YC tames Tigers

Yuba City High senior Romy Bains saved his best performance all season for an appropriate night.

He scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half, teammate Tyler Fry led all scorers with 24 and the Honkers' boys basketball team ran past Inderkum, 78-65, on senior night at home Wednesday.

With the win, Yuba City keeps pace with Natomas atop the Tri-County Conference standings, each with one game to play. The Honkers (18-8, 11-3) close out the regular season at River Valley on Friday.

"Romy did a great job tonight," said Yuba City coach Brad McIntire. "I thought he took smart shots. This has definitely been his best game all year."

Bains and Fry combined for 30 of Yuba City's final 45 second-half points.

And amazingly enough, Fry came into the game feeling under the weather.

"We've been struggling with the flu," McIntire said. "Fry, along with (Jordan) Wilkinson and (Hayden) Keeley have all had it. We were without Keeley tonight."

Fortunately for the Honkers, being short-handed didn't affect the win column.

Neither did their slow start.

Trailing by 15-5 with just two minutes left in the first quarter, the Honkers kicked into gear and closed the opening period on a 6-0 run.

Mundeep Purewal scored eight of Yuba City's first 10 points in the second quarter and like a train, the Honkers were too difficult to slow once they got rolling.

A five-minute dry spell combined with a pair of 3-pointers from Fry and Bains lifted Yuba City to a 33-26 lead at halftime.

Purewal finished with 16 points, while Brock Della-Rocco added six points and nine team-leading rebounds. Fry also chipped in five rebounds, six assists and four steals.

While Inderkum played with more intensity to open the second half and closed the gap to just two points at the 5:30 mark, Bains and Fry were just heating up.

Bains scored 12 points in the third quarter, including back-to-back treys, while Kevin Noall came off the bench to add the spark to a team that was about to catch fire.

Noall scored eight, pulled down five rebounds, dished four assists and corralled two steals, while teammate Ram Singh added three big blocks in the game.

However, Inderkum was never far off the Honkers' lead thanks to big man Julian Scott.

Scott was a monster in the post, leading the Tigers with 21 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks.

In fact, the Tigers cut the lead to just one point near the end of the third quarter, but a series of turnovers, combined with the Honkers sinking their free throws, led to an eventual meltdown by the Tigers.

Inderkum committed 24 turnovers in the game and three crucial turnovers in the final minute, killing any chance of a comeback.

Meanwhile, after four turnovers early in the first quarter, Yuba City committed just six more for the rest of the game.

"We played hard," said Inderkum coach Eric Fong. "But we didn't do our part tonight."

Ryan Bast added 14 points for the Tigers (7-7, 15-11), while teammate Tyler Monroe chipped in nine points and nine rebounds.

This story is a corrected version of what appeared in print.