MORAGA, CA - The Campolindo boys basketball team had a strong night from Mike Navruzyan and Chris Wright to beat a very good Analy team 68-53 on Tuesday night, advancing to the NCS Division 3 title game.
“On paper, Analy was a really good team, and we knew that we had to play very well in order to beat them,” said Campolindo head coach Steven Dyer. “We had a lot of guys step up and play well today and we managed to beat them.”
Wright was the Cougars' top scorer with 22 points.
“We kept the game close in the beginning, but that didn't get us down. We knew [Analy] was a pretty good team” Wright said. “We held strong and pushed through. Luckily we never gave up and managed to win.”
The game was close at the beginning of the second quarter, but Wright hit a layup, and Navruzyan and Carter Mahaney each hit a three-pointer. The Tigers would respond with a three-pointer from Aidan Toner-Rodgers and layups from Spencer Vogel and Jordan Armstrong to make the score 35-28 in favor of Campolindo at the half.
Analy began to fight back in the third quarter after layups from Armstrong, Vogel, and Jack Newman, and a three-pointer from Dom Tripodi which cut the lead to 10 points after Campolindo had begun to create some separation.
The Cougars added layups from Wright, Mahaney, and Will Cummins to pull away from the Tigers, though.
Analy was led by Toner-Rodgers with 34 points and multi-sport standout Newman, who had 18 points.
Though Analy (25-6) is eliminated from the NCS playoffs, they still have a berth in the CIF NorCal playoffs. Campolindo (19-9) will square off against Salesian (26-4) in the NCS Division 3 championship game at St. Mary's College on Saturday at 4 pm.
“Salesian will be a very big challenge for us,” Wright said. “We just have to practice and prepare for the game and just take advantage where we can.”
