LAFAYETTE >> Isaih Hood put on a slam dunk display in the third quarter to cap Bentley High School’s 82-43 victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals on Saturday night in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section Division V boys basketball playoffs in Lafayette.
“He’s an outstanding player,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said of Hood, who finished with 24 points, a handful of them on alley-oop slams in the third quarter.
The Cardinals (14-15) weren’t exactly appreciative of Bentley’s decision to showboat in the third quarter after putting the game away with a 55-18 first half. When Clear Lake decided to get physical with Hood, the Phoenix took him out of the game.
“He’s an outstanding player,” De Leon said.
Bentley, the No. 4 seed in the original 16-team Division V field, moves on to play No. 8 Redwood Christian in the semifinals on Wednesday. Redwood Christian upset No. 1 seed Cloverdale 53-44 in another quarterfinal-round game Saturday.
“They are an excellent basketball team,” De Leon said of the Phoenix. “They’re the quickest team we’ve ever faced. You can’t prepare for that in practice … I mean you just can’t.”
Bentley had a 26-10 lead after one quarter.
“The pressure they put you under is unreal. They were relentless in their pursuit,” De Leon said of the Phoenix defense. “We had nearly as many turnovers as we had points.”
Tanner Hutton’s 24 points led the Cardinals, who had a large cheering section at the game as many Clear Lake fans made the long trip to Lafayette.
“We had a great group of fans come down here and support us,” De Leon said. “Half the crowd was from Clear Lake.”
Ryan Damiata scored eight points in his final game for the Cardinals, who placed fourth in the North Central League I standings this season and qualified for the sectional playoffs as an at-large team. They upset No. 5 seed Berean Christian of Walnut Creek 63-55 in an opening-round game to reach the quarterfinals.
“It was a fun year,” De Leon said.
