Basketball Recap: Santa Cruz Falls Short of Priory in the Playoffs

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Santa Cruz can now relate to. They fell 60-48 to the Priory Panthers on Tuesday. The Cardinals' loss signaled the end of their six-game winning streak.

Demarco Hunter

Points

03/11/25 @ Priory	29
03/08/25 vs Lincoln	33
03/06/25 vs St. Patrick-St. Vincent	20
03/04/25 vs Venture Academy	32
03/01/25 vs Aptos	21
+ 13 more games

When it comes to explaining why Santa Cruz lost, don't look at Demarco Hunter. Despite the final result, he posted 29 points. Hunter's evening made it 18 games in a row in which he has scored at least 15 points.

Priory's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Mate Palotai, who earned 19 points. With that strong performance, Palotai is now averaging an impressive 15.1 points per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Jai Gerrodette, who scored 15 points.

Santa Cruz's defeat dropped their record down to 21-12. As for Priory, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 25-6 record this season.

Santa Cruz does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Priory, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, an 83-66 victory against Fresno Christian on the 15th.