Atwater pulls away in second half for Foundation Game win

ATWATER – Baskets were hard to come by for the Atwater and Livingston High School boys basketball teams in the first half Monday night.

The first two quarters were plagued by whistles and turnovers.

That changed in the second half for the Falcons. Kyle Anaya scored all 13 of his points in the second half as Atwater pulled away for a 53-36 win in a Sac-Joaquin Section Foundation Game at the Nest.

“It was night and day,” Falcons coach Jason Boesch said. “We told our guys to come out aggressive early. We just missed a lot of easy shots. I don’t know what we shot from the free throw line in the first half either (9 for 18), but it wasn’t good.

“In the second half, we were more aggressive and we played better defense.”

The Atwater-Livingston game was one of 152 foundation games taking place around the section at 81 sites. The games help raise money for the section’s Dale Lacky Scholarships. Last year, the section office handed out 51 scholarships that totaled $35,600.

Referees work the games for free.

At Atwater, that gave the referees a four-minute grace period before fans started griping about calls midway through the first quarter. A point of emphasis this season is to get rid of the defensive hand-checking from baseline to baseline, and that helped lead to 46 fouls called between both teams.

Midway through the first quarter, the teams had combined for more fouls (12) than points (nine).

Reggie Ricks and Brody Patterson carried the scoring load for the Falcons in the first half, combining for 19 of Atwater’s 21 points.

More players got involved in the second half.

Anaya made a three-pointer and drove the lane to give Atwater a 28-21 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter. Patterson followed with a three-pointer, and Alex Chavez scored as Atwater opened the second half with a 12-3 run to extend its lead to 33-23.

“That’s important to get more people scoring because that frees us up inside,” said Patterson, who scored 13. “Coaches tell us to slice the pie up and give everyone a piece of the pie. It feels good when everyone is scoring.”

The Wolves never got on track offensively. Anthony Deol scored 13 points and Harman Singh 10.

Livingston hurt itself at the free throw line, making just 7 of 23.

Gustine 47, Hilmar 46 in Gustine – J.D. Laupua had a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds as the Redskins squeaked out a win over Hilmar.

Sebastian Figueroa scored 10 points for Gustine.

Mariposa 66, El Capitan 51 in Mariposa – James Sellers had a team-high 16 points and Jesus Butler 12, but a poor second-half shooting performance cost the Gauchos on the road.

Girls

Golden Valley 76, Lathrop 37 in Merced – Abbee Croninger paced the Cougars with a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds in her debut.

Camille Flores (15), Naomi Peterson (14) and Delia Moore (13) all scored in double figures for Golden Valley.

Livingston 45, Atwater 32 in Atwater – Heaven Mazon scored 12 points as the Falcons struggled to score against the Wolves.

This story was originally published December 1, 2014 at 10:52 PM with the headline "Atwater pulls away in second half for Foundation Game win."