Feb 10, 2007 By Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

California finishes unbeaten in Section 2-A CALIFORNIA – California ran through Section 2-A like a prelude and finished it off with a 71-41 win over Geibel Catholic on Senior Night Friday.

In fact, with a 10-0 section slate and a 21-2 record overall, a prelude is precisely how the Trojans approached the section, as a prelude to bigger and better things in the WPIAL playoffs.

“We’re hoping that’s true,” California coach Phil Pergola said. “We’ve been able to do what we wanted to do so far this season. These kids have been playing together since eighth grade and they’ve been playing the same section teams year after year.

“Now, we get to play some other teams. This section never gets any respect. Section 2 is the Tri-County South of basketball. Hopefully, we can prove some people wrong.”

The Trojans have been ranked third in various WPIAL polls and Pergola hopes that will translate into a high seed when the playoff pairings are announced Tuesday night.

“I would hope so,” he said. “But it still comes down to the same thing. You’ve got to play them all. We’ll try to fine tune a few things, but we’re basically ready for the playoffs.”

The same cannot be said of coach Ken Misiak and his (8-11) Gators. After opening section play at 4-0, the Gators dropped five of their last six to finish section play at 5-5, good enough for a playoff berth, but likely one involving a long bus ride or a preliminary round game.

“We’re just not tough enough to play the game the way you need to play it,” Misiak said. “We can’t put five players on the floor to compete with a team like California. They are a nice ball club. They have experience and all of the ingredients a good team needs – height, good ball handlers, good shooters.”

The Trojans put it all together on this cold February evening. The Gators stayed close through the first four minutes, but California jumped to a 14-4 lead with a 10-2 run and extended it to 21-8 at the quarter break.

Geibel Catholic played about even with the Trojans in the second quarter, but Cal still took a 40-26 lead into halftime. The Trojans ended any remaining suspense with a 17-2 run to open the third quarter and finished the quarter with a commanding 63-33 lead.

“We came in here basically without a game plan,” Misiak said. “We just told the kids they’re either going to have enough courage to be aggressive or they’re not.”

Chris McVicker paced California with 17 points, while Waugh Carter added 12. Geibel Catholic’s leading scorer was Rob Orange with eight.