PETALUMA, CA - Petaluma's boys basketball team used a technical foul charged to Joey Potts as motivation, racing to a 62-51 win Tuesday night against San Rafael.
The technical foul occurred in the third quarter, when Potts dunked over his defender and hung on the rim for a bit too long and was called for the technical foul. After the Trojans regained possession, they went on an 8-0 run to put the game away. Potts scored 10 points in the quarter, along with four more from Brendan O’Neill.
Petaluma raced out to a quick 10-4 lead after an Austin Paretti three-pointer, with Colin Stremlau hitting one as well. Potts scored four of his game-high 24 points in the first quarter and got his first of three blocked shots. Keaton Flores kept the Bulldogs in the game with a pair of three-pointer's, but the Trojans led 21-11 after one.
Petaluma got another couple more three-pointers from Paretti and Stremlau in the second quarter. Flores continued his hot game for San Rafael with another three and got some help in the quarter from Jack Cotrell, with four points. Petaluma also turned the ball over five times in the quarter.
“We’re still having trouble taking care of the ball, but it's still early.” said Petaluma coach Scott Behrs.
With Petaluma up 50-39 heading into the fourth quarter, Behrs got some players involved off the bench. Whitaker Ellis got a bucket in limited minutes, as did Devin Gotschall. Will Mosher got in on the action for San Rafael, as he dropped in a few points for the Bulldogs.
Petaluma improves to 2-0, and will face Redwood, who eliminated Petaluma in last year's NCS Division 2 playoffs, in the Rose City Tournament, Thursday at 5:00 pm.
San Rafael falls to 3-3 and will host Sonoma Valley, Thursday night at 7:30 pm.
