B.J. STANDLEY drives to the basket against El Cerrito.

El Cerrito went on a 43-19 run in the second half and pulled away for a 68-40 victory over the St. Patrick-St. Vincent High boys varsity basketball team Tuesday night in Vallejo.

The victory gave El Cerrito (18-3) sole possession of first place in the Tri-County Athletic League at 7-0. SPSV fell to 5-2 in the TCAL and 17-4 overall. Both of SPSV’s league losses have come against El Cerrito.

“We just didn’t score,” said SPSV head coach Derek Walker. “Getting only 40 points against a team like that isn’t going to get it done.”

SPSV led briefly in the first quarter and trailed by only four at halftime. But El Cerrito’s Tyrell Alcorn buried a couple of quick 3-pointers, Sayeed Pridgett hit a 3-pointer and Devin Davis scored six points as the Gauchos upped their lead to 13 going into the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Tavian Henderson brought the Bruins to within 54-40 with four minutes left, but El Cerrito finished the game with a 14-0 run.

“I thought we competed really well,” Walker said. “We played hard and were able to limit them to 25 points in the first half. We gave ourselves a chance. But all of those athletes kind of wore us down in the second half.”

Henderson picked up his third foul late in the first half and wasn’t much of a factor, finishing with nine points and five rebounds. Henderson, SPSV’s leading scorer this season, had only three points in the second half. B.J. Standley led the Bruins with 10 points.

Pridgett had a game-high 22 points for El Cerrito.

The Bruins host Gateway on Thursday, St. Joe’s on Friday and Benicia on Saturday.

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