Nordhoff Gets Bit of a Kick Beating St. Bonaventure

This one was for the football team.

That was Eric Bensley’s attitude after helping Nordhoff High to a 58-51 victory over St. Bonaventure in a nonleague boys’ basketball game Tuesday night at Nordhoff.

Nordhoff (9-4) snapped St. Bonaventure’s nine-game winning streak and gave itself a nice shot of momentum heading into its Frontier League opener on Friday night against defending state Division V champion Santa Clara.

The Rangers took some of the sting away from a 22-15 loss to St. Bonaventure in the Southern Section Division XI football final in December.

Nordhoff led, 15-14, late in that game before a muffed snap on a punt set up St. Bonaventure’s final touchdown with less than a minute remaining.

“We almost feel like we got revenge for the football team,” Bensley said after scoring 16 points. “This was a good game for us. We started playing together.”

The Rangers led for the rest of the game after the score was tied, 2-2. It wasn’t easy, however, as St. Bonaventure cut into Nordhoff’s lead several times but couldn’t overtake the Rangers.

St. Bonaventure (10-2) trimmed a 30-23 deficit to 30-29 with 3:40 left in the third quarter. Nordhoff went on a 7-0 run to take a 37-29 lead with 2:18 left in the quarter.

Matt Murphy hit a three-point shot to give the Rangers a 33-29 lead with 3:27 left and Jake Morrison hit a 18-foot jumper with 2:40 remaining for a 35-29 advantage.

Morrison then scored inside on an assist from Noah Nylander with 2:18 left for a 37-29 lead.

St. Bonaventure cut its deficit to 40-36 at the end of the third quarter. Again Nordhoff answered, scoring the first six points of the fourth quarter to take a 46-36 lead with 6:14 remaining.

Murphy, who scored seven points, made one of two free throws to start the run and capped it with a three-point shot after assisting Bensley on a basket inside.

“[Murphy] played very well,” Hall said. “He’s a shooter who’s also been up and down this season. [Tuesday night] he was hot.”

St. Bonaventure, whose only previous loss came to Channel Islands, had one run left, cutting it to 46-40 with five minutes to go. The Seraphs could get no closer as Nordhoff made four of five shots and four of five free throws for the rest of the game.

Etienne Emanuel scored 12 points for the Rangers and Dustin Baier had 11.

Nordhoff, which played without starter Ken Christensen, made 21 of 49 shots (43%). But it was the effort Coach Jim Hall was most pleased with.

“We played with a lot of intensity and emotion,” he said. “That’s something we’ve lacked at times.

“We’ve got a good record, but we’ve been very up and down.”

Chris Saunders scored 20 points for St. Bonaventure and David Berglund had 17, but guards Michael Perez and Michael Spargo each scored only six points for the Seraphs, who made 20 of 58 shots.