Cue Cards Help Notre Dame Shuffle Past Culver City in 1st Round of Tournament

For the Notre Dame High boys’ basketball team, a win was in the cards Tuesday night. That is, in the cards Notre Dame Coach Mick Cady used to signal the defensive schemes his team was to use--box, triangle, design, Indiana, amoeba . . . .

Amoeba?

“It’s a Nevada Las Vegas splitting defense,” Cady said. “The names are easier for the kids to remember than two or three words. I started using the cards because I was losing my voice trying to yell in noisy gyms.”

Cady didn’t have to do much shouting on Tuesday as the Knights (6-1) rolled over Culver City, 58-45, in a first-round game of the Beverly Hills tournament at Beverly Hills High.

Notre Dame scored 13 consecutive points to extend a 10-7 first-half lead and never trailed thereafter. G. C. Marcaccini scored a game-high 18 points despite missing two weeks of practice with a bruised right knee suffered in a pickup game.

A 6-foot-5 senior forward, Marcaccini had 10 points in the second quarter--including two on a fast-break dunk--that helped Notre Dame build a 34-17 halftime advantage. However, the Knights needed to weather a second-half Culver City rally.

Culver City (1-6) came out in a full-court pressure defense and went on a 12-2 run to start the second half, cutting the deficit to 36-29 with 4 minutes 26 seconds left in the third period. Culver City center Shani Kennedy recorded three blocks during that span and had four in the game.

“We played too cautious in the second half,” said Marcaccini, who also had 14 rebounds, five assists and five steals. “We played to win instead of going all out. (Culver City) has some great athletes and they came out hard on defense, but it also helped open things up.”

Marcello Anderson-Tellez scored two quick baskets to spark an 11-3 Notre Dame run and Marcaccini hit his second three-point shot of the game with 3:08 to play, giving Notre Dame a 55-40 lead.

Anderson-Tellez and Damon Germanides scored 11 and 10 points for Notre Dame, which will play Redondo in the championship quarterfinals of the 16-team tournament today at 5 p.m. Redondo defeated Long Beach Wilson, 65-56.

Kennedy led Culver City with 12 points and was the only Centaur player to score in double figures.

In another first-round game:

Rolling Hills 77, Ventura 58--Ventura fell behind by 15 points after the first period and never recovered. Rolling Hills (3-3) led by 21 at halftime, but Ventura closed to 60-46 after three periods.

Curtis Vaughen and Mike Ryker led Ventura (0-3) with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

On Thursday, Ventura will play St. Bernard--which lost to El Toro, 67-64--in a consolation quarterfinal.