Forest Lake Christian's Kyle Soria gets set to drive past Magnolia's Scott Jensen (10) in NCAL boys 7th grade hoop action from Thursday evening at Magnolia. The Falcons squeaked out a 36-34 win. obfoto.com

Seven Hills "Doubles Up" NCAL Leaders

It proved to be a “Terrible Thursday” for the respective Nevada County Athletic League 8th and 7th grade boys basketball leaders.

Weimar Hills’ Warriors – with both teams carrying perfect 6-0 NCAL records – were brought back down to earth in a doubleheader sweep by the host Seven Hills Raiders Thursday afternoon.

In the opener, Seven Hills’ 8th grade team led from start to finish before finally fashioning a 39-34 win over the previously undefeated Warriors.

And, in the nightcap, Seven Hills used some prolific free throw shooting in the fourth quarter to post a 34-27 win over Weimar’s 7th graders who like their 8th grade counterparts had entered the game undefeated.

Here’s a complete recap from Thursday’s NCAL games:

8th Grade

Seven Hills 39 Weimar Hills 34 at Nevada City – Lucas Vojak tallied 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help spur Seven Hills' upset of the Warriors. Garrett O'Callaghan and Joey Souza also played well in the win for the Raiders who improved to 4-3 on the season. Michael Wilson's nine points, eight from Jack Baldoni and six by Jake Logan led Weimar Hills.

Magnolia 53, Forest Lake 49, at Magnolia – In a high-scoring affair, the host Rattlers shot a torrid 48% from the field and a parlayed a strong start to the game with a 9-0 run to prevail over Forest Lake.  After one quarter of action Magnolia held a 13-6 advantage and then led 27 to 24 at intermission.  Jacob Yarborough sank a buzzer beater to end the third quarter to pull the Falcons within seven points but Magnolia had enough staying power for the win. High scorer for the Falcons were Jacob Yarborough with 22 points and Luke Jordan with 12. For the Rattlers, Braden Duncan had a big game with 26 points and 7 rebounds.  Jared Skowronski posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards while Tyler Toft added 8 more points for the Rattlers.

Union Hill 46 Union Hill 28 - Union Hill hosted the Bombers at the Bearcat's den in Thursday nights hoops action.  Union Hill came out strong and took a 11-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. From there the Union Hill squad played a strong game on both ends of the court.  Everyone scored in the game, everyone was involved, and every player contributed to the decisive win. This game takes UH to a 6-2 record thus far in NCAL action.  Kyle McCombs led the way with 14 points and 15 rebounds.  Austin Latter and Tel Newman both pounded the boards as well with 7 rebounds each. Newman also scored 4 points on the night.

NCAL 8th Grade

                       W   L

Weimar Hills   7 1

Union Hill       6  2

P.Valley          4   3

Seven Hills    4  3

Magnolia        3  5

Forest Lake   2  6

Gilmore          1  7

7th Grade

Seven Hills 34 Weimar Hills 27, at Nevada City – The host Raiders and Warriors battled tooth and nail the whole game with no more than four points separating the two teams. The contest was tied at 25-25 heading into the final stanza before the Raiders meshed seven of 10 free tosses and used good defense to limit Weimar to just two points in the final six minutes.  Trevor Humphries sank three of four free tosses in the pivotal final quarter and finished with 12 points for the winners. Trent Foster also added two big fourth stanza free throws and finished with six points while Harrison McIntosh added five points and Matt Demele added three. For Weimar Hills, center Pat Beninga led the way with eight points while Ray Henry added seven and Mason Lewis sank five.

Union Hill 31 Gilmore 16, at UH – It proved to be a tale of two halves in the Bearcats-Bombers match-up at Union Hill. The host Bearcats found themselves trailing 11-6 after a low scoring first half but in the second two quarters UH turned things around. Using a devastating defense has its catalyst, the Bearcats out-pointed the Bombers, 25-5, in the second half. Union Hill coach Jason Craig cited excellent all-around efforts from Christian Straub, Logan Kerley, Chase Loper and Joe Matteoni has keys to the victory.

Forest Lake Christian 36 Magnolia 34, at Magnolia – Leading 35-25 with just a shade under three minutes to play, the Falcons survived a late Rattlers run to pull out the win. Forest Lake was paced by David O’Brien’s 12 points, nine from Kyle Kirsch and six from Logan Markstein. Wyatt Mitzel sank 10 for Magnolia while Tommy Hereder added six and John Voter scored five.

NCAL 7th Grade

                      W  L

Weimar Hills 7    1

Forest Lake  6    2

Gilmore         6    3

7 Hills            4    3

Magnolia       3    5

Union Hill      2    6