PALO ALTO — Returning to the Central Coast Section Division V boys’ basketball championship for the first time since 2013, the Pacific Bay Christian Eagles weren’t able to break the cycle of history.
No. 3-seed Pacific Bay (27-3 overall) was never really in it Saturday at Peery Center Gym, falling 56-38 to No. 4 Eastside College Prep (19-8). It is the second time the Eagles have suffered a blowout on the CCS championship stage, last falling 57-23 to Pinewood in 2012-13.
Diego Sotto
Billed as a battle of big men, Eastside Prep center Raymond Reece dominated with 30 points and 17 rebounds. Eastside Prep jumped out to a 20-8 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
“They are very athletic, and they can crash the boards,” Eagles head coach Mark Bermudez said. “We knew their big guy, Reece, could do that. … We just didn’t come out strong enough.”
Pacific Bay point guard Diego Sotto was his team’s lone bright spot on offense, scoring a team-high 20 points. The senior now has 1,322 career points as the program’s all-time leading scorer. Earlier this season he passed the former record holder, James Boyd, who previously set the record of 1,200 in 2013-14.
“[Sotto] shined,” Bermudez said. “He just tried to will us in the game and keep us in it.”
But the rest of the Pacific Bay team combined for just 18 points.
Recommended for you
“Offensively, it just wasn’t there today,” Bermudez said.
There were glimpses of the Eagles’ patented run-and-gun style of fast-paced play that took the team back to the top of the Private School Athletic League North Division this year. Pacific Bay totaled eight steals, including four takeaways by junior Paul Myron. There were only three games all year in which Myron did not record a steal. He currently has 67 on the season.
Sotto has a team-best 83 steals, and senior guard Khalil Smith has 58 this year. The two totaled just one steal apiece Saturday.
But the game was dominated on the boards. Reece alone outrebounded the Eagles, who finished with 14 total boards in the game. Senior Dwight Bumgarner, Pacific Bay’s 6-7 big man, managed just two points and one rebound.
As an automatic qualifier for the CIF boys’ basketball tournament by virtue of reaching the CCS finals, Pacific Bay will look to earn the program’s first-ever Northern California playoff win Tuesday night. The Eagles lost their only Nor Cal game in 2012-13, falling 87-47 at Central Catholic-Modesto.
The Eagles, though, have not lost back-to-back games all year. This, Bermudez said, is the team’s main motivator going forward.
“This is only our third loss of the year,” Bermudez said. “As I told the team, we haven’t lost back-to-back games all year. So, let’s go to the Nor Cal tournament and make a run.”
The Eagles will host their Nor Cal opener. As the No. 7 seed in the CIF Northern California Division V tournament, Pacific Bay welcomes No. 10 Denair on Tuesday, tip-off 7 p.m.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.