final period for the win.
Cerruti led Casa with 12 points, with Siebels adding eight.
Kalei Aukai led Santa Rosa with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Isaiah Steele scored 13 with seven rebounds.
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