The Woodland Christian High School boys varsity basketball team began the 2023-24 season this week with a loss to Sutter at the Jack Hamlin Gym.
Luckily for the Cardinals, Wednesday’s night 77-58 loss to the Huskies didn’t count towards their overall record as it was a Foundation Game. Woodland Christian’s varsity roster is yet to be determined until after the conclusion of football season.
“We knew coming into this that we weren’t going to have all of our offensive weapons and defensive sets,” explained boys coach Casey Neimeyer. “We were looking at it as a scrimmage to improve on. We’re going to look at film and see what guys can work on. A lot of these guys are JV players so they’re still learning the fundamentals of the game. This isn’t concerning, we’re just looking to get better from it.”
The first quarter Wednesday in Woodland was back and forth. Sutter led 16-14 after eight minutes of action. Sensational sophomore guard Romello Bruhn had 9 points in the opening period for the Cardinals. The Huskies went on a 10-1 run over the first 2 minutes of the second quarter and seized the lead for good.
Sutter held a 34-26 halftime advantage and Bruhn had 15 points. Huskies senior forward Naseem Bhatti scored 14 points in the third period to extend the lead to 13 at 55-42 after three quarters. Sutter ultimately pulled away to win 77-58, led by Bhatti with a team-high 24 points.
“It was good but could’ve been better. It’s just a learning experience for us though going into the season. We have a lot of freshmen and JV players coming up to varsity so it’s a learning experience for them and a little kick in the face of how varsity is,” Bruhn explained. “There’s some stuff that we need to work on but for the first game we did pretty good. They’re a solid team.”
Bruhn recorded a game-high 25 points by converting 11-of-15 free throw attempts.
“Romello is still an offensive threat all the time. I’d love to see him hit the floor less, for sure,” Neimeyer said with a chuckle. “He did his thing and he still has a next level. Once he starts being surrounded by fellow varsity players, I think he’s really going to thrive. They’ll draw more attention off of him. Tonight he just had to be the guy looking to take every shot. There were times where he was shooting a jumper and there were three guys converging on him. He did great.”
Freshman guard Malakai Baker, who’s about 5-foot tall, contributed 14 points. Junior forward Tanner Thomas added 9.
“I was actually really surprised with some of the guys that may or may not make varsity,” Neimeyer explained. “Malakai Baker, he played really well, was very composed and let the game come to him. He knocked down some really nice 3s, was playing good defense and he’s quick. He’s a little undersized but played with a big heart so I’m proud of him.”
Woodland Christian will have nearly three weeks off til its next game. The Cardinals will host Victory Christian of Carmichael to open Central Valley California League play on Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m.
“I’m really glad to have this film so we can reinforce things that we’ve been talking about in practice,” Neimeyer foreshadowed. “I really wasn’t pleased with our effort getting back on defense. Our transition defense was unacceptable, you can always control that no matter what level of basketball you play. Some of those things we’re going to point out in film, learn from them and get better. I’m expecting the football guys to jump in ready to go.”
Lady Cardinals beat Huskies by double-digits
In the first half of Wednesday’s doubleheader, the Woodland Christian girls varsity basketball team beat Sutter 57-44.
“We started off really well, pressed to start out and ended the first quarter up 20-4,” recalled girls coach Shiloh Sorbello. “We really established a tempo and did a good job in transition for the most part. The girls are learning spacing and where each other like the ball so we turned the ball over a lot more than we will later in the season. There were some unforced errors but overall for our first game I felt really good about where we’re at.”
Junior forward Teagan Hayes scored a game-high 15 points on 7-of-15 shots and 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. Freshman center Siena Sorbello was the other Cardinal in double-figures with 11 points on an efficient 5-of-6 field goal attempts and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Woodland Christian plays its first official game of the season on Monday at home versus Valley at 7 p.m.
“Valley I know is an athletic team, typically. I expect them to come with a lot of energy,” Sorbello foreshadowed. “We have a lot of athletes on our team so sometimes when you play athletes versus athletes, the game can get kind of messy. I think we have a team that can put passes together and keep the ball off the floor just by making good, sharp passes. That’s the way we’re going to beat pressure.”