Isaiah Ackerman named MVP as Mariners win Gilroy’s basketball tournament

Isaiah Ackerman scored 26 points, and Aptos High’s boys basketball team beat Monta Vista of Cupertino 67-45 to win the Gilroy Tournament on Saturday.

Ackerman was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Luke Garvey and Mateo Calfee were voted onto the all-tournament Team.

Aptos (4-2) led by two points at the half and pulled away from the Matadors (5-2) in the third quarter.

Johnny Cornejo scored 11 points for the Mariners, and both Garvey and Ryan Solorii chipped in with nine points each.

St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 73, Santa Cruz 56: The Cardinals had four players reach double digits in scoring in their loss to maxprep.com’s No. 4 ranked team in the state in the Joe Schram Classic in Mountain View on Saturday.

Ben Dotten scored a team-high 21 points and had six rebounds for the Cardinals (4-1). DeMarco Hunter had 12 points, five rebounds, and three blocks. Kirby Seals scored 11 points, and Demeke Smith scored 10 points.

Tounde Yessoufou, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound junior forward who is California’s No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2025, accorinding to 247Sports, scored 40 points for the Knights (5-0). Abdoul Bare, a 6-9 sophomore center, scored 10 points.

Santa Cruz plays at San Luis Obispo (4-4) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

MVC 62, Greenfield 46: Jack Ryan scored 14 points and Nico Downie scored 13 in the Mustangs’ win over the Bruins in the Watsonville Tournament on Saturday.

The Mustangs led 34-20 at the half.

Ethan Quizon added nine points for MVC, and Matteo Vidal chipped in with seven points.

MVC (6-2) hosts Live Oak on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Soquel 66, St. Francis 58: Nico Rameriz made 12 of his 13 free-throw attempts and scored 25 points for the victorious Knights in the third round of the Watsonville Tournament on Saturday morning.

Steely Deans scored 14 points for Soquel.

Sam Braun made five 3-pointers and finished with 25 points for the Sharks. Joseph Rose made four 3s and scored 14 points, and Robert Gomes made four 3s and scored 12 points.

The Sharks (0-3) play at Gilroy on Tuesday night.

Skyline 61, SLV 49: Senior Aiden Nounnan scored 15 points, but the Cougars were unable to overcome a slow start and lost in the third-place game at the Watsonville Tournament on Saturday.

The Cougars scored two points in the first quarter, and 14 in the first half.

Senior Dominic Chiechi had 10 points, and five rebounds for SLV. Junior Noah Steiger had eight points and four rebounds, and senior Jon McClaren had six points and six rebounds.

Senior Elijah Alexander led all scorers with 25 points for Skyline, and Guleed Hampton and Kahalid Frison each contributed eight points. Skyline received two technical fouls and Sayveon Tripplet was ejected.

The Cougars play four home games next week, starting with Kirby on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

At Watsonville 61, Pacific Collegiate 45: The Wildcatz led 34-24 at the half and kept the Pumas at arm’s length for the remainder of the teams’ Watsonville Tournament game Saturday.

Elias Golino had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Pumas (2-6). Garrett Koontz added nine points on three 3-pointers. Neel Yarlagadda scored eight points and junior Thomas May added six points and five rebounds.

PCS hosts Trinity Christian to open Pacific Coast Athletic League Santa Lucia Division play on Friday.

At Sterne (San Francisco) 54, Kirby 36: Rain Li made three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 17 points in the Griffins’ nonleague loss Saturday. He also had eight rebounds and three steals.

Chris Lively made two 3s and scored 13 points for Kirby.

Men’s basketball

Cabrillo 107, At Napa Valley 78: Darius Best had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists, and the Seahawks moved to 11-0 in nonconference play Saturday.

Jalen Cunningham had 19 points and six rebounds for the Seahawks, who topped the 100-point mark for the fifth straight game and seventh time this season.

Cabrillo was 34 of 45 from the free-throw line, but 1-of-16 shooting from beyond the arc.

Zavier Sims had 16 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and Quentin Henry had 15 points, nine rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Cullen Cleaves also scored 15 points.

Cabrillo plays at Alameda on Friday at 7 p.m.

Girls basketball

Santa Cruz 49, Mills 34: Karolina Espinosa scored 17 points, and the Cardinals prevailed in the game in the J.K. McGill Memorial Shootout at Del Mar High in San Jose on Saturday.

The Cardinals’ Natalia Espinosa made a pair of 3s and finished with 10 points in the nonleague game, a rematch of the Central Coast Section Division III final last season.

Santa Cruz led 26-25 at the half.

Santa Cruz hosts North Salinas on Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Irvington 56, MVC 21: Julia Guerra scored a team-high seven points in the Mustangs’ loss in the Santa Clara Tournament on Saturday night.

MVC (5-4) plays at University Preparatory Academy in San Jose on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.

Marina 29, at Harbor 15: The Pirates had plenty of open looks at the basket but couldn’t convert those scoring opportunities in their non-league loss to Marina Saturday morning.  They also struggled from the free-throw line, making 3 of 14 attempts.

Lily Defilice led Harbor with seven points.

Harbor (4-2) plays at Anzar on Tuesday.

Salinas 52, Soquel 31: Ana Maurer scored 13 points and teammate Amelie Stotland scored eight in the Knights’ nonleague loss Saturday.

The Knights (0-4) host PCS on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

Girls soccer

Soquel 1, at North Salinas 0: Isis Tumason scored on an assist by Trinity Wilson in the final minute to lift the Knights to the nonleague win Saturday.

Soquel out-shot North Salinas 14 to 2.

Goalie Ophelia Lewis recorded her second shut out of the season.

Soquel (2-1-0) hosts Hollister on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Reporting Scores

Coaches are encouraged to report scores and highlights to [email protected] following games. Please include your name and contact number in the email.