Boys Basketball: Livermore Gives Up More Big Points in Loss

Servite-Anaheim 89, Livermore 65

The Star: Livermore's Nick Clark, who scored 23 points and hit four 3-pointers.

The Turning Point: When Servite opened the game on a 9-0 run, Livermore wasn't able to recover.

The Quote: "Our defense is a work in progress," Livermore's Anthony Ruiz said.

What's next? Livermore hosts Mt. Diablo in a non-league game Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.

Bottom Line: A night after allowing 102 points, Livermore's defense couldn't stop anything Servite threw at it in another tough defeat.

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The boys basketball team might be able to outgun some teams this year, but it won't happen if the Cowboys don't play any defense.

A night after allowing , Livermore was hit by another offensive outburst in an 89-65 loss to Servite-Anaheim in the third-place game of the Rob Vares Jr. Memorial Classic at Washington.

"We are very young and our defense is a learn in progress," Livermore coach Patrick McNight said. "We're trying to pick it up on the run. We've got three veterans and the rest of the guys are mostly sophomores."

One of those veterans is point guard Anthony Ruiz, a senior captain. He scored six points.

"Our defense is a work in progress," he said. "We had a couple of starters out and we had to operate with our second-team players."

To Livermore's credit, two starters were out because of disciplinary reasons McKnight wouldn't divulge.

Livermore's Nick Clark, who scored a game-high 24 points was named to the all-tournament team. Teammate Rio Orozco added nine points and Scott Trask poured in eight.

Livermore (3-3), which came into the tournament having been outscored 254-251 in three non-league games, couldn't recover from a 9-0 deficit it suffered Saturday.

The Cowboys found themselves down 23-7 with 1:49 left in the first quarter and trailed 30-9 at the end of one.

The run-and-gun Cowboys made a run early in the second quarter an cut that lead to 32-17 with a 10-2 run. But Servite countered with a 22-13 run to close out the second.

As in the loss to Northgate, Livermore faced a team that was on pace to hit triple digits as Servite held a 54-30 halftime lead.

The only reason Servite didn't reach triple digits was because most of its reserves played the second half and they had trouble finding the hoop. Still, Servite scored 35 second-half points compared to Livermore's 35.

The Cowboys went 1-2 in the three-day eight-team tournament.

"We accomplished a lot," McKnight said. "The guys felt what it's like to run versus the big teams. It was good to get out there and see some good teams. We took a lot from this tournament. We put a lot of work on the floor."

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Servite-Anaheim 89, Livermore 65
Livermore (3-3)   9 21  18  17 -- 65
Servite (2-1)     30  24  16  19 -- 89
INDIVIDUALS
Livermore (fg ftm-fta tp) – Sposeto 1 1-2 3, Ruiz 2 2-4 6, Wilkinson 2 4-9 9, Williams 1 0-0 2, Sprugasci 1 0-2 3, Trask 2 2-2 8, Clark 9 1-2 23, Drew 1 0-0 2, Andrade 0 0-1 0, Orozco 4 0-1 9. Totals 23 10-23 65.
Servite – Golden 1 0-0 2, Nacpil 7 3-5 19, Fierros 1 3-4 5, Meyer 1 6-8 8, Alexis 5 8-12 19, Velasco 6 2-3 17, Harding 1 0-0 2, Kozloski 4 0-0 8, Riley 4 0-0 9. Totals 30 22-32 89.
3-point goals: Livermore 8 (Clark 4, Trask 2, Sprugasci, Orozco). Servite 7 (Velasco 3, Nacpil 2, Alexis, Riley). Fouled out: None.