Carpinteria went cold in the second half and suffered a 55-39 loss to Nordhoff in a Frontier League first-place showdown on Friday night.
The Warriors were held to three points in the third quarter and 12 for the entire half by the Rangers, who took over sole possession of first place at 5-0. Carpinteria finished the first round of league play at 4-1.
“They did a good job of taking us out of our flow and the tempo that we play,” Carpinteria coach Johnny Ward said of the Rangers. “They got us into their game.”
The Rangers played a solid half-court game and did a good job getting open looks for Luke Williams. He torched Carpinteria for 22 points, knocking down 5 of 7 shots from behind the 3-point arc.
“He’s been doing everything for us but scoring,” Nordhoff coach Matt Moore said. “He’s still averaging 17 points a game. He scored for us tonight and it was nice to have him on the scoring side again.”
Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter to increase Nordhoff’s lead to 41-30.
“Luke hit two threes that were just daggers,” said Ward. “That really got them going in terms of the flow of their offense and their energy.”
Carpinteria was full of energy in the second quarter. The Warriors tore through Nordhoff’s half-court press, and Rayshaun Moore hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give them a 20-19 lead. Moore finished with 15 points.
The Warriors needed guards Moore and Omar Miranda to increase their scoring load with Bryson Frazer lost for the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He suffered the injury last week against Santa Paula.
“With Bryson down for the season, I told everybody they have to step up,” Ward said.
Moore and Miranda were the spark plugs in the first half for the Warriors, who were down 31-27 at the break. Nordhoff’s Jake Boyd hit a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to give the Rangers the four point lead.
Nordhoff made a big adjustment in the second half and took control of the game.
“We’ve been running a 2-1-2 press all year and it’s been really helpful for us,” Murphy said. “But they’ve got two quick guards and they did a really good job breaking it, leading to some easy transition baskets. We decided at halftime to play man-to-man defense and try to make them earn their baskets and it worked out for us tonight.”
The Warriors struggled to get good looks and make shots for most of the half. They did break out for a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter, cutting Nordhoff’s lead to six 45-39. But the Rangers regained control when Williams nailed consecutive 3-pointers.
