Carpinteria rose to the occasion and brought home a share of the Frontier League boys basketball championship on Wednesday night, beating Nordhoff, 68-52.
It’s the first league title for Carpinteria since 1999 and the first for coach Johnny Ward, who took over the reins from his late father, John, four years ago.
Carpinteria finishes the regular season at 18-7 and 9-1 in league. Nordhoff is 16-9, 9-1.
The two-headed backcourt monster of Rayshaun Moore and Omar Miranda carried the Warriors, combining for 49 points. Moore was red hot from the 3-point, making 6-of-8 en route to 25 points.
Miranda ran the up-tempo attack and sliced through the Nordhoff defense for 24 points. He also had five assists and seven rebounds.
“We jumped on them early and went up 10-0,” said Ward. “Omar kept the pace up, and we made them play our game this time.”
In their previous meeting at Carpinteria, Nordhoff slowed the pace and got the Warriors to play a halfcourt game.
“We controlled the tempo and got rebounds and good play inside from Duncan (Gordon) and Mason (Picerni),” Ward said. “Picerni came in a gave us a great presence inside at the defensive end. He had four blocks.”
The Warriors also got a strong defensive game from Ian Craddock. He contained Nordhoff’s leading scorer, Luke Williams, holding him to 10 points, seven below his average.
“It’s incredible,” Ward said of winning the league title. “We never gave up. The guys worked hard every day. Hard work does pay off.
“We’ve gone from three wins two years ago, to eight wins last year and 18 wins this year. It’s a credit to the coaching staff and credit to the kids. We’re playing well and ready for the playoffs.”
Carpinteria will learn its draw in the CIF Division 4A playoffs on Sunday.
