Drake downs Dragon cagers in NCS

Dragon boys reach back-to-back NCS berths.|

The Sonoma Valley High Dragon cagers were facing an uphill battle in Tuesday night’s opening round of the Division 3 North Coast Section playoffs.

The 14th seed Dragons had to travel to third-seed Drake, and the Pirates came away with a 44-38 win.

The game was plagued by turnovers by both sides, and at times, Sonoma couldn’t get an offensive rebound to save their lives. There was also a disparity at the charity stripe as the Pirates shot 22 free throws to Sonoma’s … one.

“When you play quality teams, you can’t give up extra possessions,” said Dragon Coach Mike Boles. “Simply put, 14 Drake offensive rebounds were the key tonight. It allowed them to gain extra scoring chances as well as get to the free throw line.”

The Dragons led momentarily in the first quarter when Tyler Garrett hit a deuce at the 4:04 mark to give Sonoma a 7-6 lead. The Pirates then scored three unanswered baskets to end the quarter and the Dragons were down 12-7.

Sonoma’s Riley Phelan hit a basket early in the second quarter to pare the margin to three. But the Pirates went on a 13-0 run over a three-minute span to take a 25-9 lead. Jack Boydell hit three baskets in the closing minute-and-a-half of the second quarter to narrow the gap to 10 at 25-15.

The Pirates outscored Sonoma 6-2 in the third quarter.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, Max Gustafson and Dylan Samaniego each hit treys and the Dragons were within striking distance at 37-32. Late in the quarter, Boydell missed a trey that would have cut the margin to one.

But the Dragons had to foul to get the ball back and the Pirates went to the line three times in the last 30 seconds hitting five of seven attempts. Samaniego hit a trey at the buzzer, but it was academic.

“Both teams had an equal amount of turnovers, so again it came down to finishing the defensive possession, which we had difficulty doing consistently,” Boles said.

Samaniego and Boydell each had 11 points. Samaniego also had three assists and three steals while Boydell pulled down four rebounds. Gustafson had six points and four boards, Phelan and Garrett each had five points.

“This team improved daily, really grew together, and developed into a tough, defensive-minded unit,” Boles said. “We coaches were fortunate to coach a special bunch of young men. There was progress from day one all the way through the completion of our season.”

Boles was also proud that it’s been at least 14 years since the Dragon cagers had qualified for the NCS in back-to-back seasons.

“We’ll build on this and we’re confident the players will continue to work hard and return with higher expectations,” Boles said. “More importantly, these young men represented our school and our community with class. We are very proud of these young men.”

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