Don’t turn out the lights: Merced boys and Atwater girls earn home playoff games

The old gymnasiums at Merced and Atwater High schools will host one more game.

The Bears boys and Falcons girls both learned they will host a playoff game when the Sac-Joaquin Section released the basketball playoff brackets on Thursday afternoon.

The Falcons (19-7) will open the Division II playoffs tonight with a play-in game. Atwater is the No. 16 seed and will host No. 17 Central Valley (11-12) on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Atwater defeated the Hawks convincingly 47-29 on December 6 at Central Valley.

The Falcons are one of four local teams that will open the playoffs on Friday night in play-in games. The games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

The Golden Valley boys are the No. 17 seed in Division II and will open at No. 16 Ceres (15-11). The Cougars (14-13) closed the season strong, winning eight of their final 10 games, including a 69-48 win over Merced on Wednesday night.

“There’s no question we’re playing our best basketball right now,” Golden Valley coach Keith Hunter said. “Hopefully we can keep playing basketball. We need to keep moving the ball and we need to be active on defense. I thought we were very active against Merced on Wednesday night.”

The El Capitan boys will also open the Division III playoffs at home on Friday night as the Gauchos (15-11) host No. 17 Rosemont (17-10). El Capitan lost its final three games of the regular season.

The Delhi boys are the No. 17 seed in Division IV and will open at No. 16 Mountain House (16-11) on Friday night. The Hawks enter the playoffs with a 9-18 record.

It’s a quick turn around for teams that finished on Wednesday, learned which team they were opening the playoffs against on Thursday and then begin the postseason on Friday.

“There’s not a lot of things you can do,” Hunter said. “We have to try to be who we are, do what we do. We want to get up and down the floor, go inside-out and feed the post. Any adjustments that we make we’re going to have to do so during the game.”

Merced (21-6) earned the No. 8 seed in Division II as the Central California Conference champions. The Bears will host No. 9 Rocklin (14-13) on Wednesday.

Merced coach Hector Nava says playing another game in the friendly confines of the Merced gym will be special for his team.

“It means a lot,” said Nava, whose team went 7-1 at home this season. “Especially playing a game in our place. It’s an extra home game. It’s a chance for our guys to play in front of their family and friends. It also brings a closure to our gym because we know we’ll be traveling the next game unless Golden Valley can take care of Whitney after they beat Ceres.”

Nava was breaking down video of Rocklin quickly after learning the Bears would be opening the playoffs against the Thunder.

“I don’t know anything about them,” Nava said. “We just started watching film. They’re warming up right now. They look like they have some size and they look athletic.”

The Hilmar and Mariposa boys also qualified for the playoffs. The Yellowjackets (17-9) are the No. 9 seed in Division IV and will open at No. 8 Dixon (20-7) on Wednesday. Mariposa (20-7) is the defending section champions in Division V and will open the playoffs on Wednesday as the No. 6 seed at No. 3 Argonaut (20-7).

The Los Banos girls are the No. 13 seed in Division III and will travel to No. 4 Manteca on Tuesday. The Buffaloes (16-10) feature McDonalds All-American Loretta Kakala, who is averaging 13.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

The Hilmar girls are the No. 15 seed in Division V and will open at No. 2 Calaveras (20-5) on Tuesday. The Yellowjackets enter the postseason with a 16-9 record.

The Le Grand and Mariposa girls are in the Division V field. The 11th-seeded Bulldogs (9-8) will travel to No. 6 Ripon Christian (12-14). The Grizzlies (24-3) earned a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed and will open against the winner of No. 5 Vacaville Christian and No. 12 Greene Academy on Thursday, Feb. 23.

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Don’t turn out the lights: Merced boys and Atwater girls earn home playoff games."