PORTOLA VALLEY >> Basketball is a team sport. Santa Cruz High has a superstar in DeMarco Hunter, but his supporting cast struggled mightily when the Cardinals needed them most Tuesday night.

Hunter, a 6-foot-6 junior forward, continued his season-long assault with another double-double, 29 points and 15 rebounds, but the No. 3 seed Cardinals came out flat in their deflating, 60-48 loss to No. 1 Woodside Priory in the CIF Division IV NorCal Regional championship.

The Cardinals were sloppy at both ends of the court, and in transition too, as they had trouble dealing with the Panthers’ full-court press. Their typically reliable press and suffocating man defense wasn’t its usual self, and they didn’t shoot the ball well.

“I’m upset, but you’ve got to look at our overall game,” Cardinals coach Lawan Milhouse said, “Between our three guards, we had like two points and 16 turnovers against a team that really didn’t pressure us. With that, we kinda threw the game away.

“DeMarco’s good; he can’t do it by himself. And tonight, I felt like he was doing it by himself. The game before, he was the only person that scored in the first half. And we come to this game and I think that’s going to change and it really doesn’t.”

While Santa Cruz’s season came to a bitter end, the Panthers extended their’s by one historic game.

Priory (25-6) will face Fresno Christian (30-6) for the state title at Golden 1 Center, home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, on Saturday at noon.

The top-seeded Eagles slipped past No. 7 Granada Hills Charter 50-49 to claim the SoCal title on Tuesday.

It’s the Panthers’ first time in a state final. They lost in the D-V NorCal final to Stuart Hall in 2022.“I’m very excited to be champion,” said David Moseley, who is in his 17th season as the Panthers’ coach. “These boys played their hearts out; underdogs all the way. I know we’re the one seed, but we’re a small school and everybody kinda took us for granted. They came into our house, disrespecting us a lot. It is a shoebox, but it gets hot.”

Santa Cruz was attempting to become the first team from Santa Cruz County to advance to a state championship games in consecutive years. As much as the outcome stung for the Cardinals, they held their heads high after their improbable surge in the second half of the season.

After starting the season 5-8 against a brutally difficult nonleague slate, the Cardinals regrouped for a second-place finish in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League behind champion Aptos (25-6). The Cardinals lost both regular-season meetings against the rival Mariners, and again in the SCCAL Tournament final, but each meeting was decided by four points or less, which gave the Cardinals the belief that they could compete on a larger scale.

Once the playoffs began, they proved it. They won three straight games to win the program’s first Central Coast Section title in 10 years, and did so by finally getting past Aptos, 47-44, in the D-III final. They advanced to NorCal and rattled off another three wins to earn a date with Priory.

“No one thought we’d get here,” Hunter said. “It was a hell of a run. I’m just proud that we were able to get here.”

Santa Cruz became the first team in school history to advance to consecutive NorCal finals with its 55-52 win over No. 15 Lincoln of San Francisco on Saturday night. And the second team in county history to accomplish the feat.

Priory watched plenty of film on Santa Cruz, and formulated a plan of attack to defend its top seed on its tiny, and loud, home gymnasium.

“People don’t realize the pace at which we play.” Moseley said. “It’s what can really grind people down at the end. Even though people score, it’s hard to keep up for the full game, because we’re not gonna stop.”

Moseley said he wanted Hunter to take a lot of shots, but not from beyond the arc. The Panthers also wanted to prevent senior guard Mosiah Cumberbatch from driving to his right to the basket, and wanted to minimize sophomore guard L.J. Legan’s looks from long range.

Santa Cruz drew fouls early, sending a pair of starters to the bench with two fouls, but the Panthers subbed and kept up with their frenzied pace.

Priory, led by Mate Palotai, a 6-8, 228-pound junior forward, and senior guard Balazs Nyikos, outscored the Cardinals 22-13 in the second quarter and carried 33-21 lead into the half. Nyikos and Jai Gerrodette hit 3s on back-to-back possessions before halftime.

Priory shined on the offensive glass in the third quarter, and Cardinals didn’t make up any ground. Hunter scored six points late in the stanza, but Santa Cruz trailed by 12, 44-32, entering the fourth.

Cardinals junior forward Keyondre Randolph heated up in the fourth and senior guard Seth Jin set up a pair of baskets, but the teams continued to trade points. Gerrodette hit another big 3 to put the Panthers ahead 54-41 and the final three minutes proved a mere formality.

Milhouse said he was going to give his team positive and negative feedback in the locker room.

Before departing to speak with his kids, he said, “Great season. An unexpected, great season.”

Palotai, a member of Hungary’s Junior National Team in 2024, scored a team-high 19 points for Priory. Gerrodette finished with 15 points, and Nyikos, a member of Hungary’s Junior National Team in 2023, scored nine points. Teddy Xanthopoulos, a 6-6 sophomore forward, chipped in with seven points.

“This is really special for our school and really special for me,” said Nyikos, a second-year Mustang. “I’m a senior and this is my last year. Last year we didn’t make the playoffs, and this year, we’re making something special. I’m really proud of my team.”

Santa Cruz finished with just four scorers. Randolph scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, sophomore forward Kaden Mirtz scored four points, and Legan scored two points.

It was the final game for a pair of senior starters, Cumberbatch and forward Guerande Houssin, a transfer from Harbor who gained eligibility midseason to help spark the Cardinals’ second-half surge.

“I didn’t have the season I expected, but I tried to show up for my team and we came up short. It happens,” Houssin said.