Desert Christian breaks game open in 3rd quarter, beats SRA

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Santa Rosa Academy boys basketball team suffered a 73-59 loss to Desert Christian Academy Monday night.

After starting off even with a 7-7 score just two minutes in, it was no surprise that the first and second quarters ended with Desert Christian up by just two possessions. But head coach Tom Crunk said third quarters tend to be an Achilles heel for his team, and this game was no different.

Just over five minutes through the third quarter, the Conquerors had a 20-point lead. Crunk said the deficit was due to more than just the normal third quarter struggles his team faces, though.

“We had one sub and one player with foot issues, so our guys were so tired,” he said. “We didn’t have the height that we normally do and most of the guys who were there playing came off the bench.”

He cited various reasons for five of his regular varsity players not being able to play, but said that even with the loss, he was proud of how some of them stepped up.

One player in particular, Mycah Mason, who led the team in rebounds on the night, stood out as a freshman who isn’t necessarily used to playing a full four-quarter varsity game.

“I was gassed out there, very tired,” Mason said. “But I’ve just got to push through it … we are gonna play hard and come out strong every game.”

Other than captain Chris Jones, who put up an impressive but not surprising 21 points, Mason was the next leading scorer with 17 points of his own on the night and eight boards. But even with those two in double digits, Desert Christian kept the score gap wide enough to finish with a 14-point lead.

One big factor in the loss that Crunk said he nearly anticipated with the height mismatch was the rebounding. The Conquerors had 32 total rebounds on the night while the Rangers had 22.

“It’s been a challenge for us all year and we don’t have that much height,” said Crunk. “Our main key was to box out because of that and we just didn’t do it.”

Mason shared his coach’s frustrations.

“I think my biggest frustration was just people not boxing out,” he said. “Mostly just missing shots and then not rebounding.”

With just two games left on the schedule and a 7-3 record, even with this loss, Santa Rosa is still in the running for second place in their league. Their next game will take place Tuesday night at California Military Institute at 6:30 p.m. The last matchup between the two ended in a 72-38 Santa Rosa victory.