THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

As expected, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II boys basketball semifinal games Wednesday at University of the Pacific were thrillers and the championship match-up Friday night should be no less. No. 1 Whitney beat an upset minded Del Oro team that came in seeded No. 12. The Golden Eagles flew by No. 5 Inderkum and No. 4 Grant, but Wednesday is where they met their match, falling to the Wildcats 60-52. “Beating Del Oro was nice; first time in (Whitney) program history that’s ever happened, so that was pretty neat,” said ‘Cats head coach Nick French. “We knew coming into the game that we really had to match the physicality of Del Oro … and I think we did a great job of that.” Del Oro senior Trevor Drake was game-high with 22 points, 11 in the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats had an answer for every basket. The two teams went toe-to-toe and were tied 24-24 after 16 minutes of play, but the third period was where Whitney made a statement. With junior Justin Kraft leading the way, five ‘Cats scratched the leaderboard to give Whitney a 43-35 lead. The two teams then scored 17 apiece in the final frame and the Wildcats were on their way to their first section finals appearance. “We had to do a really good job on Stone Smartt,” said French of one of Del Oro’s top guns. “I think (Kraft) took it as a personal thing to do a good job on him; you had two football guys going at each other.” Kraft held Stone to 11 points (unofficial) and answered with 10 of his own. But where French was most pleased was with his team’s rebounding. French said Jashon Lewis and Tyler Austin combined for 28 boards, and also teamed up to score a total of 34 points. “It seemed like we got every rebound, especially in the fourth quarter, which was huge,” French said. “We had to show them we were not going to back down from them physically. We had to rebound the ball and we rebounded the ball really well last night.” Whitney will play No. 6 Beyer Friday at 8 p.m. The Patriots defeated No. 2 Burbank 63-56 in double overtime. French and the Wildcats were able to watch that game played earlier in the day Wednesday. French said Beyer plays a lot like Whitney. He said they are aggressive, but used a 1-3-1 zone to force Burbank to shoot from the outside, which they did not do well. “I think Burbank was like 22-of-70 from the field,” French said in describing the Titans’ woes. “(Beyer plays) a style that’s very, very similar to us. It’s like looking in a mirror, honestly.” Although Beyer used a zone defense, French said he does not expect them to use that tactic against his ‘Cats, although he admitted Whitney did not shoot the ball well against Del Oro. French said he thinks the Patriots will come out and press on defense. The Pats averaged 72 points per game in preseason, but dropped to 67 ppg in Modesto Metro Conference play, where they finished second. In the eight games Beyer lost, they averaged just 51 points a game. “Beyer is going to come out and do some of the things they’re used to doing like they did at the beginning of the season,” said French, anticipating the Patriots’ strategy. “They’re going to come out and try to press and all that kind of stuff, but we love playing like that.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

WHITNEY HEADS TO FINALS AFTER BEATING DEL ORO

JIM LINSDAU

Placer Herald | 3/2/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Whitney High School Athletics