The Morro Bay Pirates pushed their score all the way to 77 on Thursday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 78-77 to Taft. Despite running the score up even higher than they did on Thursday (60), Morro Bay still had to take the loss.
Despite the defeat, Morro Bay had strong showings from Justin Campbell, who scored 29 points, and Jake Falat, who scored 29 points. The game was Campbell's eighth in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Sands Doughtery, who scored nine points.
Taft's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Blaine Neudorf led the charge by scoring 25 points along with seven rebounds. That makes it ten consecutive games in which Neudorf has scored at least 25% of Taft's points. Ernie Laulu was another key contributor, scoring 19 points along with five rebounds.
Morro Bay's loss dropped their record down to 8-7. As for Taft, the victory was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 8-7.
Morro Bay won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Orcutt Academy at 1:00 p.m. on December 29, 2023. Taft won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Santa Maria at 2:30 p.m. on December 29, 2023. Santa Maria knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past five games -- so hopefully Taft likes a good challenge.
