High school notes: Liberty Ranch Hawks soaring in boys basketball

During last spring’s basketball banquet to celebrate a landmark season for Liberty Ranch High School, coach Josh Williams pondered its winning streak.

The Hawks won a school-record 18 consecutive games en route to a program-best 27-6 record that included a Northern California Division IV playoff berth.

“I said then that I didn’t see that winning streak being broken here again,” Williams recalled Sunday. “And here we are. We all look at each other, amazed.”

Despite losing their starting five to graduation and having no player taller than 6-foot-2, the Hawks, ranked ninth by The Sacramento Bee, are soaring at 19-0.

“These guys are very determined, very focused, very coachable, and it’s turned into this,” Williams said. “We’re young and we’re small, but we compete, and we can run the floor, rebound and get after it. The wins add to the confidence. We’re grounded, we’re humble, but we’re enjoying this. We’re thinking, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s get more.’ ”

Senior Isaiah Halsey, Liberty Ranch’s sixth man last season, has become the Hawks’ leader. The 5-10 guard is averaging 23.5 points. Chandler Garcia, a 5-7 guard, is averaging 11.0 points. The rotation also includes Marcus Guerrero, Corey Potthoff, Chris Fielding, Patrick Roberts, Nick Edwards and Jeff Baptista.

“It’s been fun, unbelievable,” Williams said. “It all started this summer. We knew we had a good leader in Isaiah Halsey, and we knew we had good pieces around him. We’ve played bigger teams, teams with guys 6-5, 6-7, but we find a way.”

Liberty Ranch beat the only ranked team it has played, then-No. 20 Foothill 56-47 on Jan. 7. The Hawks also have beaten Division I programs Stagg of Stockton (54-40), Napa (68-63) and Merced (66-19). They host league rival and defending Sierra Valley Conference champion Cordova on Friday.

Friday showdowns – No. 3 Sheldon beat No. 4 Jesuit 74-64 to maintain a share of the Delta League lead with Grant.

The Huskies were led by guard Elishja Duplechan (21 points), forward Matt Manning (20 points) and guard Devin Greene (14 points). Guard Isaiah Brooks had 11 points, six rebounds and 10 assists after recording a triple double (13, 13 and 10) in a 92-73 win at Davis on Wednesday.

In the Sierra Foothill League, No. 2 Folsom beat No. 6 Woodcreek 61-48 behind senior guard Jordan Ford’s 25 points.

McDonald’s accolades – Five area players were nominated for the McDonald’s All-American boys and girls basketball games in March in Chicago, but none was selected from the 755-player pool.

Christian Terrell and Solomon Young of Sacramento High and Ford were nominated for the boys team, and Aliceah Hernandez of Sac High and Danielle Craft of Ponderosa were nominated for the girls team.

The area’s only boys player to appear in the showcase was DeMarcus Nelson of Sheldon in 2004. The only girls were Jenn Hall of Folsom in 2003 and Vicki Baugh of Sac High in 2007.

Football – The Sacramento All-Stars beat Los Angeles 20-10 in the California Classic for seniors in Southern California. Burbank running back Michael Roots was the game’s MVP, Whitney quarterback Joshua Daniels was the offensive MVP, and Del Campo lineman Tito Rocha was the defensive MVP.

Wrestling – Folsom edged Elk Grove 212-210 to win the Tim Brown Memorial Invitational at Memorial Auditorium.

Curtis Booth (132 pounds) was Folsom’s only champion. But the Bulldogs had three second-place finishers: Angelo Martinoni (115), Jason Bergquist (162) and Dylan Crane (197).

Elk Grove’s Jacob Seto won at 115 pounds, and teammate Ryan Elgarico placed second at 108.

This story was originally published January 18, 2016 at 4:34 PM with the headline "High school notes: Liberty Ranch Hawks soaring in boys basketball."