Boys basketball earns first trip to CIF since 2009-10 season
By Bill Tamburrino
The Ramona Bulldogs closed out basketball’s regular season with a loss to Orange Glen on the road and a loss to Valley League Champion Del Norte in the Dawg House.
The Dawgs finish the regular season with a 13-12 record and a 5-5 record in league play.
The team received the No. 13 seed, earning its first trip to CIF since the 2009-2010 season, and will play No. 4 seed Foothills Christian at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mt. Miguel High School.
A playoff win will give Coach David Reichner and his charges basketball’s first winning season since 2009-2010.
Ramona lost to Orange Glen 80-64 in a game that was hard-fought in more ways than one. Colton Harris drew five fouls and was fouled out of the game.
“The Dawgs came in with a good game plan but too many defensive breakdowns and mishaps made it impossible to gain the momentum needed to get over the hump,” said coach David Reichner.
The first quarter was played fairly even but the Patriots led 20-16 after eight minutes. A disastrous second quarter cost the Dawgs the game as Orange Glen outscored Ramona 17-7 and took a 58-45 lead into the locker-room.
The Dawgs cut the lead to 5 points in the third quarter and outscored the Pats 22-21. Marco Cobian led the Dawgs in scoring with 14 points. Scott Stransky scored 12 points and led the team with five assists. He had two 3-point goals. Blake Seits also scored in double figures. The freshman swingman scored 10 points and led the team with three blocked shots.
Tanner “T-Bone” Williams came off the bench to lead Ramona in rebounding. Williams grabbed nine boards and scored 5 points.
Anthony Silvaggio (2), Christian Dominguez (7), Colton Harris (6) and Riley Hubbard also scored for the Bulldogs.
Orange Glen led the battle of statistics as they out-rebounded the Dawgs 37-32, had 16 assists to Ramona’s nine, forced 11 Bulldog turnovers to seven for the Pats, had seven steals to four for the Dawgs, hit eight 3-point shots compared to six for the Dawgs, and shot 50 percent from the floor compared to 40 percent for Ramona.
The biggest crowd of the season showed up on Senior Night to salute seniors Stransky, Hubbard, Williams, Colton Harris and Tyler Liddie as the Bulldogs lost to Del Norte 73-58.
The Dawgs led 6-2 and then Del Norte went on a 24-5 run and led after one quarter of play. The Nighthawks would not relinquish the lead.
Stransky led all scorers with 25 points. The senior guard also grabbed six boards and dished off four assists. Colton Harris scored 10 points and grabbed six boards. Harris played at both ends of the court as he blocked three shots against taller foes.
Cobian led the Dawgs in rebounding with eight as he scored 9 points and contributed three assists.
Hubbard scored 6 points, grabbed three boards and took another charge to continue to lead in that category. Seits (6) and Williams (2) also scored in the game.