Prep basketball: Rose City, Lady Pumas Invitational headline weekend tournament slate
Basketball tournament season rolls on this week with four events set to take place across Sonoma County.
On the boys’ side, Cardinal Newman will be hosting the 54th annual Rose City Tournament and Cloverdale will be hosting the 55th annual John McMillan Tournament, while Maria Carrillo will play host to the third annual Lady Pumas Invitational, a girls tournament.
Healdsburg’s 72nd annual Redwood Invitational Basketball Tournament, which runs Wednesday to Saturday, will feature both boys and girls teams.
Here’s a closer look at the weekend slate.
Rose City
Championship game: Saturday, 4 p.m.
First-round schedule
Game 1: Petaluma vs. Maria Carrillo, 3:30 p.m.
The Trojans (1-1) and Pumas (2-2) both enter with .500 records coming off wins. Petaluma routed visiting El Cerrito 60-39 on Thursday, while Carrillo pulled one out in overtime over Sonoma Valley, 67-63, on Tuesday.
The Trojans are led by 6-foot-7 lefty senior forward Salim Arikat. The Pumas have two players pacing them in the early going in junior Cooper Wood (10 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 blocks per game) and senior Kyle Vanthof (9.7 points).
The winner will face the winner of Game 2.
Game 2: Tamalpais vs. Santa Rosa, 5 p.m.
The Red-tailed Hawks make the trip up from Marin County to face a Panthers team looking to bounce back from consecutive losses.
Santa Rosa opened the year 5-0 before dropping games to Archie Williams (58-41) over the weekend and to Vintage (55-50) on Tuesday. The Panthers are led by senior guard Will Logue (20 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3 assists per game) and senior forward David Prudhomme (10.3 points, 11.5 rebounds per game).
Tam (0-2) played Acalanes tough in a loss (77-67) and then was routed by Branson (62-26). It’ll look to get into the win column this weekend.
Game 3: Shasta vs. Rancho Cotate, 6:30 p.m.
The Cougars (2-6) enter this weekend looking to snap a tough-luck six-game losing streak. Their last four losses have been by a combined 10 points, including a 55-54 loss to Novato on Tuesday.
Senior guard Andrew Pengel is averaging 24.9 points and 2 steals per game and has scored 30 or more points three times already this season. Malik Roby is second on the team with 11.5 points per game.
Shasta, out of Redding, comes in as a bit of a mystery at 2-3 overall. The Wolves are averaging 55.2 points per game while surrendering 50.2,
The winner will face the winner of Game 4.
Game 4: Cardinal Newman vs. Armijo, 8 p.m.
The Cardinals have won this tournament every year since 2016, except for 2020 when it wasn’t held due to the pandemic. They shape up to be one of, if not the, favorite this time around as well.
Coming off a fourth-place finish in an elite De La Salle tournament, the Cardinals (2-2) host a winless Armijo team to open. Junior guard Sam Cline has been the Cardinals’ offensive leader so far and is averaging around 20 points per game. He scored 21 in a 47-30 win over Ukiah on Tuesday.
While the Royals (0-4) have been in a few close games, they’ve been outscored 302 to 210 to open the year.
Lady Pumas Invitational
Championship game: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
First-round schedule
Game 1: Maria Carrillo (bye)
The Pumas, fresh off claiming the consolation championship in the Dragon Classic at Sonoma Valley, were originally scheduled to open against Sonoma Valley, but a last-minute COVID cancellation threw a wrench into the tournament schedule on Wednesday night.
San Marin had to drop out after two players tested positive for the virus. The first round of games had to be rearranged and the Pumas now open with a bye. They’ll face the winner of Sonoma Valley-Eureka in the second round.
Game 2: Sonoma Valley vs. Eureka, 5:30 p.m.
Eureka (4-2) is coming off a runner-up finish at the Coach G Memorial at Placer, its only slip-up a 56-44 loss to Granite Bay in the championship.
The Loggers face a Sonoma Valley team that has dropped three straight following a 49-43 win over Santa Rosa to open the season. The Dragons finished eighth at the Dragon Classic, dropping games to San Domenico (43-27), Archie Williams (43-30) and Campolindo (34-20).
Game 3: West County vs. Credo, 7 p.m.
Consensus among local coaches is that West County is shaping up to one of the top teams in the entire county this season, and it should be considered a favorite to win this tournament. It just won the Dragon Classic and is 6-1 on the year behind stellar starts from seniors Lucca Lowenberg (19.4 points, 4.3 steals per game) and Ellie Roan (12.1 points, 10.6 rebounds per game).
West County will face Credo (2-3), the only Div. 6 team in the tournament, in its opener.
The winner will face the winner of Game 4.
Game 4: St. Patrick-St. Vincent vs. Rancho Cotate, 8:30 p.m.
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