High school boys basketball: Petaluma beats Casa Grande 61-49

Petaluma’s boys basketball team finished strong to break open a close game and defeat crosstown rival Casa Grande 61-49 in a nonleague contest in the Gauchos’ gym Tuesday night.

Going to the fourth quarter, the Trojans led 41-40.

Eight players scored for Petaluma in the fourth led by Lucas Zedek with four.

“We used an 11-player rotation and I think we wore Casa down,” coach Scott Behrs said. “In the fourth, we were able to force them into errors and situations they weren’t comfortable with.

“I was extremely happy with the way the guys played, especially after falling behind early.”

Casa got the jump and led 19-9 after one quarter. The Gauchos had a two-point edge at halftime.

Zedek came up big in the second half as he scored all 12 of his points. He shared high-point honors with Kelly Garber. Ryan Perez finished with 11.

For Casa, Robbie Sheldon led the way with 13. Jordan Smith and JJ Anderson wound up with 11 apiece. Anderson, who played quarterback on the Casa football team this fall, also had seven rebounds and five blocks.

Casa committed 21 turnovers and coach Jake Lee said that was his team’s undoing.

“It’s hard to win a varsity game when you turn the ball over like that,” he said.

“We were getting the shots we wanted in the first half but the turnovers killed us.

“Our defense played well the entire game, especially our guards (Sheldon, Ian Cerutti and Tommy Buickerood).

Petaluma could be the team to beat when SCL play begins next month. One thing for sure, the Trojans will improve off their record of last year (5-18 overall and 3-8 in league).

“We have eight seniors back including our top three scorers from last season,” first-year coach Behrs said. “Also, this year, for the first time in a long time, we have guys that can play above the rim.”

The scoring leaders from last year are Perez, Ryan Cox and Kelly Garber.

The bigs are 6-6 Joey Potts and 6-4 Cole Murrin.

“We’ll play at a faster tempo than last year,” Behrs said.

“That will enable us to spread the floor and make the defense work.”

Behrs has lined up a tough pre-league schedule which includes the Brett Callan at Casa and the Enterprise Tourney in Redding.

“The schedule should give us an advantage when league comes around.

“I liked what I saw against Casa.”

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