Balanced scoring helps Sonora capture decisive home victory against Cerritos

Sonora was led by (from left) Luca Pirona, Jacob San Martin, Jayden Barnes and Tyler Holmquist in the win Tuesday. (PHOTO: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Five Sonora players scored in double figures as the Raiders used a big second half and cruised to a 92-64 victory over Cerritos in a non-league boys basketball game Tuesday night at Sonora.

Sonora senior point guard Tyler Holmquist led all scorers with 28 points as the Raiders (11-4) won for the fourth time in five games.

Luca Pirona scored 15 points, Jayden Barnes added 14, Jacob San Martin scored 13 and Robert Gonzales had 11 points to lead Sonora. The Raiders scored 90 plus points for the third time this season.

“We started out strong but then had a bit of a letdown,” said Holmquist. “The coaches got on us at halftime, and we played better in transition and defense in the second half. We’ve won three in a row, and we need to continue to build on this.”  

Sonora jumped out to a fast start behind the pinpoint shooting of San Martin, Barnes, and Holmquist. The trio combined to score 24 of the Raiders first-quarter 26 points, including three 3-pointers by San Martin.

“I felt good in warmups, and I was making my shots,” San Martin said.

Holmquist’s bucket at the 5:22 mark of the second quarter gave Sonora a comfortable 36-15 lead. However, the Dons refused to fold and outscored the Raiders 17-9 over the final five minutes of the quarter to cut the lead to 45-32 at the half.

Sparked by Rocco Chua and Siddharth Panchal, Cerritos went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter. Panchal’s basket with 6:08 left in the quarter trimmed the lead to 45-42. The Raiders called timeout to regroup and when they retook the floor they dominated, outscoring the Dons, 47-22 over the remainder of the game.  

Barnes and Holmquist led the Sonora resurgence. Holmquist scored the final five baskets for the Raiders in the quarter as Sonora increased its lead to 68-49 after three periods.

Sonora’s defense, led by Barnes, Holmquist and Pirona, also picked up the pace and helped shut down the Dons. The Raiders forced 22 turnovers in the game.

“Our pride kicked in, and we picked up the intensity,” said Barnes. “We started playing all together in the second half.”

“I think after we got a big lead, we thought it was going to be a blow out,” said Pirona. “The coaches got on us at halftime and really hammered us. In the second half, we started rebounding better, taking better shots and came together as a team.”

Any comeback hopes the Dons had in the fourth quarter were quickly doused as Pirona and Holmquist ignited Sonora on an 11-0 run to start the final quarter building an insurmountable lead.

“We started strong, but our defense let down,” said Raiders Coach Mike Murphy. “We are going be working on that part of our game starting tomorrow. We must play 32 minutes of defense. We can’t afford to be inconsistent.”

Cerritos coach Jonathn Watanabe said his team (5-9) battled but ran out of energy.

“We battled on every play and we made adjustments, but our energy ran low,” said Watanabe, whose team was missing eight players due to various injuries. “We have a good bunch of kids. They work hard.”

Chua led Cerritos with 14 points and Noah Edwards and Jace Ribac each added 12 points each for the Dons.

Notes:

—-Mike Murphy is in his 36^th year as head coach of Sonora. Prior to Sonora, Murphy coached at Southern California Christian for five years.

—-Cerritos coach Jonathan Watanabe is in his 24^th year as the Dons’ head coach and 30^th year on the Cerritos coaching staff.

—The Raiders will play four games at the Mount Carmel Tournament in San Diego beginning the day after Christmas while Cerritos will participate in the Orange High Tournament.