Boys Basketball: Concord Dismantles Northgate

Concord High exorcised its demons Tuesday night by beating Northgate High, on the road, 55-39, for the first time in seven years.

The Minutemen bounced back after a heartbreaking, last-second 53-51 defeat, last Friday at the hands of Diablo Valley Athletic League preseason favorite, College Park.

The narrow road loss combined with the resounding wire-to-wire pounding of the Broncos, last year’s league champs, clearly announced the presence of a new DVAL title contender.

“It is fun winning here,” said Concord coach Ted McDavitt. “The Concord High varsity basketball team has not won here in a long time. [The Broncos] do not lose here often and in league often. They had a long win streak going into the game and we wanted to not come in flat after that close College Park loss.”

The Minutemen led the entire contest after starting the game on a 7-0 run and were briefly challenged in the second quarter when Northgate drew to within three, at 14-11, but that was the closest the Broncos would get.

Concord pushed the halftime lead to eight with suffocating defense and entered the locker room up 25-17. In the third, the Minutemen’s microwave, Marcus Walton, caught fire, nailing back-to-back threes and extended the lead to 14 at 33-19.

“Marcus is instant offense, just add water,” exclaimed McDavitt. “The bigs played great. Mike Adams (12 points) played fantastic. Tylek Farley was amazing on the boards with 15 rebounds and also played great defense. Alex Ruiz was tremendous off the bench.”

Farley and Adams held one of Northgate’s top guns, Jonny Crosthwaite, to only seven points, four of which came at the foul line.

Walton led all scorers with 19 points, followed by a solid paint effort by Farley, who recorded a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds.

The Minutemen took a commanding 20-point advantage in the fourth quarter before salting the game away with free throws.

Dual point guards Chad Henry and Daniel Solis controlled the tempo and found Adams and Farley for several drive and dish lay-ups.

Northgate senior guard Conner Jean registered 11 points, while center Joe Pelletier was the Broncos most efficient player, making well over half of his shots, on his way to a bruising 11 points.

Up Next: Concord looks forward to playing only their fourth home game of the season against Ygnacio Valley on Friday, while Northgate prepares for a cross-town Creek battle with Berean Christian.

Concord 55, Northgate 39

1

2

3

4

F

Concord

14

11

17

13

55

Northgate

9

8

10

12

39

Individuals — (fg ftm-fta tp)

Concord

Henry 3 0-0 8, Solis 2 0-0 4, Farley 4 2-3 10, Ruiz 1 0-0 2, Walton 6 5-6 19, Adams 6 0-1 12, Samson 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 7-10 55.

Northgate

Crosthwaite 1 4-4 7, DeGarmo 1 0-0 2, Jean 5 1-3 11, Walchirk 0 2-2 2, Aliyar 1 0-2 2, Lee 1 0-0 2, Trautner 0 2-2 2, Pelletier 5 1-1 11. Totals 14 10-13 39.

3-point goals: Concord 4 (Henry 2, Walton 2), Northgate 1 (Crosthwaite).

Fouled out: None.

Records: Concord 11-5, 2-1 DVAL; Northgate 9-7, 1-1 DVAL.

Diablo Valley Athletic League, boys basketball, 1/10/12

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