FELTON, CA — In the first half it was Connor Marden hitting from the outside. In the second half it was John Stivers hitting from everywhere.
The duo combined for 47 points to lead No. 9-seeded Carmel to a 71-53 victory over No. 8 seed San Lorenzo Valley Thursday night in a Central Coast Section Division IV second-round basketball game in Felton.
Stivers finished with a game-high 26 points — 18 of which came in the second half — added six rebounds, four assists and three steals while Marden finished with 21 points including five 3-pointers and five rebounds in the win for Carmel.
“We knew we had to slow the ball down today because they play very aggressive trap defense,” Stivers said. “I was just taking my shots when they came to me. When I wasn’t open we have good players outside so why not pass it to them.”
In the first half SLV wasn’t going to let Stivers beat them with constant pressure and doubles team but during that span Marden connected on three of his four 3-point attempts finishing with 11 points in the quarter.
“Our shot selection was good, sometimes we’ve had difficulty with that in the past,” said Carmel coach Rich Frank. “We took good shots and moved the ball well tonight.”
The Padres assisted on 14 of their 28 made baskets.
Carmel went into halftime leading SLV 37-25.
“It started with discipline at practice this week,” said Marden. “Every day our coach stressed offensive discipline. We haven’t been as consistent on offense as we liked to be shooting it but we did a good job — getting it in the post and shooting our outside perimeter shot.”
SLV made a run in the second half, cutting Carmel’s lead to four at 41-37, but then the Cougars went cold and the Padres caught fire. Over a five-minute span the Padres went on an 18-0 that was snapped by a Davon Northcutt layup just seconds before the third period ended. But by then game was out of reach for SLV.
Carmel (17-8) didn’t let SLV to get within 14 points the rest of the game.
“They had the best of both worlds,” said SLV coach Marcus Northcutt of Carmel’s inside-out game. “If you’re more experienced we can watch (Stivers and Marden) but we would forget we were on Stivers and try and help out on Marden and leave him open. I always tell our guys we had to make another guy beat us and tonight we didn’t. We let Stivers and Marden do whatever they wanted and that messed us up.”
Marcus Northcutt takes solace in that he returns 10 of his 14 players next year including his top three leading scorers from a team that finished in fourth place in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.
Davon Northcutt and Jackson Turner each finished with 14 points for SLV while Derek McCuiston chipped in with eight points in the loss for the Cougars who finished the year with a 12-14 mark.
William Kehoe had eight points and five rebounds and Eman Rezai finished with seven points, 10 rebounds and three assists for the Padres.
Carmel — which finished in second place in the Mission Trail Athletic League — will now shift its attention to Saturday where they have a date with another SCCAL opponent in No. 1 seed Santa Cruz (20-6) at Kaiser Permanente Arena, home of the NBA D-League’s Santa Cruz Warriors at a time to be determined.
For the Padres, who will again go on the road and be the underdog, they are just happy to get another chance to play another game.
“It should be fun we're playing at Kaiser, I’m looking forward to it,” said Marden, a senior. “I’m just glad I get to play another game.”
