Men's Basketball

De’laCerda Leads Spirit to Win in Cactus Classic Opener

CHANDLER, Ariz. – Josiah De'laCerda scored a season-high 31 points as the OUAZ men's basketball team defeated Rocky Mountain 91-78 in their Cactus Classic opener on Friday afternoon.

De'laCerda finished two shy of his career-best scoring effort with the 20th 30-point scoring effort in program history. He made 11 of 15 shots – including four of five attempts from three – while also tying for the team lead with eight rebounds.

OUAZ (8-4) shot 52.9 percent from the field with 58 points in the paint. They added seven makes from beyond the arc while totaling 13 assists with a season-low eight turnovers. Defensively, the Spirit held Rocky Mountain (6-4) to 44.6 percent shooting and scored 12 points from 14 Battlin' Bears' turnovers.

The Spirit also got 18 points from Alex Villi and 15 from Keshawn Bruner in the win. Bruner also had eight rebounds and four assists, while Villi added three steals. Devin Collins had 10 points.

OUAZ never trailed after using a 24-10 run early in the first half. The lead remained in double figures the rest of the game. Rocky trimmed the deficit to 58-44 with 14:43 to play when the Spirit scored 13 of the game's next 17 points to extend to their largest lead of the game at 71-48 with 10:21 remaining.

Kace Kitchel scored 17 points off the bench to lead the Battlin' Bears.

The Spirit will play the second of three games at the Cactus Classic on Saturday when they face No. 24 Carroll at 6 p.m.