RedHawks, Panthers battle in Georgia Raczniak tourney

A total of eight teams - seven of which represented Division IV schools - along with Maxwell High, the only Division VI entrant, took to the hardwood at Colusa High over the weekend for the 32nd annual Georgia Raczniak Christmas Tournament.

The Cardinals from Corning emerged as the tournament champions with a 56-37 win over Gridley, with Colusa finishing in fourth place and Maxwell, seventh.

Wheatland 61, Colusa 56

In Saturday's game for third place the RedHawks weathered a cold-shooting first half that saw them tally just 17 points, and they made a game of it in the second half before coming up short by just six points.

"Our focus was on the defensive end," said Colusa coach Marty Remmers, "our defense creates opportunities for our offense. We needed better rotation on their penetration."

Remmers said the RedHawks did a much better job defensively in the second half, limiting Wheatland's easy baskets and sharing the ball more and making better passes on the offensive end.

The better offensive approach in the second half resulted in Colusa outscoring the Pirates 24-18 in the third quarter, to cut a 28-17 halftime deficit to six points at 46-41.

R.J. Phillips started the third-quarter scoring with a bucket, and when he missed the and-one, Destin Smith's put-back quickly trimmed four points off the Wheatland lead.

Phillips' 18 points led the way for the RedHawks and tied him with Wheatland's Jimmy Pipkins for scoring honors. Smith finished the game with 17 points and was named to the all-tournament team.

Eric Barrera found the range for a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with 11 points. The second of his treys made it 46-39, and after Smith blocked a shot on the defensive end, Phillips scored to bring the RedHawks to within five at the end of the third period.

After a Pipkins hoop made it 54-48 in fourth quarter, Colusa responded with a six-point run and a Phillips bucket off a scrum under the rim deadlocked the score at 54-54 with 1:51 left to play.

Smith went to the bench with his fifth foul shortly after, and Wheatland scored five of its final seven points from the charity stripe.

Josh Crawley added 16 points for the Pirates and Taylor Balogi, 12.

"We need to protect the ball better, it's our top priority going forward," Remmers said. "We did much better with that in the second half. When you limit the turnovers you get more shots and can put more points on the board."

Smith, Phillips and Barrera each hit 10 in Thursday's 45-35 decision over Winters, with Hayden Bailey helping out with nine.

Smith's 10 points on Friday was the high mark for Colusa in a 47-27 loss to Gridley.

Maxwell 62, Kelseyville 47

The Panthers had 10 players score in Saturday's victory over Kelseyville for seventh place, in a game in which they never trailed.

Maxwell led just 26-18 at the half, but sophomore sharpshooter Isaias Martinez landed a pair of 3-point bombs and George Barajas drained another to help the Panthers pull away with an 18-0 run that carried over from the end of the second quarter.

Zach Troughton - Maxwell's representative on the all-tournament team - scored 13 points to lead the Maxwell pack, and Barajas was next with 11 points. Martinez finished with nine, and the Panthers got seven apiece out of Blake Vierra and Santiago Gonzales.

Barajas and Troughton narrowly missed double-doubles by both collecting nine rebounds.

John Mark Regan led the Knights with eight points.

Maxwell opened play on Thursday with a 63-44 loss to Gridley.

Barajas led in scoring with 11 points and tied with Thomas Mitchum on the boards, with each securing six rebounds.

Troughton's 17 points paced the Panthers' 49-45 loss to Winters on Friday.

Martinez sank a trio of treys to finish with 15 points, and Troughton capped a double-double with 12 rebounds to tie with Barajas for the team lead.

Henry Nicholson's 27 took scoring honors for Winters.

Colusa (4-7) is playing in the weekend's Golden Sierra Tournament.

Maxwell (5-4) is off until Jan. 3 when they will play in the East Nicolaus Love of the Game Tournament.

Saturday results

Corning 56, Gridley 37

Wheatland 61, Colusa 56

Sutter 61, Winters 49

Maxwell 62, Kelseyville 47

Friday results

Gridley 47, Colusa 27

Winters 49, Maxwell 45

Corning 58, Wheatland 30

Sutter 72, Kelseyville 38

Thursday results

Colusa 45, Winters 35

Gridley 63, Maxwell 44

Corning 53, Sutter 40

Wheatland 72, Kelseyville 63

CONTACT Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.