Garces ends Monache's Cinderella run

Garces 68, 

Monache 56

The Marauders also met their fate in Bakersfield against a tough Garces squad that featured another 6-foot-3 shooting guard phenom — Stephon Carter.

“That was the best player we’ve played against this year,” Monache coach Gary Miller said. “We just didn’t have an answer for him.”

Miller estimated the Division I prospect dropped “about 40 points on us.”

The Marauders stuck with the third-seeded Garces through the first half, going into the break down just 30-27.

Monache’s duo of Jordan Howard and Omar Saleh scored in double digits, but it wasn’t enough against the 20-7 Rams.

The Marauders tried zone the entire game until the last two minutes.

“We were just trying to make things happen at the end,” Miller said. “We were down by 13 in the third quarter and we got down by six early in the fourth, but that was it. We played hard and they played like a team. It was fun to coach them this year.”