CIF North Coast Section Division IV Boys Championship
At Santa Rosa Junior College: Sixth-seeded Marin Catholic-Kentfield (22-10) bolted out to an 8-0 lead and led 36-16 late in the first half before holding off a furious comeback by top-seeded Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa to post a hard fought 61-54 victory.
"Obviously it was our fast start that was the big difference. We wanted to stay aggressive and our kids were really engaged early on," said Marin Catholic Coach Mike Saia. "To their credit Newman made the adjustments but our boys made the plays when we had to. I'm just glad the clock got to 0:00 because Newman was coming."
The bottom line was it was just too much of the Calcaterra boys, and unlike the first meeting with Marin Catholic, in this game Saia had both of the fluid and athletic brothers in his arsenal.
Sophomore Joey Calcaterra led three Marin Catholic players in double figure scoring with a double-double 18 points and 10 rebounds. His senior brother Frankie Calcaterra added 17 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three assists. Charlie Duysen chipped in with a double-double 10 points and 10 rebounds with four assists.
"Not playing against them the first time I didn't know that much about them except with their record they were a good team. For this game I had to come in and play my role of being aggressive inside," said Frankie Calcattera, a 6-foot-5 power forward who missed the first three games of the season with a bad ankle, including a 60-51 loss to Marin Catholic in game two this year, and a loss to St. Ignatius-San Francisco in game three as well.
After the 20-point deficit Newman ended the half on an 8-0 run and only trailed 36-24 after two quarters. They fought back valiantly the entire second half, and only trailed 57-53 with 1:03 remaining but just could not get over the hump.
Justin Botteri led Newman (29-3) with a double-double 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Connor Rubbatino also had 15 points with seven rebounds and three assists. Damian Wallace added 14 points.
It was the fifth North Coast Section title for Marin Catholic but first since 2005, and first for Saia.
The win also punctuates a season where so far Marin Catholic has had a few stinker losses, but are the only team to pin a loss on a Cal-Hi Sports third-ranked 29-1 Bishop Montgomery-Torrance team playing Saturday night for the CIF Southern Section Open Division title.
"We always seem to have a stinker loss. Makes us stronger I guess," remarked Saia, in his fifth season at the Wildcats helm.
Both teams will advance to the Northern Regional Division IV playoff with Marin Catholic likely receiving the No. 1 seed despite having 10 losses.
