SANTA CRUZ, CA — The Santa Cruz High basketball team knows it is going to get every team’s best shot in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.
That couldn’t have been truer Friday night.
Santa Cruz had to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit and overtime to do it, but the Cardinals were able to remain unbeaten in SCCAL play by defeating visiting San Lorenzo Valley 85-74 in front of near capacity crowd.
Senior guard Kaijae Yee-Stephens, a Southern Utah signee, finished with a game-high 32 points and did so after scoring only two points in the first half.
“We didn’t come out with too much energy,” he said. “I felt we should’ve come out better on the defensive end.”
SLV went into the half leading 35-24.
The third quarter was a different story as Yee-Stephens scored 16 points in the quarter igniting the Cardinals’ offense as well as Santa Cruz as it turned an 11-point halftime deficit to a 54-50 lead going into the fourth.
SLV (15-5, 5-3), though, kept tough and even took a 70-64 lead with just over a minute left in the game.
Darnell White came through for the Cardinals by sinking three consecutive free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt to make it 70-69.
Santa Cruz’s Derek McCuiston hit two free throws to make it 72-69 with 28.8 seconds left.
Again White stepped to the fore, hitting the game-tying 3-pointer with 7.9 seconds off an assist from Keanon Williams’s sending the game into overtime 72-72.
“Without my teammates I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make those shots,” said White who scored 23 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. “We kept our heads up the whole game because we were down, but kept playing our game and getting open looks thanks to our defense.”
In overtime the Santa Cruz defense got stronger and the Cougars got tired.
The Cardinals had three steals that all led to easy lay-ups while SLV went 2-of-6 from the free throw line.
“I think towards the end of the fourth and overtime we got kind of tired,” SLV coach Dennis Northcutt said.
Yee-Stephens added the exclamation point with a steal and two-handed slam to make it 81-73 with 52.7 seconds left in OT to seal it for the Cardinals.
“We picked it up really well at the end,” Yee-Stephens said. “We picked it up tremendously on the defensive end which helped our offense. We ended up coming out with a victory.”
For Yee-Stephens, who has been playing on varsity since his freshman year, closing out strong at home in front of a surprisingly loud student section is very important for him.
“These are my last couple of home games and I worked so hard and have taken so many shots in this gym and played so many games that I can’t go out like that,” Yee-Stephens said. “My team needs me right now and I needed to pick it up and I did what I needed to do.”
Williams scored 18 points and added five steals for Santa Cruz and Ryan Samuelson had six points and six rebounds.
Northcutt was proud of how his team played against Santa Cruz and very complimentary of Yee-Stephens who scored 30 of his 32 in the second half and overtime.
“We did the same thing against him in the first half as we did in the second half -- he just got hot,” Northcutt said. “He’s that good of a player that if he starts feeling it you can’t do anything but foul him and/or hope he misses some shots. He didn’t miss them in the second half.”
Santa Cruz (15-5, 8-0 SCCAL) was wary of SLV and mindful of the adage of how tough it is to beat a good team three times in a season.
“We get everybody’s best effort and we know that,” Santa Cruz coach Lawan Milhouse said. “Everyone’s coming for us. We are undefeated in the league and defending (Central Coast Section Division IV) champs. Everyone is coming for us.
“SLV is a great team that was a hard fought win.”
The Cardinals, the No. 9 ranked team in the Prep2Prep CCS top 25 rankings, will look to keep its perfect SCCAL record going when they visit St. Francis Central Coast Catholic on Monday Feb. 1 in Watsonville. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Davon Northcutt, son of Marcus, led SLV with 24 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. McCuiston scored 18 points; Sebastian Vroman-Nell scored 14 points and added six boards while Nick Salibi scored 10.
SLV, the No. 23 in the Prep2Prep CCS top 25, will visit Harbor on Monday at 7 p.m.
