ATWATER -- Roger Klauser has learned what happens if he's not paying attention when Buhach Colony teammates Tyler Trammel or Joe Marquez are driving in the lane.
"I think it was in a game last year," Klauser remembers. "I didn't see a pass and it hit me right in the nose. It started bleeding."
Klauser doesn't take his eyes off the ball now.
The Thunder senior found himself in the right spot often Friday night as he scored 18 points to help lead Buhach Colony to a 67-48 win over Turlock at the Thunder Dome.
"Roger played really well," said Thunder coach John Bliss, whose team won its fifth straight game to improve to 5-1 in the Central California Conference and 13-5 overall. "That was probably his biggest game this year. He deserves it. He's always working hard and doing the dirty things under the basket. His effort and leadership is always there."
The win was the first over Turlock (3-3, 8-10) in school history, snapping a 12-game losing streak.
"That's big for us," Klauser said. "Our coaches have been on us hard all week at practice."
Buhach Colony also finds itself all alone atop the CCC standings after Merced upset Pitman 46-41 on Friday night.
Klauser also added seven rebounds and spent the bulk of his time on defense chasing Turlock's top scorer Alek Carlson around. Klauser helped limit the Bulldogs' star to 14 points.
Klauser had plenty of help on the offensive end. Joe Marquez helped put the game away in the second half, scoring 14 of his game-high 20 points.
Dashawn Holcombe was the only Turlock player with enough quickness to have any hope of keeping Trammel and Marquez from driving to the basket, but Holcombe was in foul trouble for most of the game. Any other Bulldogs player on Trammel was just a mismatch as the Thunder point guard scored six points, but found teammates for open looks throughout the game.
Drew Mark only scored three points, but pulled down nine rebounds and players like Tyler Dew and Enrique Covarrubias made an impact for BC at the defensive end.
"I thought this was the first time we played all four quarters in a game well," Bliss said. "I thought we controlled the game throughout. It might not have showed it on the scoreboard, but our personality showed."
The Bulldogs stayed within contact until Buhach Colony pulled away in the fourth quarter. Marquez scored eight points to help spark the Thunder's 17-3 run to close the game.
Buhach Colony will travel to Golden Valley (4-2 CCC) on Monday for a key CCC contest.
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