NBL boys basketball: Cardinal Newman takes suspense out of victory

Wed. January 25, 2012 at 10:37 p.m. | By PDPreps.com staff

By RICHARD J. MARCUS
FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

On paper, Wednesday night’s Ukiah at Cardinal Newman boys’ basketball matchup looked to be a barn-burner of a game to open the second half of the NBL season.

Instead, Cardinal Newman (16-4 overall, 6-2 NBL) made sure that there would be no suspense by dismantling Ukiah, 58-28, after breaking out to a 20-3 lead in the first period.

The outcome was not anticipated. The Wildcats (10-10, 3-5) were riding a three-game winning streak coming into the game after upsetting league powerhouse Maria Carrillo, 48-37, on Monday. In addition, the Wildcats took Cardinal Newman to the brink earlier in the season at Ukiah, losing to the Cardinals, 77-76, in overtime.

“That ends our win streak emphatically, as they say,” Ukiah coach Bill Heath said. “Cardinal Newman is quicker, faster, bigger and stronger, and that is not a combination for us.”

A key part of the Cardinals’ victory was their 39-21 advantage in rebounds.

“We pushed the ball very well. We converted turnovers into baskets. We dominated the boards,” Cardinals coach Tom Bonfigli said. “This is how we were playing early in the season when we were rolling people.”

Cardinal Newman, which is in the hunt for the league lead and plays a critical NBL game at Rancho Cotate on Friday, broke out early in the season on top of the NBL but stumbled recently with two league losses.

However, the Cardinals defeated Elsie Allen, 66-28, on Monday, and now a 30-point win against a hot Ukiah team gives momentum back to the Cardinals.

“You go through stretches where you don’t play well in a season,” Bonfigli said. “I think we are getting back in the rhythm of playing well. We played both ends of the court well tonight.”

Ukiah couldn’t get a jump start on its offense, trailing 10-0 before scoring a basket with 3:34 remaining in the first period. The Cardinals then went on a 10-3 run to close out the first period with a 20-5 lead.

Cardinal Newman, undefeated at home this season, went up 29-5 midway through the second period and led at halftime, 36-14. Ukiah never mounted a comeback threat in the second half.

“(Cardinal Newman) made everything they shot up,” Heath said. “It was one-and-done at the other end (for Ukiah). I don’t think we got an offensive rebound in the first half.”

Cardinal Newman was led by Kyle King (13 points, 10 rebounds), Corey Hammel (13 points), Chris Cavalin (13 rebounds) and Kenny Love (eight assists).

“We were physically overmatched at every position,” Heath said. “This is the best anybody has played against us all year.”

Ukiah was led by Michael Starkey with seven points. Wildcat Miles Cajas, who torched the Cardinals for 29 points in the first meeting, was held to two points.

“We played phenomenal defense,” Bonfigli said.

The Wildcats were averaging 58 points a game coming in and were held 30 points below their average.

“The officials let (theteams) play a physical game, and when the game gets physical that is bad for us,” Heath said. “We played poorly. Give Cardinal Newman credit, they played very, very well.”

The question now is does Cardinal Newman have its early-season swagger back?

“I’ll let you know Friday night after we play Rancho,” Bonfigli said.