Marcaccini Leads Notre Dame to 93-69 Win

Notre Dame High all but dismissed visiting Rancho Alamitos in the first few minutes of Friday night’s Southern Section III-A Division first-round playoff game, scoring the first 12 points before Rancho Alamitos had even attempted a field goal.

The Knights used a 12-0 run in three minutes as a springboard for a 93-69 victory. G. C. Marcaccini, who had missed the past five games with a sprained right elbow, scored nine of those 12 points, including his first two points on a dunk.

Rancho Alamitos of Garden Grove turned the ball over five times and was whistled for an offensive foul in its first six possessions.

After Notre Dame (21-4) romped to a 31-10 lead after the first quarter, Marcaccini was not even used in the second.

In fact, the 6-foot-5 senior played in only the first and third quarters and scored 17 points. He added a team-high 10 rebounds.

But the Knights did not seem to miss Marcaccini. After all, they had Marcello Anderson-Tellez, who has ably filled Marcaccini’s shoes in his absence.

Anderson-Tellez scored 11 points in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 24 points.

“The first quarter was a real go but then we got sloppy and the game got ugly,” Notre Dame Coach Mick Cady said. “We were walking both ends of the court, the game got boring. The players were bored and the intensity level dropped.”

The Knights led, 48-24, at halftime and the strain seemed to show on Rancho Alamitos (10-12). When Center Eric Moore of Rancho Alamitos and the Knights’ Kirk Miller scrapped for a ball early in the third quarter, Moore pushed Miller.

Both players were ejected with 5 minutes 53 seconds left in the quarter.

It was not long before Miller was joined on the bench by the other Knight starters, who had earned the rest of the night off.