Quick Take
The Cardinals got down early and could never quite come back in Friday's CIF Division III title game against Bishop Alemany High, falling 63-53. Santa Cruz High finished the season 27-7.
Santa Cruz High School fell to Bishop Alemany High School 63-53 in the California Interscholastic Federation Division III state championship on Friday at Golden 1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings.
The Northern California champs trailed by as many as 16 points before clawing back into the game and cutting the lead down to eight.
“I’m just proud of my guys,” said senior Ben Dotten. “We came up short in [the Central Coast Section playoffs]; it’s pretty cool that we came up here. It’s not how we wanted to finish but it’s still a big accomplishment.”
Dotten did a little bit of everything for the Cardinals, scoring 15 points, grabbing 8 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists on offense, adding 4 blocks and 3 steals on the defensive end.
“This group in December, they told me they were gonna get here,” said coach Lawan Milhouse, whose Cardinals finished the season 27-7. “They came up a little bit short in the section game then fought all the way through to get to this point.”
A strong contingent of Santa Cruz fans traveled 146 miles to cheer on their squad, and they were loud all night.
The Cardinals had to win four NorCal games to get to this point and they did it in front of capacity home crowds, some standing room only, each time. Throughout the playoff run, Dotten and fellow senior Demeke Smith, juniors Mosiah Cumberpatch and Kirby Seals and sophomore Demarco Hunter all came up big night after night.
At Golden 1 Center, Hunter had a game for the ages, scoring 22 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
“Demarco doesn’t know how good he could be for only being a sophomore,” said Milhouse, who guided Santa Cruz to its first NorCal title since the 2004-05 season under legendary coach Pete Newell Jr. “To have that type of game as a sophomore, that’s pretty special.”
Bishop Alemany, the Southern California champ from Mission Hills, jumped out to a quick 8-2 start before the Cardinals rallied back and trailed 10-6 after the first quarter.
The entire game was very physical, with Bishop Alemany (25-15) having 6-foot-9 sophomore Samuel Mbingazo and junior Bourgeois Tshilobo patrolling the paint all night. Every Santa Cruz shot was tough because of the Warriors’ length. On the other end of the spectrum, Bishop Alemany scored 40 points in the paint.
The Warriors began to pull away in the second quarter and took a 30-20 lead into halftime after Santa Cruz shot 25% in the second quarter.
The Warriors jumped out to a 16-point lead late in the third quarter and took a 45-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals didn’t go down easy, getting the lead down to eight before falling 63-53.
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