Warriors Holiday Showcase: Hillcrest Christian Saints 68, Santa Paula Saints 47

Seniors Will Friel and Caymen Wimmer combined for 37 points to power Hillcrest Christian over Santa Clara in the Warriors Holiday Showcase at Heritage Christian high school on Saturday.

Hillcrest Christian (2-8) led by only six points early in the third quarter before going on a 19-2 run to put the game away.

So early on it was a competitive game. Senior Carter Reid opened the scoring with a steal and lay up to put Hillcrest Christian ahead first. The lead was extended to 6-0 before senior PG Adrian Jimenez drilled a three-pointer for Santa Clara (1-14).

That would be the only points in the game for Jimenez because he suffered an early ankle injury and sat out most of the game.

Later, a bucket by freshman Sebastian Macias cut the deficit to two for Santa Clara at 9-7. The first quarter ended with the score 11-7.

Senior Gio Gude did a good job taking over the ball handling duties for Jimenez and displayed lots of scoring punch as well. His two free throws and ensuing spin move for a basket tied the game at 11-11.

Friel answered with a nice feed to Reid and Hillcrest Christian was back up, 13-11.

Then, at the 6:16 mark, Santa Clara grabbed its first lead, 14-13, after a three-point play by Gude. Senior Carson Obringer tied the game with a free throw but Gude also went 1-2 at the line to put Santa Clara on top again, 15-14.

Friel countered with two straight baskets to make it 18-15 and Hillcrest Christian led the rest of the way.

Wimmer’s three-point play made it 21-15 and the half ended with Hillcrest Christian ahead, 25-15

Macias and Obringer scored the first four points of the third quarter for Santa Clara and its deficit was cut to six, 25-19.

It was all Hillcrest Christian after that.

Friel made a beautiful assist to Reid to start off the blistering 19-2 run. Later, consecutive treys from Wimmer and sophomore Ashton Shepherd made it 37-19.

Then Shepherd found Reid alone underneath and a resounding slam dunk resulted and Hillcrest Christian had a 20-point lead, 39-19.

During his dunk, Reid hung on the rim with a little too much emphasis for the refs and was called for a technical. The 14-0 run at that point was finally stopped by an ensuing technical free throw by Gude to make it 39-20.

A little later Shepherd’s putback gave Hillcrest Christian its largest lead of the game, 44-21, and that ended the 19-2 run.

To Santa Clara’s credit, they kept battling.

A lay in by junior Mark Perez Jr. stopped the run, and Santa Clara finished the quarter on a 9-4 run that included threes from sophomore Jayden Ramirez and freshman Juju Pujol.

Hillcrest Christian led 48-30 going into the final frame.

A three by sophomore Caleb Kerner put Hillcrest Christian ahead by a 53-32 score, which was narrowed to 55-39 at the 5:00 mark when Santa Clara’s Macias nailed a three. Macias had 10 points in the quarter.

Reid contributed two more dynamic slam dunks, as Hillcrest Christian closed out the 68-47 win.

Wimmer had a game high 19 points for Hillcrest Christian and was amply supported by 18 from Friel. The high-flying Reid finished with 12 points.

For Santa Clara, Gude had a valiant team high 18 points, while the strong finish by Macias resulted in 14 points.

Individual Scoring:

Santa Clara (47):

1-Jayden Ramirez 6

3-Mark Perez Jr. 3

10-Adrian Jimenez 3

12-Juju Pujol 3

24-Gio Gude 18

32-Sebastian Macias 14

Three-pointers made: Macias 2, Ramirez 2, Jimenez, Pujol

Hillcrest Christian (68):

0-Will Friel 18

1-Caymen Wimmer 19

3-Caleb Kerner 6

10-Ashton Shepherd 8

12-Dylan Stueber 2

14-Carson Obringer 3

22-Carter Reid 12

Three-pointers made: Shepherd 2, Kerner 2, Friel, Wimmer