Merced finishes strong this time to close out El Capitan for first CCC basketball win
After allowing a fourth-quarter lead slip away in its last game against Golden Valley, the Merced High School boys basketball team found itself in a similar situation on Friday night.
The Bears entered the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead with an opportunity to close out a victory against El Capitan.
This time Merced didn’t just hold on, the Bears extended their lead and finished off a 59-41 victory over the Gauchos on Vince Clemons Court.
“We didn’t want to feel that same feeling again,” said Merced senior guard Adrian Cervantes, who tied for the team-high with 11 points. “That Golden Valley game hurt. It hurt because we lost it. We gave it to them. Tonight we kept going, we kept pushing.”
The Bears (1-1 Central California Conference, 9-9 overall) seized control of the game early in the fourth quarter.
The key sequence came with sophomore Keaton Hillyer draining a 3-point from the corner to give Merced a 48-35 lead with 6 minutes and 40 seconds left on the clock.
Cervantes then came up with a steal and turned the errant pass into a layup on the other end to give the Bears a 50-35 lead with 6:24 left, forcing El Capitan to call a timeout and bring the Merced crowd to its feet.
“With (El Capitan’s) style of play a 10-point lead can go quickly,” said Merced coach Adrian Sanchez. “We’re able to hit a shot and then make a play on defense and score in transition. That was big because it gave us a little breathing room.”
Donovan Marshall helped the Bears close it out the rest of way as the senior guard scored seven of his 11 points in the final 4:42 of the game.
Sanchez said the focus after Wednesday’s loss was to cut down the mental mistakes. The team spent a lot of time watching video and that was the focus in practice.
With a roster littered with guards and no players having to duck under doorways when they enter the gym, Sanchez says his team has to focus on the fundamentals to be successful this season.
“We have to learn how to play defense and lean on that because we don’t know what we’re going to have offensively each night,” Sanchez said. “Being small we have to rely on the fundamentals of basketball. We have to box out and play smart because we’re not the biggest, fastest or strongest team.”
It was the first CCC game for El Capitan, which dropped to 8-8 overall.
Junior Braylen Centeno led the Gauchos with 13 points.
Both teams are back in action on Monday with the Gauchos hosting Buhach Colony and Merced traveling to Central Valley.
Atwater 44, Patterson 40 — The Falcons improved to 2-0 in the CCC and 8-8 overall with a big win over the Tigers at home.
The Falcons will travel to Golden Valley on Monday in a key CCC game.
Golden Valley 68, Buhach Colony 41 — Zay Goode, Joey Spielman and David Denson all scored 12 point to lead the Cougars past the Thunder.
Spielman scored all 12 of his points in a third quarter that saw GV outscored Buhach Colony 22-11 to open up a 55-33 lead.
Jaiden Sahota led Buhach Colony (0-2 CCC, 8-9 overall) with 14 points.
Golden Valley improved to 2-0 in the CCC and 13-5 overall.
