Santa Rosa loses to San Antonio Cole in regional final

SAN ANTONIO — The Santa Rosa Warriors saw their season come to an end in the Elite Eight at the hands of San Antonio Cole on Saturday at Northside Sports Gym.

The No. 25 Warriors battled well against the No. 5 Cougars for three and a half quarters. But a 23-point fourth quarter helped Cole pull away for a 67-48 victory and a berth in the Class 3A state semifinals.

“They were better than us today,” Santa Rosa coach Adrian Trevino said. “We understood that we were going to have to stem the tide, that they were going to come out and probably put up some points early. We just had to stay with them the way London did. (Shots) didn’t fall for us tonight. We kind of live and die by the three-ball and, I mean, they were really quick and we weren’t getting our shots off.”

Junior forward David Bazaldua had a monster game for the Warriors. He played big down low to bring down rebounds and show off his offensive skillset, consistently beating Cougars defenders who tried to guard him in the paint. Bazaldua hit two of Santa Rosa’s three 3-pointers in his 32-point performance. Despite the solid individual effort, the loss left Bazaldua feeling more hungry than satisfied.

“I feel I performed good, but I’d rather have all of the team perform good instead of just one player,” Bazaldua said. “I feel I could’ve played defense better. Points, that doesn’t really matter to me. We do have some good seniors that are leaving, but the rest of my class is good and we have some good sophomores also. (This playoff run) gets us ready for next year to come back and be even better.”

The Warriors looked out of sync during the opening quarter, and the Cougars took advantage. Freshman Pierre Harris was fouled while knocking down his second 3-pointer in the first, and he finished the four-point play at the line to put Cole up by 12.

Senior guard Christian Vela (9 points) took a long rebound to the hoop and converted a three-point play to help the Warriors close the gap to 19-12 heading to the second. Santa Rosa settled down and executed defensively to keep Cole from driving to the rim as often through the next two frames. But the Warriors suffered from shooting woes, and even while the defense stepped up and the team rebounded well, they trailed 32-22 at half.

Santa Rosa’s defensive attack stayed aggressive during the third quarter. Senior guards Ruben Ochoa and Daniel Villarreal stayed glued to Cole’s ball-handlers, forcing turnovers and notching steals to hold the Cougars to a game-low 12 points.

The defense shifted momentum in Santa Rosa’s favor, and the Warriors rode it to cut Cole’s lead to 40-35 with 2:12 left in the third. Junior point guard CJ Olivarez swiped a steal and tossed the ball deep to Bazaldua, who was racing to the basket with a defender by his side. Bazaldua made the catch and used a spin-move to finish at the hoop, bringing the Warriors’ bench and crowd to their feet.

“Every time we’ve had someone that’s not on, we’ve had somebody (step up). Today it was David,” Trevino said. “David had a little slow start, then he gathered himself. He settled down, and I thought he came through.”

After another defensive stop, Vela raced to the basket to hit a contested layup, getting the Warriors within five and forcing Cole to call a timeout. Junior Trey Blackmore (16) and good half-court defense led to Cole closing the quarter on a little run to hold a 44-35 lead.

“When we got it down to five in the third quarter, I said, ‘OK, that’s what we talked about. Get it down to six going into the fourth and we’ll be OK,’” Trevino said. “We figured we’d win the game in the fourth … and let Warrior basketball do what it does. It just wasn’t enough today.”

The intensity in the gym was palpable as the fourth quarter began. Bazaldua and Cole senior Kelby Beckstrom swapped 3-pointers, then Vela rebounded his own miss and knocked down a jumper to keep the deficit in single digits with six minutes to play.

From that point on, it was all Cougars. Cole’s defense locked up the paint and caused Santa Rosa to force poor shots. The Cougars controlled the defensive boards and started moving the ball around to work the clock and draw out the defense, allowing junior Adreaell Ray (12) and senior Elijah Sexton easy points inside to cushion the win.

Though the journey ended earlier than they hoped, Trevino and the Warriors felt it was a good learning experience. Santa Rosa is graduating a talented senior class, but the underclassmen that have been “waiting their turn” are ready to step up and lead. They’ll take what they learned from the seniors and this challenging season to continue bringing success to Santa Rosa.

“I love all my teammates, all my bros. We grew up together playing ball,” Vela said. “I love Santa Rosa ball, it’s my favorite thing. I moved schools just to play Santa Rosa basketball, and I’m glad I did. (The seniors) were just telling (the younger guys) not to be scared, just to keep doing their thing and continue the tradition.”

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