Rocklin returns to Arco Arena Thursday against Wood

Rocklin High's boys basketball team will play at Arco Arena Thursday in the Sac-Joaquin Section, Division II semifinals against Wood of Vacaville.Rocklin (27-2) is the top seed in DII while Wood (25-4) is No. 5. This is the fourth consecutive season that the Thunder have reached Arco Arena.The winner of Thursday's game, which starts at 7:30 p.m., will face either No. 2 Fairfield or No. 3 Bella Vista in section finals Saturday. Those two teams will play at Arco Arena following the Rocklin-Wood game. Saturday's DII final will be played at 5 p.m. at Arco Arena. Both the winner and the loser from Saturday's finals will advance to the Northern California tournament.Rocklin beat Fairfield to win the DII title a year ago but Fairfield ended Rocklin's season the following week in the NorCal tourney. Both games went down to the final seconds. Rocklin and Fairfield met in a tournament at De La Salle on Dec. 12 with the Falcons topping the Thunder 70-67. Wood plays in the Monticello Empire League with Fairfield (23-6) and both teams won on their home court in close games this season. Fairfield has won 12 of its last 13 games and its only league loss of the season was to Wood.Wood has won eight consecutive games and hasn't lost since playing at Napa on Jan. 27. The Wildcats advanced to today's game by topping No. 4 Pleasant Grove 53-52 on Friday night. "This is just another game and we have to go out and play hard," said Rocklin 6-foot-10 center Brendan Lane, who will be playing at Arco Arena in the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.The Bella Vista Broncos (25-4), who play in the Capital Athletic League, have won their last 11 games. The Broncos are 4-2 against Sierra Foothill League teams this year – going 3-0 against Granite Bay, 1-1 against Woodcreek and 0-1 against Nevada Union. The loss to Nevada Union, 50-47, didn't count on Bella Vista's official record because it was part of the Common Good Classic. Rocklin advanced to Arco Arena by beating visiting No. 9 Oak Ridge 76-48 in Friday night's second-round game. The Thunder outscored the Trojans 52-25 in the second half.The score was tied 10-10 after one quarter and Rocklin led 24-23 at the half. Lane scored 14 of his game-high 26 points in the second half. He sunk three 3-pointers in the second half. He also threw down a monstrous dunk near the end of the first half to fire up the home fans. "Whenever I have an opportunity to do that (dunk) I know it gets the crowd going," Lane said. "(Lane) is an extremely talented player," Oak Ridge coach Bob Christensen said. "He is going to UCLA next year and we'll be watching him on TV. And tonight we had to box him out." Rocklin junior Cody Kale, 6-3, scored 16 points. He hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter for six of Rocklin's 10 points. "We tried to play half-court too much (offensively) in the first half," Kale said. "In the second half we were getting the rebounds and starting our break. I'm really excited (about playing at Arco Arena); it's the first time for me. I'm going to try to come out and be aggressive." Rocklin senior guard Anthony Romero was cold from the outside during his scoreless first half but he responded by scoring all 13 of his points in the critical third quarter. He hit two 3-pointers and made a one-handed floater in the lane that he turned into a 3-point play. "We all told him at halftime to keep shooting," Kale said. "We know he can get hot and we needed it." "That's why I like to bring (Romero) off the bench," Rocklin coach Steve Taylor said. "He gives us that spark." Taylor tried to keep his team calm at halftime and the Thunder responded by scoring the first 10 points of the second half. Rocklin outscored Oak Ridge 24-9 in the third quarter and 28-16 in the fourth. "We were just missing shots – had good looks and just didn't make shots," said Taylor about the first half. "I reminded the guys at halftime that it's a 32-minute game. When you haven't been challenged in a while and then you are, you want to make sure that you don't panic." Rocklin senior Mads Frandsen, 6-8, scored seven points and helped Rocklin control the boards. He scored on a put-back shot as the first-half buzzer sounded. Thunder starting guards Jackson Cummings and Tony Williams, both dealing with injuries, played but didn't score. Williams sprained his wrist on Feb. 20 and Cummings strained his groin in a playoff victory over Valley on Feb. 25.Rocklin had no trouble with visiting No. 16 Valley (13-15) in the first round of the playoffs, winning 89-45. The Thunder won the fourth quarter 6-5 as a running clock was used. By rule, the 8-minute quarter does not stop unless a timeout is called after one team leads by 40 points or more.Rocklin's lead grew as high as 30 points in the first half and peaked at 46 in the third quarter. The Thunder led 26-11 after one quarter and 53-27 at the half. The Thunder starters went to the bench with 4:15 left in the third quarter and did not return. Taylor managed to give each of his 20 players at least 1:45 of playing time."They all deserve to play because they all work so hard in practice," Taylor said.Taylor said his talented squad doesn't have a problem overlooking teams because of its veteran leadership. "Our experience helps a lot. Brendan, Pat (Stover) and Jackson have all been here before and when you have that leadership it makes it easier," Taylor said. "They won't allow us to have bad practices. Plus we have 11 seniors. I think we are playing better than any (Rocklin) team before because our depth and our ability and our unselfishness. We look so good because we share the ball."Lane played less than half of the game but he still scored a game-high 23 points, had several loud blocked shots and controlled the paint on both sides of the court. He threw down two dunks and made three 3-pointers.Romero, starting in place of Williams (wrist), scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half. Williams came off the bench and scored five points. Romero says there isn't much difference between starting and coming off the bench."It's the same thing. Just shoot if I'm open and look for the team first," said Romero, who says Rocklin plays the same way no matter who the opponent is. "For a lot of teams, maybe (they struggle with taking some opponents lightly), but we have our minds set on one game at a time and not looking too far ahead."