Mustangs Ride Zirkle, Wesonga to First-Round NCS Playoff Win

The big men racked up the points Tuesday night, but it was a smaller guy who sparked San Marin High to a first-round boys basketball victory in the North Coast Section Division III tournament.

The showdown between San Marin’s 6-foot-7 Stuart Wesonga and Terra Linda’s 6-9 Mike Best was epic indeed, but it was senior 5-9 guard Ryan Zirkle who stole the show in a 70-60 Mustang home victory, pitching in a season-best 17 points.

Next, No. 5 seed San Marin will play host to No. 13 seed Albany, which shocked No. 4 John F. Kennedy of Fremont 72-68 in overtime. Game time is 7 p.m. Friday in Novato for the quarterfinal matchup, a rematch of a Dec. 30 nonleague game that was won by San Marin , 76-59.

Terra Linda, which got 27 points from Best, ended the season with a 16-13 record.

Zirkle might be saving his best performances for last for San Marin. The senior who missed all last season with a broken leg has stepped up for the Mustangs as they head into the thick of the postseason with a 26-4 overall record. Fresh off a victory over Drake in the Marin County Athletic League title game Saturday, Zirkle said the team had not forgotten a 68-47 loss to Terra Linda in late January in a game Wesonga missed.

“It’s huge,” he said of Tuesday’s victory. “We were upset about the seeding and playing another MCAL team, but it was also nice getting a chance at TL, the only team that beat us. We’re looking forward to Friday.”

Wesonga got in foul trouble early in his duel with Best, but he ended up with 24 points, 19 rebounds, two blocks and a series of dunks that turned the game around in the third quarter. San Marin stretched a 34-31 halftime lead into a rout thanks to a 19-7 spurt.

“When Stuart got into foul trouble early, we had to switch to zone,” explained coach Craig Pitti. “… We knew we couldn’t leave him on the bench much. Then we recognized the zone was working and actually was causing some problems for them,  and I don’t think they were prepared for it.”

In the second half, Pitti saw that TL coach Steve Farbstein elected to send out a group of his bigger guys rather than a group of shooters. So the Mustangs used a zone defense against the bigger lineup and switched to man-to-man whenever they Trojans sent out their more skilled shooters.

“They still scored 60 on us, so I wouldn’t say our adjustments were great,” Pitti said,  “but luckily we made enough big plays to win.”

Wesonga had 10 of his 24 points in the third quarter and got the crowd going with some massive dunks.

“It was just when I turned on that switch and played really aggressive and stopped passing the ball up,” he said. “At that moment I felt like my team needs me to go take over.”

Still, Wesonga repeatedly served as a decoy as Zirkle drove to the basket.

“Zirkle was phenomenal tonight,” Wesonga said. “We had a great time finding each other. I knew I had him when the double team came and I knew that when he didn’t get doubled he was going to score. He’s one of those guys who does everything a team needs him to do to help us to win.”

Zirkle said he didn’t have a tough time getting past defenders, “and coach said if you can get by your guy, keep doing it.”