Bishop falls short in State Tournament opener

In a back-and-forth battle, Bishop Diego’s boys basketball team came out on the short end of a 73-70 decision against Fresno Christian in a Division 5 first-round game of the CIF State Tournament on Tuesday in Fresno.

The Cardinals turned the ball during the fourth quarter and missed some crucial free throws down the stretch. They also lost leading scorer Elias Munoz, who fouled out near the end of the game.

Munoz finished with 25 points, including three 3-pointers.

“If he was out there at the end, maybe we could have won,” said Bishop coach Dean Prophet.

Fresno Christian’s Cooper Belmont gave Bishop fits with his outside shooting. He made 6 of 10 3-pointers and scored a game-high 26 points. Ryan Neufeld added 20 points.

“We told the guys to not let the last two games take away anything that they accomplished,” Prophet said.

“The kids battled to the end,” he added. “The five that were out there were very, very tired at the end.”

Noah Tack had 15 points and Nolan Tisdale scored 11 off the bench for the Cardinals (22-9).

“I’m proud of the boys,” Prophet said. “They came out strong and fought back when the got behind. That’s all we can ask for.”

Comments

  1. Sbsportslady says

    one and done.

  2. Veritas_vino1 says

    One and done is a lousy way to put it considering the efforts of the players. Admittedly, as usual they took a big lead and then were unable to finish the game because they refused to change strategies or implement basic coaching techniques to help the players, the same as in their previous loss and the same problem with their two close previous victories, but these kids played beyond their level of mentoring.

    • just saying says

      it is what it is. 1 and done.

    • Bishop99 says

      give it a break veritas, not everything comes down to the coaching strategies… It would be a real hoot to see you out there coaching when you have no idea what it takes to lead a team. You have a lot of class throwing a coach under the bus who led this team to the state tourney in the first place. If they are so damn good and were so damn good why didn’t they make a run last year, or the year before that. Quit watching them play if you can’t stand their coach… Bishop doesn’t need haters like you

  3. what a stupid and useless comment.
    maybe an iq test should be required before people are allowed to post.
    actually that might not be a good idea since most people would fail the test and the comments section would be empty.