Sage Creek’s varsity basketball team literally put their sweat and blood into last night’s loss against Torrey Pines. Taking on the Falcons, the county’s second best team (based in stats), was no easy task, but the Bobcats managed to fight back in the fourth quarter to finish with a 57-43 loss.

“We’ll need to have a little more transition defense moving forward and be able to have more awareness of where our guys are. On the game plan, we were focusing on defense on the inside, but we gotta be focused on [the three point perimeter] as well next time,” Coach Brandon Dowdy said.

Torrey Pines drained seven threes and also managed to shoot 40 percent from the floor last night. Their senior forward, Ethan Esposito knocked down six buckets in the low post and even tallied 12 rebounds in a dominate night down low against the Bobcats. Sage Creek’s own forward, sophomore Nick Sonck, was also very active on the glass and in the paint.

When asked about Sock’s role in the ballgame, Coach Dowdy emphasized that his performance was “big” and that he wishes the team “could have done it a little bit more” on the offensive end with Sonck. Sage managed to put up 35 points in just the second half and Sonck was a major contributor to the offensive production.

“The scoring run helped our confidence a lot. It may not have been a great game, but going forward it helps [the team’s] confidence with league and the upcoming playoffs,” Sonck said.

The sophomore forward managed to score 16 points and collect four rebounds in the tough loss. “Nick being aggressive and confident really helped us out a lot,” Dowdy rejoiced.

While the team’s offensive production wasn’t in their usual form, the defensive end featured intense, physical battles for the ball and a few of the Falcons’ players were invited to some block parties.

Senior forward, Dakota Miller at only 6’6, fought hard down low against 6’9 center, Jacob Gilliam and managed to record three blocks, along with providing tight defense around the cylinder. While Miller managed to hold his end, the Falcons overwhelmingly dominated the paint shooting 14 of 28 from the field.

“Offensively, we just didn’t hit shots. We missed close baskets by the rim and [we won’t have] too much of a change moving forward. [Torrey Pines was] hitting their shots and executing and that is something that we’ll continue to look at to improve as a whole,” Coach Dowdy remarked.

Dowdy was extremely “proud of the way [his] guys fought” and was almost 100 percent confident of everything from the game, except for the first quarter injury to co-captain and senior, Dylan Rossi. While he was not aware of what specifically caused Rossi to be removed from the first quarter, Rossi shined some light on the play that delivered a cut to the back of his head (photo below).

“I was at the top of the key, I turned and there was a defender behind me with his mouth open. I just turned into him and I didn’t even notice until I was running back on defense,” Rossi said, “The ref. blew the whistle and then there was just mass blood.”

Rossi said that since he was able to play after the incident and because the wound had stopped bleeding, he hopefully won’t need stitches. While people around him after the game were staring at his head, all Rossi could say was how proud he was of Nick Sonck.

“He ate; he played really well. The team was really struggling to score and he kept us all going,” Rossi said.

This Friday, the team will travel across town to play against La Costa Canyon in a match where LCC will certainly be out for revenge. LCC is currently three spots ahead of Sage Creek in the Avocado West division and a Bobcat victory could really turn the standings around.