With a playoff game on the line, the Santa Cruz Cardinals rose to the challenge on Thursday. They enjoyed a cozy 62-44 victory over the Panthers. Santa Cruz pushed the score to 47-26 by the end of the third, a deficit West Park cut but never quite recovered from.
Leading Santa Cruz to victory were Kirby Seals and Demarco Hunter. Seals scored 22 points along with two blocks, while Hunter scored 20 points along with seven rebounds and six blocks. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Seals has scored all season. Another player making a difference was Ben Dotten, who scored ten points along with five rebounds.
West Park's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Mason Johnson, who scored seven points along with three steals. Tallis Toure was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Santa Cruz pushed their record up to 25-6 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 66.6 points per game. As for West Park, their defeat ended a six-game streak of away wins and brought them to 24-8.
Santa Cruz will be playing at home against Ygnacio Valley at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Ygnacio Valley has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 1,471 points over their last 21 contests. West Park does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
