St. Joseph capitalized on a shorthanded Carpinteria boys basketball team and beat the Warriors 53-32 in a CIF Division 4A first-round playoff game on Wednesday.
The Warriors were hampered by an ankle injury to starting guard Rayshaun Moore.
“He rolled his ankle on Monday,” Carpinteria coach Johnny Ward said. “His injury limited and hurt us from the get-go. It was taking away one of our top two scorers.”
St. Joseph slowed Carpinteria’s up-tempo game and opened up a 14-point lead by halftime.
“They played well,” Ward said. “Their defense was great and they took us out of what we wanted to do. And we didn’t shoot the ball well.”
The Knights held standout guard Omar Miranda to two points.
Duncan Gordon led the Warriors (18-8) with 16 points.
Ward praised the defense of Ian Craddock on St. Joseph’s 6-7 Keith Datu.
“Ian did a great job on him. The kid scored 13, but most of them came in the second half. He was physical, kept him off the boards and force him into a lot of turnovers,” said Ward.
Carpinteria finishes the season at 18-8, winning 10 of its last 12 games.
