San Rafael High Boys Fall in League Basketball Semifinal

As for holding the top high school basketball player in Marin County well under his average, it was mission accomplished Thursday for the Bulldogs.

But even though they held San Marin High’s Stuart Wesonga to 14 points, or seven below his average, they couldn’t hold the rest of the Mustangs during a decisive second-quarter run in a Marin County Athletic League semifinal at Redwood High.

Doomed by a 24-8 spurt by San Marin in the second stanza, San Rafael (19-10) dropped a 50-32 decision to the team from Novato and had its upset bid for a league title dashed.

Bobby Conner had 12 points for the Bulldogs, but none of his teammates had more than five. In the second quarter, San Marin capitalized on steals, fastbreaks, layups, a 3-pointer here and there and a couple of Wesonga dunks to put the game away early.

San Marin led by as much as 24 points in the third quarter as Bulldogs’ Parker Shaw, Diego Camarillo and Conner got in foul trouble.

The San Rafael defense did a job on Wesonga, but the 6-foot-6 center — bound for Cal State Northridge on a scholarship next fall —  still managed 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots. Chris Glennon matched Wesonga with 14 points and John Seavey had 13 for San Marin.

Based on its strong overall record, San Rafael is still in the hunt for a bid to the North Coast Section Division III tournament. The team will find out its fate Sunday morning when the NCS tournament brackets are filled out. There’s an outside chance the two teams from Thursday night could meet up again.