The 50th annual Rose City Tournament tipped off Thursday night, this year at Maria Carrillo High School, and Petaluma opened the tournament with a win over Santa Rosa, 59-40.
Petaluma’s third quarter was outstanding. They turned it up on defense, forcing five steals, and outscoring Santa Rosa 15-0 in the period. Jack Anderson got going for Petaluma, starting the period with an and-one. A steal by Brendan O’Neill then pushed the Petaluma lead to six, and the full court pressure was too much for Santa Rosa.
“The team I saw in the third quarter is the team I thought we had all along. If we play like that every night, we’re gonna be very tough to beat,” said Petaluma head coach Scott Behrs.
Anderson, in the closing minutes of the period, hit another shot, plus a free throw to push the Petaluma lead to 13, then after another steal, another bucket, this one a three pointer by Robbie Isetta to close the period as Petaluma broke the game open and led 37-21 after three quarters.
“We had more intensity in the third quarter, and we wanted it more.” Said Petaluma forward Devin Gotschall
Santa Rosa dominated most of the game from the start. Andre Gaudreau started his big night with the opening basket, but missed free throws by Petaluma, and costly turnovers opened the door for Santa Rosa, and they took advantage, with Graudreau hitting a pair of free throws. He would close the period with a bucket just before the buzzer to give Santa Rosa a 10-7 lead.
Both teams started to settle in, both teams hitting shots, and being careful with the basketball. Santa Rosa was in foul trouble, but wasn't too concerned, since Petaluma was only 7 of 14 from the charity stripe. Ritchie Brown got into the scoring for Santa Rosa hitting a pair of buckets. Teddy Critchett for Petaluma would close the period with a bucket and a free throw to give Petaluma a 22-21 halftime lead, its first of the night.
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers and missed free throws, you can't do that if you want to win varsity basketball games,” said Behrs.
Santa Rosa tried as best they could to make a run, and they did, at one point cutting the deficit to 10, but Devin Gotschall would score eight of his 12 points in the final period, hitting a huge three pointer.
“My shot just started coming naturally to me in the final quarter.” Said Gotschall.
After Trey Davis’ layup was blocked, he came back to hit a three pointer to ice the game for Petaluma.
Petaluma (2-1) will advance to play Cardinal Newman tonight at 8:30.
Santa Rosa (1-4) will take on Kelseyville tonight at 5:00.
