The San Lorenzo boy’s basketball team routed visiting Mt. Diablo 71-47 to win its third straight game Tuesday at Mangin Pavilion.

The Rebels (4-1) forced Mt. Diablo into 10 first quarter turnovers and ended the opening quarter up 20-7 and never looked back.

Rebels star player Ali Faruqbey finished the contest with a game-high 26 points on 11-20 shooting and many times looked like a human highlight reel as he would look like a contortionist in the air as he twisted and turned his body for difficult contested layups.

He was integral to the effort on both ends of the floor as he flirted with a triple-double after pulling down 10 rebounds to go along with his game-high seven steals.

Faruqbey had the two highlights of the game as he demonstrated his athleticism on a tip-dunk which ignited the already rowdy crowd.

“That’s to be expected to who we think is the preseason player of the year,” San Lorenzo head coach Braneon Parks said when discussing Faruqbey.

Point guard Armen Duting helped complement Faruqbey as he posted 20 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists.

The Rebels were the aggressors the entire night as they used their full-court pressure defense to force the Red Devils into numerous mistakes and miscues as they sped up the pace.

San Lorenzo’s offense consisted of uncontested layups at the rim as on many occasions Rebel defenders would create a steal and then throw the ball down court to a teammate in stride as they would lay the ball in the basket.

“Our pressure generated turnovers and it generated easy buckets for us in transition,” Parks said.

The game plan worked to perfection as the Rebel offense shot 51 percent from the field.

The Red Devils (0-4) struggled against the nonstop pressure from San Lorenzo all game as they were never able to find a rhythm offensively.

Junior wing Spencer Clark led the Red Devils with 17 points to go along with his game-high 13 rebounds while being the only player from his team to score in double figures.

Clark was able on many occasions to create offense inside the paint, where he was able to use his 6’4” frame to shoot over the small San Lorenzo guards.

But like his teammates, Clark was unable to consistently get open looks against the pressure as they saw themselves forced into errant passes and traveling violations.

San Lorenzo forced Mt. Diablo into 31 turnovers on the night while only yielding 42 percent shooting.

Mt. Diablo was able to take the first quarter blow and showed life early in the second quarter.

The Red Devils opened the second quarter on a 9-4 run where they saw the lead dwindle to eight points before a timeout was called by coach Parks.

The timeout was successful as the Rebels countered with an 8-0 run of their own and began to blow the game open before going into the half with a 37-20 lead and that early run was the closest Mt. Diablo would ever get.

“We just have to make shots,” Edwards said.” We had a lot of mismatches that we just did not get the ball there.”

Parks was pleased with his team’s performance overall and only expects them to perform like this on a consistent basis.

“When we pressure the basketball we will get turnovers,” Parks explained. “But we had some moments where we were undisciplined and against better opponents that could get us in trouble.”