Prep Boys Basketball: No. 6 Titans upset No. 3 Cathedral Catholic

The Cathedral Catholic High boys basketball team played a zone for most of Friday night’s San Diego Section Division I quarterfinal game. And Poway made them pay.

The No. 6 Titans caught fire from beyond the arc, knocking down 13 treys on the way to eliminating the No. 3 Dons 67-64 before a rowdy crowd at Cathedral Catholic High School.

The win puts Poway into Tuesday’s semifinal at No. 2 Escondido at 7 p.m. The Titans have a shot to reach their first section championship game since 1993.

“We are really excited,” said Poway senior Matt Beeler, who finished with six points. “We felt like we got jipped last year so we wanted to come back this year and win it.”

Poway lost a heartbreaker to Morse in the quarterfinals last season, but came out on the right end of what was a see-saw battle most of the way Friday night. The Titans did not pull away until they went on an 8-0 run to end the third quarter with a 55-47 lead.

Cathedral Catholic got as close as four with 5:21 to go, but the Titans went on an 8-2 run over the next four minutes to put the game out of reach. Dalton Soffer led the aerial attack, hitting six 3-pointers and finishing with a game-high 26 points.

“I was a little surprised they played as much zone as they did,” said the Seton Hall-bound guard. “I love when teams play that kind of zone against us.”

He wasn’t the only one.

Gerrit Grissen hit four 3-pointers, three in the first quarter, Derek Sit added two treys and Joe Murray hit one for the Titans. Grissen finished with 16 points and Sit chipped in with eight.

“We came out and shot the lights out,” Beeler said. “They played a lot of zone and we were able to spread the floor and get some good looks.”