On Saturday, March 2, in the quarterfinal round of CCS play, the boys varsity basketball team crushed Santa Clara High School in a 57-43 rout. Strong performances by senior captain Joey Malgesini, who led the team in scoring with 23 points, and senior Steven Garverick, combined with dozens of forced turnovers on the full court press, led the Eagles to a victory and brought them one step closer to the CCS finals.

“They’re big and played aggressively but we did well defending their best scorer and steadily pulled away,” Gaverick said.

While the Eagles started slowly, maintaining only a 14-11 lead after the first quarter, a nine point run with just over a minute of play left placed them comfortably ahead, 31-22, at half. From there, the Eagles cruised, maintaining a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half. Timeouts by Santa Clara to come back were futile, and head coach Bob McFarlane kept momentum high throughout the third and fourth quarters.

“We pulled out the win and the hustle was there, but in order to beat Saint Francis on Tuesday we are going to have to execute better and improve on all the little things,” captain senior Joey Malgesini said.

The Eagles play next in the semifinal round of CCS on Tuesday, March 4, at Santa Clara High School against St. Francis, who defeated Los Gatos 57-41 to advance in the bracket.