Folsom handles Dougherty Valley to advance to Nor-Cal finals, 86-61

Playing one of their best games of the postseason, Folsom High's varsity boys' basketball team led Dougherty Valley by nine at halftime and pulled away in the fourth quarter to win going away 86-61. The win advanced the third-seeded Bulldogs to the Division I Nor-Cal championship game on Tuesday, when the Bulldogs host ninth-seeded King's Academy. The Bulldogs will have a chance to advance to the CIF State Championship game on Friday night at Golden 1 Center for the first time since 2014. Folsom controlled this game from the start. After Dougherty Valley opened with a 7-4 lead, Folsom went on a 10-0 run and the Wildcats didn't get closer than six points for the remainder of the game. Folsom led 59-53 after three quarters and outscored the Wildcats 27-8 in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats didn't get their first points of the quarter until 3:56 remained in the game. Coming into the game, Folsom High coach Mike Wall knew that Dougherty Valley was a good three-pointing team, but Folsom played excellent defense and allowed the Wildcats to make only two threes in the first half. They made four in the third quarter and ended the game with only seven. The other big defensive key was to slow Rashod Cotton Jr., the Wildcats best player and top scorer. The Bulldogs held him to three baskets and only 11 points. "The defensive key was the shut down No. 3 (Cotton) and Scotty Nardinelli is a great defensive player and he shut him down and we were all behind him," Folsom senior forward Alec Day said. Wall sang high praise on Nardinelli. "Scotty needs to be playing somewhere in college; somebody's got to say that's the guy who's going to be the difference between winning or losing," Wall said. "A lot of time he is for us. It's always underappreciated, but Scotty just grinds and makes it hard on everybody. A guy who defends like that makes it so much harder to run your offense and function and it's just stressful and when you're under stress for a long time it just wears you out." Folsom's defense played well from start to finish. "We had really good defensive intensity coming into this game," Folsom senior forward Jovan Dulay said. "We knew they had really quick guards so we just stayed in the gaps." Added Wall, "With our pressure defense and playing up tempo, we just wore them out. Parks (Weaver) came alive tonight early and that was a big part in opening everything else up. We passed the ball well and we kept getting inside shots and our offensive execution was good." Weaver hit two three-pointers in the first quarter, while Jack Shull scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the first eight minutes. "When Parks or Jovan get things going early, it really opens everything else up," Wall said. "Tonight it was Parks." Folsom made eight three pointers, three from Nardinelli, which was a big for the Bulldogs because as primarily a defensive whiz and a finisher on the fastbreak, any perimeter shooting from Nardinelli are bonus points for the Bulldogs. "Offensively, we just played how we've played all year," Dulay said. "Being a team, moving the ball. All of our starters were in double digits and that's how we play." Said Day, "We just played as a team. We came in with a good game plan and played as a team the whole time. We got a lot of assists and everyone was hitting shots. We just played great." Following Shull's 18 points, Weaver finished with 17, Nardinelli scored 14, Dulay chipped in 13 and Day finished with 10. The Bulldogs are two wins away from a state championship. "It feels amazing to be this far," Dulay said. "I'm glad to do it with this group of guys. We've put in a lot of time and effort and I feel like we've got a brotherhood here."