Ben Gunther hit back-to-back 3-pointers, sparking a Bishop Diego surge early in the second period, and the Cardinals received solid play from a trio of newcomers in a 69-57 win over Carpinteria in a Tri-Valley League basketball game Wednesday at the Warriors’ gym.
Carpinteria had things going its way in the first period, opening up a 22-13 advantage. But Bishop found its groove in the second quarter and took over the game. The Cardinals knocked down four 3-pointers, three by Gunther and another by Alexis Herrera, to take, 29-25 lead. They never trailed again.
“We didn’t make any adjustments, we got our game plan started a little bit late,” said Bishop coach Jeff Koval of the turnaround. “Our guys, we talk about competing all year long. We didn’t compete as well as we could have in the first quarter. I thought our guys really turned up the ball pressure, really started playing for one another and started communicating on the defensive end. That got our running game going, and when we run we’re a much better team.”
On Gunther’s outside shooting, Koval said it was what they expected from him.
“It was good to see him get back to where he was,” the first-year coach said. “He’s been injured for most of the season. Tonight, he finally got it going. He can shoot it, and it was really nice to see him finally get his game back and make some shots.”
Gunther scored 11 points in a balanced Bishop attack. AV Bennett led the team with 13 points, Alexis Herrera had 11 and freshman Will Goodwin added 10.
Bishop’s defense stifled Carpinteria’s slick point guard Omar Miranda. He was held to nine points after scoring 26 in the Warriors’ win at Bishop three weeks ago. Bennett and Mitchell Cota applied the defensive pressure on Miranda, who played with a bad ankle, according to his coach Johnny Ward. “He gutted it out, he’s a warrior,” said Ward.
“We came out on fire and executed the game plan to perfection,” he said of the first quarter. “We were doing everything we wanted to, we were moving defensively.”
The Warriors (1-5 in TVL) suffered a blow in the second quarter when post player Mason picked up his third foul and went to the bench at the 5:01 mark. He got his fourth foul early in the third quarter and fouled out with 1:34 left in the game.
“Mason’s foul trouble didn’t help,” Ward said.
The 3-point shooting of Jonathan Cleek kept the Warriors in the game. He buried five treys en route to a game-high 22 points. Jax Montgomery started in place of injured Noah Reed and scored 11 points, many coming on drives to the basket.
The Cardinals (9-14, 3-3 TVL) didn’t have leading scorer Marcos Schneider, who was out with an illness. Koval brought up freshmen Isaiah Veal, Dylan Streett and John Harris from the JV team and the trio contributed to the win, combining for 14 points.
“I thought each one of them didn’t play like freshmen tonight. They were ready to play right from the tip and they came in and gave us great minutes off the bench,” Koval said. “I couldn’t happier for the future after seeing that tonight.”
