Where the Whitney High School boys basketball team had to fight to reach the championship game of their annual Holiday Classic tournament; Del Oro had a pretty easy time of it and the trend continued Saturday.

Before a near-capacity crowd, the Golden Eagles continued to soar, as they cruised to a 54-34 victory over the Wildcats in the tournament finale.

Whitney couldn’t get anything started throughout the game. The ‘Cats were plagued early on with turnovers that Del Oro took advantage of to jump out to a 13-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Whitney came out energized in the second quarter and appeared they would make game of it. Cameron Ripple scored five of his 11 points on the night, as the Wildcats went on a 5-1 run to pull within seven of the Eagles, 14-7, just a minute and a half into the quarter.

Momentum began swinging in Whitney’s favor, before fouls became an issue. Del Oro stepped to the free-throw line to knock down 8-of-10 charity tosses and extinguish the ‘Cats’ early comeback.

The half ended with the Eagles up 29-13.

In the previous two games, the Wildcats went into halftime with deficits against North Valleys and Natomas before turning things around in the second half.

But Del Oro’s 16-point lead proved too much for Whitney, as momentum remained on the Eagles’ side for the reminder of the game. The Eagles again held the Wildcats to fewer than 10 points in the third period and ended Whitney’s second- half magic used in the first two contests.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” said Whitney head coach Nick French, “We have a lot to improve on; coming to play every day, guys doing their jobs and so on.”

Whitney finished second in the tournament. Natomas defeated Center for third place and Argonaut took the consolation bracket with a victory over Vallejo. North Valley’s finished seventh with a win over Buhach Colony.

Whitney is scheduled to play in the Rocklin Holiday Classic beginning Thursday.

Game 2 – After making a comeback in their first game, Whitney had to go up against an overly determined Natomas club.

In spite of some rough play, the ‘Cats defeated Natomas 71-68 Friday to advance to the championship game.

Coming off a slow first half, Whitney stayed within one of the Nighthawks. The play was aggressive and physical, and at the 4:49 mark of the third quarter, the game reached a breaking point.

A technical foul was called on the Natomas coach and, shortly thereafter, a Nighthawks’player was ejected for throwing a punch. The ensuing free throws helped give the Wildcats a 44-43 lead.

After the Wildcats’ Daniel Jones hit a 3-pointer, the ‘Hawks came back and tied the score with a buzzer-beater to end the third quarter.

As time ran down in the final period, Ripple gave Whitney a five-point lead on free throws and Natomas was again hit with a technical foul after knocking James Kling out of the game. Josh Jackson came in cold off the bench to hit the free throws and seal the victory for Whitney.

“I’m proud of how our team responded, as we searched for our identity,” said head coach Nick French, “This is first time that we found that. We played hard, played smart and we adapted to the game.”

Game 1 – Whitney opened the tournament with a 63-53 win over North Valleys.

The Wildcats were down 31-26 at halftime, plagued by turnovers, miscues and poor shooting. “We’re trying to break out of the old Whitney way, to play to win the game instead of to get into a game,” said Wildcats head coach Nick French. “We just didn’t play hard in the first half.”

But the ‘Cats came out in the second half with a 13-0 run and took a 39-31 lead.

The Wildcats’ defense pinned the Panthers to a four-point third quarter.

“Coach told us to step up; that I needed to step up and to be a leader for us,” said Ripple.

Ripple scored nine in the third period and was a key to Whitney’s success in the final half.

The Panthers came back to capitalize on two Whitney turnovers, but they were unable to get any closer.

With 45 seconds left and Whitney up 59-51, North Valleys was forced to foul and the ‘Cats connected on crucial free throws to keep the Panthers at bay.