MONTE VISTA — There is no love lost between these Southern Peaks League rivals. In the first meeting Sargent picked up a commanding 52-36 win. Sanford earned their revenge by defeating Sargent by a score of 58-55.
These past two months have been good to Sanford (13-5) as they are winners of their last seven. Sargent (11-7) has had similar success picking up wins in 6 of their last 7 games.
One thing was clear, and that was Sanford’s three-point shooting was much improved from their last meeting with the Farmers.
Going 3-for-3 of his three-pointers in the first quarter Jakob Peterson single handedly kept Sanford afloat. Meanwhile Sargent hummed to a 22-14 lead after one quarter thanks to Eddy Gonzalez putting up 10 points. Gonzalez’s would put up 6 more points in the final three quarters to tie for the team lead in scoring with 16 points. Sanford would come on strong in the second quarter opening with 6 unanswered points to bring it within 2. That 2-point divide would separate the two teams to midway through the second quarter.
Sanford’s Thomas Faucette would sink a jumper to even it up a 26 apiece, Peterson followed with another Trey to make it 29-26 in Sanford’s favor. Sanford would take a 37-31 advantage to the break. The third chapter opened with a 5 point run from Sargent to make it a one-point game. Sanford’s deep threat went back to work, Peterson would hit two straight treys to widen the gap once again.
Already trailing Sargent’s situation worsened with the loss of paint presence Kaden Vance, who fouled out on a technical with two minutes remaining in the third quarter. Despite trailing by 8 points and missing a big body in the paint Sargent would not be deterred.
Opening the fourth quarter, a five point run including a timely three-pointer from Pepper brought the Farmers within three. Three minutes later Pepper and Nathan Garcia would tie it up at 52 points apiece.
Turnovers and intentional fouls would assist Sanford in taking and keeping the lead. Peterson scored 21 points in three-pointers 23 in total to lead Sanford.
With the regular season coming to a close the Southern Peak league (SPL) will head to Plachy Hall for their 2A district tournament next week. Regarding the SPL tournament officials state that, “The SPL tournament will take place on ASU’s campus on February 21, 22 and 23.  ASU will also be hosting the RMAC indoor track championships on Friday the 22nd and Saturday the 23rd. Parking will be a limited because of these two events.  Please be aware and plan in advance of next weekend’s events.”