BOYS HOOPS: Wild Night for Marin Catholic

Head coach Mike Saia and the Wildcats are settling in for the long run.

Marin Catholic's boys basketball team dominated the second half Wednesday to rout visiting Healdsburg 70-55 and advance to the North Coast Section Division IV quarterfinals.

The No. 6 Wildcats (19-10) will face No. 3 Cardinal Newman (24-5) on the road Saturday at 7 p.m.

Patrick Conroy scored a game-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Wildcats.

"It's great to play at home," Conroy said. "We played well and we beat this team. I want to go to NorCals. I know it's a rough road and a lot of hard work, but if we keep playing well, we can beat the other teams."

David Ahern added 13 points for Marin Catholic and Dom Strazulo had 12. Mike Padovese powered his way to a 10-point night.

"They had the green light to take the open shot," Saia said.

Peter Nelson paced Healdsburg (11-14) with 18 points, including three 3-pointers.

Healdsburg matched Marin Catholic shot for shot in the first quarter through a 14-14 stretch. The Wildcats took the Greyhounds' sharpshooters out of the game in the second quarter as Marin Catholic started to pull away to end the first half with a 37-28 lead.

"We just kept pressing and they started making turnovers," Saia said.

Marin Catholic solidified the victory with a 16-0 run to close out the third quarter with a 25-point lead. The Wildcats turned up the heat and Healdsburg wilted as the No. 11 Greyhounds just couldn't hang on to the ball.

"They sped us up. I thought we could handle it. I thought we did OK, but then we started turning the ball over," Healdsburg coach Travis Taylor said. "We couldn't get close in the second half."

The Wildcats, who ended the regular season on a 1-3 slide, have now scored 70 or more points in three of their past four games — twice against Terra Linda.

"Cardinal Newman will be tough, but we'll show up Saturday. It's going to be an exciting game," Saia predicted.