High school basketball roundup: Piner boys stay alive in SCL race

The Piner boys basketball team turned in a huge fourth quarter to pull out a 73-68 comeback win against visiting Analy on Wednesday night, keeping the Prospectors in the hunt for the Sonoma County League regular-season title.

Piner (7-2, 17-6) remains in second place with three games to go and is two games behind Healdsburg in the win column. The Greyhounds only have two games to play. The Prospectors needed to beat the Tigers (4-5, 7-16) to at least have a shot at the title and they did.

“We were persistent the whole way through - it wasn't easy. We were behind almost the entire second half but we kept chipping away,” Piner coach Mike Erickson said. “It was a shootout. Analy played a great offensive game and we shot the ball pretty well. We finally got a couple of defensive stops at the end in the fourth quarter.”

Piner led 34-32 at halftime but Analy led 52-51 at the end of three quarters - and added to its lead in the early fourth quarter before Piner made its run. The Prospectors swept the season series, defeating the Tigers 61-48 in the first meeting.

Analy's J.J. Fain scored 31 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including knocking down five three-pointers.

“Fain had the best performance by any single player against us all year,” Erickson said. “We were trying (to stop him) but he was hitting.”

Piner was led by Scott Erickson (16 points) and Chris Gutierrez (12 points, 11 rebounds).

Healdsburg 70, El Molino 32

The Greyhounds (9-1, 18-6) held on to their two-game lead in the SCL by routing the visiting Lions. Healdsburg led 23-10 at the end of the first quarter and 40-16 at halftime.

“It was all about us playing good defense,” Healdsburg coach Yasha Mokaram said. “On offense, we did a good job of getting the ball inside.”

El Molino (1-9, 4-18) did not have the height to neutralize 6-foot-8 Healdsburg post player Trey Chapman (22 points, 11 rebounds). Matters got worse for the Lions once the Greyhounds started hitting their outside shots.

“We made a lot of three-point shots early and that probably made it hard for El Molino to execute its game plan to pack it in on Trey,” Mokaram said. “Trey is a load. Our guards did a good job getting him the ball.”

Healdsburg is in the driver's seat to win the SCL and controls its destiny. If the Greyhounds win their final two games, they'll clinch their first regular-season league title since 1998.

“Healdsburg hasn't hung a boys' basketball banner in 20 years,” said Mokaram, who added that he is anxious to play the final two games. “To know the title is so close (and to have to wait to play) is kind of torture.”

In girls games:

Casa Grande 31, Santa Rosa 25

In a middle-of-the-pack NBL matchup, the visiting Gauchos (6-5, 14-9) were victorious despite trailing the Panthers (4-7, 12-11) 16-8 at halftime. Casa Grande came roaring back in the second half to outscore Santa Rosa 22-9 and earn the win.

The fourth quarter was the critical stretch, which Casa Grande won 13-4. The Gauchos hit three three-pointers in the quarter and the Panthers turned the ball over a whopping eight times (22 times for the game).

“We have a tendency to turn the ball over down the stretch and that happened tonight. Casa put more defensive pressure on us in the second half,” Santa Rosa coach Luis Patrick said. “Casa came out with a lot of energy in the third quarter. Once they got their three-pointers going in the fourth quarter, they were hard to stop.”

The Gauchos were led by Mia Cain with 12 points.

The Panthers were led by Princess Tufele with 8 points.

Ukiah 48, Rancho Cotate 37

The Wildcats (7-4, 14-9) remain in third place in the NBL after reviving a missing spark in their lineup to defeat the Cougars (3-8, 10-13). Ukiah's lone senior, shooting guard Natae Henson (15 points), returned after missing six games with an ankle injury and made an immediate impact. Lani Lincoln also scored 15 points for the Wildcats.

“We were anxious to get Natae back. With her in the lineup it gives us a double punch offensively,” Ukiah coach Duane Nelson said. “We got a lot of good shots from executing our offense. We really rebounded the ball well tonight.”

Ukiah led 29-14 at halftime and didn't let up in the second half.

Rancho Cotate was led by Leslie Bejaran and Makenna Menton-Porter, each with 10 points.