The Community School boys' varsity basketball team might be seeing the Murtaugh Red Devils again when the eight-team Northside Conference tournament opens Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Carey School.
But coach Ed Flory's Cutthroats saw a little too much of the speedy Red Devils Tuesday night in a preview of a possible first round match-up in the upcoming 1A Division 2 meet.
Running its transition game effectively, finding the open man and outscoring the Cutthroats 22-7 and 20-9 in the first and third quarters, Murtaugh took a 63-39 Northside victory at The Fish Tank in Sun Valley.
Murtaugh, the sleeper in the Northside tournament expected to be dominated by Richfield, Carey and Dietrich, got a big game and four 3-pointers from freshman Humberto Pacheco (20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 assists).
On "Senior Night" for seven Cutthroats, the home team was respectable on the boards (27 rebounds) but still had problems with turnovers (19) and just couldn't match the quickness of Murtaugh (11-6, 9-4 league). The Red Devils will visit Dietrich (12-6, 9-4) Tuesday, Feb. 17—and the winner of that game will most likely play the Cutthroats (4-14, 4-10) in the first round of the tournament.
Fish contributors were Lucas Vorsteveld (10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks), Casper Brun (8 points, 8 boards), Eddy Albarran (7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks), Chet Stephens (6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks), Alex Conn (3 points, 4 boards) and Paul Davis (2 points). Peter Atkinson made a 3-pointer.
Murtaugh junior guard Zach Cummins (6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 10 assists) ran the offense effectively. Other top scorers were Manuel Pacheco (17 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals) and Skiler Oliverson (10 points, 4 boards, 3 assists).
The Community School wraps up its home season Saturday, Feb. 14 with a 5 p.m. home varsity game against the Twin Falls sophomores, at the Sun Valley gym. There will be no junior varsity game Saturday.
