From Staff Reports Poly trailed by 11 points at home to Vista del Lago, but the Panthers used the ultimate team effort to best the Ravens, 68-56, in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 4-A playoffs. The Panthers (18-4) got at least 15 points from four different players, but many on the team credit […]
From Staff Reports
Poly trailed by 11 points at home to Vista del Lago, but the Panthers used the ultimate team effort to best the Ravens, 68-56, in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 4-A playoffs.
The Panthers (18-4) got at least 15 points from four different players, but many on the team credit Nick Richard-Craven’s two buckets as a momentum changer for Poly.
Brendan Fong was huge with 16 points and 10 rebounds, including a 5-of-6 effort from the free-throw line.
John Genske, who is the definition of consistent, finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists.
Ryan Bowen added 15 points, and Jackson Hayes finished with 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Poly outscored Vista del Lago (11-10) 42-18 in the decisive second half.
The Panthers will travel to Bishop Diego of Santa Barbara (16-8) Friday night at 7 in a very tough second-round tilt.
The Cardinals defeated Nipomo, 68-55, in their first-round playoff game.
Poly made 8 of 15 of their 3-point attempts and 14-of-20 free-throws on Wednesday night.
Quotable:
Senior guard Ryan Bowen: “In my opinion, the win tonight was proof of how every possession throughout the entire game, especially the second half was important to coming back and finishing strong. We took over in the second half, we were all shooting and passing the ball extremely well and as a whole our performance as a team was very well done. As we move onto Friday, lots of our focus will be on the fundamentals we’ve worked through all season, as well as developing new strategies regarding where we want people on the court in our half court offense.”
Senior guard-forward John Genske: “I think that this was a good game to get out of our system. We came out really flat and got a little discouraged in the first half. But, we told ourselves that we knew we had it in us to get this win. We rallied really well and started hitting the shots that we were missing earlier. I was really proud of Nick Richard Craven, who is just a freshman. He hit two huge shots that really swung our momentum back on top. Jackson and Ryan both started slow in the first half too, and it was great to see them stay confident and poised in the second half and hit big shots.
Junior point guard Jackson Hayes: “It was another great team win. We came out a little rattled and scared in the first half, but we came back and brought the intensity in the second. It was our bench that really helped us back into the game. Nick Richard-Craven came up in the clutch off the bench and hit some key shots.”
