San Marcos’ silky-smooth shooting Nick Marquez led the Royals to a 65-40 rout of Carpinteria in the final of the Jim Bashore Classic on Saturday, scoring 26 points on his way to tournament-MVP honors.
“When’s he’s able to shoot from NBA 3-point range, which he has the abililty to do, it’s very difficult to guard him,” said San Marcos head coach Jarrod Bradley about his leading scorer.
Kevin Lusterio and Manny Rodriguez led the Warriors with 10 points each, but Carpinteria never got much going against San Marcos’ harassing matchup zone.
“If you play man on them they just pick you apart,” explained Bradley, who had seen the Warriors play plenty over the four-day tournament.
The Royals improve to 8-4 after four wins in the tournament, and Carpinteria falls to 6-2.
Marquez scored 13 of his 26 in the first quarter and the Royals jumped out to a 19-6 lead to start.
“I want to come out and be aggressive and look for my shot in the beginning to get us going so we don’t get off to a slow start,” explained Marquez of the robust beginning.
Marquez averaged 22 points in the tournament for the Royals.
Chris Vines, also named to the all-tournament team, added 14 for the Royals.
Justin Alvarado had nine points and Isacc Cervantes 7 for the Warriors, who have been in the tournament’s final the past four years.
“We were really excited, we just wanted to reach the finals and keep the history going,” said Rodriguez, whose Warriors collected double-digit wins over Santa Ynez, Nordhoff and Channel Islands to reach the championship game.
“The game just didn’t go the way we needed it to go,” said Carpinteria head coach John Ward, citing not only San Marcos’ hot shooting but also the Warriors inability to knock down their shots and the propensity to give up second-chance points to the Royals.
“We’re just going to focus on the future and not look back on this one,” finished Rodriguez.
While the Royals are off until the Holiday Classic starts on Dec. 26, Carpinteria has little rest before returning to the court on Monday against Wilsonville, a strong team from Oregon.
SAN MARCOS 65, CARPINTERIA 40
Carpinteria – Alvarado 9, Kono 3, Lusterio 10, Cervantes 7, Rodriguez 10, Saito 1.
San Marcos – Koopmans 6, Marquez 26, Mkpado 5, Vines 14, Yinger 4, Crook 2, Guild 2, Moore 5.
Carpinteria 6 13 18 3 – 40
San Marcos 19 18 17 11 – 65
(photos by John Dvorak/PresidioPics. To order prints, e-mail [email protected])
