Cypress Dominates as Katella Struggles

Wednesday’s showdown between Cypress and Katella for the Empire League lead was expected to be a hotly contested affair between two teams who were a combined 29-7.

But visiting Cypress made it a runaway victory, 53-36.

Katella (15-4, 3-2) played as poorly as it could in the estimation of Coach Tom Danley, shooting just 33% from the field (14 of 42), getting out rebounded, 27-20, turning the ball over 15 times and looking totally disoriented on defense.

“This was a championship [caliber] game and we failed to show tonight,” Danley said. “Yes, we were cold shooting, but you make up for it in other ways. You work harder on defense, go to the boards, hustle. But the people that have carried us disappeared.

“Cypress is a good team, but we’ve played several good teams. Winning is an attitude, not an outcome. And this was by far the worst game we’ve played. By far.”

Cypress (17-4, 4-1), started slowly, but looked better thanks to Katella’s lapses.

The Centurions, led by Chad Boberg’s 25 points and Wes Bunn’s 16, jumped out to a 10-0 start and a 16-5 first-quarter lead, and then blew out to a 40-23 bulge in the third quarter.

When Cypress made the first six points of the fourth quarter to go up, 46-23, the game was basically over.

The Centurions wound up shooting 23 of 38 on the strength of a 13-for-18 effort in the second half.

Despite the victory Coach Tom Gorrell wasn’t ready to claim the league crown, even though Cypress has three of their last five games at home.

“The league is still wide open. I feel there are four teams that could win it,” Gorrell said. “But I’m proud of the kids. We really struggled with El Dorado, but have come back to win the last three. And things seemed to come together tonight.”

The same way things fell apart for Katella.

Jacy Armbruster led the Knights with 13, followed by Carlos Romero with 12.