The first St. Vincent Winter Showdown saw small schools from throughout Northern California do battle in Petaluma. San Domenico cemented itself as one of the top Division 5 teams in the state, dominating the weekend at DeCarli Gymnasium.

They took on Clear Lake in round one and after a slow start, cruised to a 62-23 victory. Gytis Gervickas, who took home tournament MVP, recorded a team-high 12 points, while Drew Moorehouse scored 11 points.

In the semi-finals, they battled jumpstart Elite-Vallejo. After trailing by three after a quarter, the Panthers used a big second quarter to jump out to a 29-20 halftime lead and never looked back for a 65-38 win. Moorehouse and Gervickas again led San Domenico in scoring, with 16 and 15 points respectively.

Clear Lake finished with a 3-1 weekend, picking up a game in the tournament after a team dropped out. In their first game against NCL I foe Lower Lake, they trailed for most of the game before taking control in the fourth quarter for a 54-46 win. In their second game of the night, they defeated Westlake Charter, 48-37.

Saturday, the Cardinals defeated Elite 59-43 to complete the weekend. Cody Hayes scored 25 points, while football standout Jake Soderquist recorded 19. Hayes was named to the All-Tournament team.

To kick off their own tournament, host St. Vincent de Paul trounced Westlake Charter-Sacramento, 56-28.

The Mustangs won the first quarter 22-9 and never looked back. They won all four quarters and never lost control of the game.

Despite doubling Westlake Charter’s points, the Mustangs defense was special in this game. The Explorers never scored double digits in any quarter, and could never find an offensive flow.

The Mustangs had two double-digit scorers in the game, junior Sebastian Andrade (12 points) and senior Kai Hall (10 points). Hall had by far his best game of the young season so far, recording six rebounds, four assists and five steals. Andrade knocked down two three-point shots and recorded two steals of his own.

St. Vincent de Paul tallied 48 rebounds and 15 assists in the game. Junior Josh Malik was responsible for 15 rebounds - 11 of them offensive. Hall and junior Brett Ghisletta both recorded four assists.

For the second straight night on Friday, St. Vincent de Paul routed their opponent, this time, it was Point Arena, 53-29.

The home team rode a 16-5 lead from the first quarter all the way to the end, never letting up.

They extended their lead even further in the third, jumping out to a 20 point lead. The Mustangs were led by strong defense and great play on the backboards, holding the visitors to a 23-percent field goal percentage and a whopping 56 rebounds.

Collecting 17 of those rebounds was senior center Matthew Kropelnicki. This was a career high for the three-year varsity player. Kropelnicki also notched 15 points dominating on both sides of the ball.

Juniors Josh Malik and Sebastian Andrade also had big games, as Malik pulled down 11 boards and Andrade knocked down three shots from behind the arc.

Following the win the Mustangs moved to 3-2 on the season and clinched their spot in the championship game of the St. Vincent Winter Showdown.

In the St. Vincent Winter Showdown championship, San Domenico cruised to the title in a 60-26 over the tournament hosts, and remained perfect at 11-0.

The Panthers could not miss from deep, knocking down 10 shots from beyond the arc.

The lone bright spot for St. Vincent de Paul offensively was junior Jack Davis - a three year starter for the Mustangs. He recorded eight points, leading the team in scoring.

Senior Kai Hall had four assists in the contest, and senior Kyle Ghisletta recorded three.

San Domenico was also impressive from the line, making 14 of 16 from the charity stripe.

As for the Mustangs, they sit at 3-3 and finished second place in their tournament. Their two post standouts - senior Matthew Kropelnicki and junior Josh Malik - took home All-Tourney honors. The Mustangs will host Redwood Christian-San Lorenzo at home on Wednesday, followed by a road game at Technology-Rohnert Park Thursday night.

Prep2Prep student-reporter Hudson Stipp also contributed to this report.