Dragons drilled by Drake in NCS

Reaching the postseason was a major goal for the Sonoma Valley High School varsity basketball boys, who accomplished the task by making the Sonoma County League Tournament field. But the main focus of their quest was qualifying for the North Coast Section playoffs, which they managed to do – though barely.

Squeezing into the NCS Division-3 bracket as the 14th and final seed, the Dragons had the daunting challenge of facing third-seed Sir Francis Drake (24-4), the Marin County Athletic League and defending NorCal champion, in Tuesday night’s opening round clash in San Anselmo.

Unfortunately for the visiting Sonoma boys, their NCS stay was brief as the Pirates again proved to be one of Northern California’s top Division-3 teams by turning in another overpowering performance en route to an emphatic 72-33 win.

Despite the one-sided elimination loss, for the Dragons just to compete in the NCS tournament made for a positive conclusion to season.

“We lost to a very good Drake team, which is the defending Northern California representatives in the Division-3 state game and a good bet to be there again,” said Sonoma head coach Dennis Housman. “I’m proud of our young men for making it to the North Coast Section playoffs. It was a great experience for our guys, and it was nice for the seniors to get another game together and valuable experience for our younger players.”

Comprising the Sonoma boys’ hoops postseason roster – directed by Housman and assistant coaches Drue Jacobs and John Ratshin – were seniors Cyle Caselli, Ryan Fisher, Alex Gustafson, Tristan Mertens and Ryan Wilbanks; juniors Nicolas Diaz-DeTorres, Spencer McNairy, Joseph Petersen, Miles Pimentel, Edwin Reyes, Daniel Van Kirk and Max Yankovich; sophomores Coleton Mertens and Luke Severson; and freshmen Max Gustafson and Dylan Samaniego.

In their loss to Drake, the Dragons were paced by Colton Mertens’ 11 points, including an 80-foot shot at the buzzer ending the first half; Tristan Mertens’ seven points; Reyes’ six points; Yankovich’s three points; Caselli’s two points and eight rebounds; Wilbanks’ two points and three rebounds; Fisher’s two points on a dunk; and Alex Gustafson’s three rebounds.

Sonoma wasn’t the only SCL school not to get past Tuesday night’s NCS first-round, with regular-season champion Elsie Allen falling 58-41 to Miramonte, and Piner being upended 63-55 by Encinal.