Magnolia 7th grader Ryan Wagner, green jersey with ball, found himself in some heavy traffic during Thursday's Nevada County Athletic League first round tournament game against Forest Lake Christian. Playing at neutral site Sierra Hills School in Meadow Vista, the Rattlers built a big early lead and then went on to post a 41-30 win to advance to today's semi-finals round at Bear River. obfoto.com
NCAL Semi-finals Today at Bear River
Action in the Nevada County Athletic League’s boys junior high basketball tournament tipped off Thursday at different sites around the foothills area and for the most part form held true in both the 8th and 7th grade large school games that went into the books.
Only two “lower” seeds – both No. 5’s topping No. 4 seeds – shook up the brackets. Action in winner’s bracket play moves to Bear River High School with 7th grade games at 4 p.m. and 5:15 followed by 8th grade tilts at 6:30 and 7:45 p.m.
Here’s Friday’s large school winner’s bracket semi-final games schedule at Bear River:
7th Grade
4 p.m. – Weimar Hills (1) vs. Magnolia (5)
5:15 - Seven Hills (2) vs. Gilmore (3)
8th Grade
6:30 – Union Hill (1) vs. Magnolia (5)
7:45 – Weimar Hills (2) vs. Pleasant Valley (3)
Here’s a recap of Thursday’s games:
8th Grade
Weimar Hills 47 Gilmore 33, at Meadow Vista – Locked in a surprisingly tight battle with No. 7 seed Gilmore, host and No. 2 seed Weimar Hills used some excellent efforts off the bench from Wes Woodward and Jake Mederios to get the Warriors on their way to the win. The Warriors led just 22-19 at halftime but Woodward and Mederios combined for six key third quarter points as Weimar outscored the Bombers, 16-7, in the third stanza. Michael Wilson’s 13 points – which included three treys – led Weimar while Jack Baldoni and Jordan Balser scored seven points apiece. Woodward and Mederios chipped in with six and four respectively. Logan Gardner’s nine points and seven from Gareth Noxon topped Gilmore.
Pleasant Valley 42 Forest Lake 37, at Gilmore – John Jones tossed in 21 points to help push No. 3 seed Pleasant Valley past Forest Lake. The Vikings trailed for much of the first half before following Jones’ fine offensive night to take the lead and eventually the win. Jakob Freele’s nine markers and seven more from Nolan Stefani added more puch for the Vikings. Luke Jordan tallied 14 to pace Forest Lake.
Magnolia 45 Seven Hills 35, at Nevada City - No. 5 seed Magnolia went on the road and defeated Seven Hills for the second time in three days to advance to this evening's semi-final against No. 1 Union Hill.
7th Grade
Magnolia 41 Forest Lake 30, at Meadow Vista – No. 5 seed Magnolia used good team defense to hold Forest Lake scoreless for a six-minute stretch of the first half to get on their way to the win over the Falcons. The Rattlers led 15-6 after the first quarter and extended their margin to 23-11 at halftime. Forest Lake made a nice second half comeback and whittled the lead down to six points at one point but Magnolia was able to withstand the late charge. Top scorers for the Rattlers were John Voter with 17 points, Wyatt Mitzell with eight and Brett Soloman with four. Kyle Soria’s 12 points led Forest Lake while David O’Brien scored six, Max Wright had four and Parker Boring with three.
Seven Hills 44 Pleasant Valley 17, at Nevada City – Seven Hills got off to a quick start scoring the first 16 points as they lead 16-0 at the end of one quarter. Pleasant Valley played hard and stayed in the game outscoring the Raiders 11-8 in the second quarter. Tyler Van Norman came alive for Seven Hills in the second half scoring 7 points and Max Bishop and Michael Quinn both added 4 to lead the Raiders past the Vikings. Pleasant Valley waslead by Dee's 8 points and 3 from Jesse.
Gilmore 42 Union Hill 31, at Grass Valley – The No. 3 seed Bombers followed a 20-point spree by Jericho Mendez to race past No. 6 seed Union Hill. Jess Sutton added 12 more for the winners and Josh Belendez finished with six. The Bearcats were led by Christian Straub’s 13 points and 12 more from Sam Powell.