Folsom tops Bellarmine Prep, 68-64

Folsom opened the NorCal playoffs with a win on Tuesday night. It wasn't their best played game, but the Bulldogs played well enough to beat Bellarmine Prep, 68-64. The Bulldogs advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday where they will host Franklin at 7 p.m. Just 1:15 into the game with the Bulldogs trailing, 2-0, Folsom coach Mike Wall called a timeout and berated his team. "I don't know what was going on," Wall said. "We just didn't look right; we had a really bad vibe about us. We weren't moving right. We weren't engaged; we weren't with it, so I called a timeout and I was hot. "If you do this long enough, you have a very sensitive sensation about attitudes, vibes, energy, normalcy. It just wasn't right. There's no other way to describe it. I don't know if it was anxiety of the do or die situation or because we hadn't played in a week and a half, but it was a little rough. "We played better after the timeout. We started getting it together and seemed to get more comfortable." As slowly as Folsom's started, a three-pointer from Alec Day at the buzzer at the end of the first quarter gave the Bulldogs a 12-11 lead. Part of Folsom's issue was a poor shooting night, as the Bulldogs only made three three-pointers in the game and they took a lot. "It was one of our worst outside shooting performances of the season, but we did a lot of great things getting to the rim," Wall said. "Everything was around the basket. It was one of our better inside scoring games." Folsom's best quarter was the second when they held a 17-10 scoring advantage to take a 28-20 lead into halftime. Jack Shull scored seven points in the third quarter and Parks Weaver had six to lead the way. Folsom's defense produced a handful of steals in the third quarter, as Folsom opened up a 14-point lead. Bellarmine got as close as six points to the lead in the fourth quarter before a last-second three-pointer made the final score 68-64. "We played good half-court defense," Wall said. "They got some fluff at the end when they couldn't miss a shot in the last two minutes of the game to make it closer than it really was. "It was a good opening game, we won and we're moving on to the final eight." Shull led the Bulldogs with 21 points, while Dulay scored 15. Weaver finished with 14, while Alec Day scored 11. Folsom girls Folsom 60, Chico 49 Folsom High's varsity girls' basketball team also won its first Nor-Cal playoff game, as the 10th-seeded Bulldogs upset the seventh-seed Chico, 60-49. "We're thrilled to get the win against a solid Chico team," Folsom coach Lynn Wolking said. "We hadn't played in almost two weeks so it was great to get back on the court. We played a great third quarter which allowed us to take control of the game." Belle Marshall and Jayden Hill led the team with 21 points, as they combined to score 42 of the team's 60 points. Folsom will next face second-seed Sierra Pacific on Thursday.