Buhach Colony boys basketball too physical for Pacheco

Tyrell Jenkins knows his team has some toughening up to do.

The Pacheco High School boys basketball team has struggled in the physical battles this season, on the boards and fighting for loose balls.

The Panthers have gotten away with it against less-aggressive opponents, but there was no hiding that lack of fortitude in the teeth of the Buhach Colony press Tuesday night. Pacheco coughed the ball up early and often and surrendered 29 offensive rebounds. The Thunder never trailed and cruised to a 68-32 victory at the Thunderdome.

“We had a game plan coming in against the press, but obviously, we didn’t execute it well,” Jenkins said. “The credit goes to them for not allowing us to execute it. Buhach has some athletes, and we just weren’t tough enough. We don’t rebound well, and we got exposed there.

“It’s good for us, though, because teams like Livingston and El Capitan are going to press us when we get to league. We need to get used to that.”

Buhach coach John Bliss called the victory the Thunder’s best team game of the season. It’s hard to argue with just 32 points allowed.

Pacheco (4-3) returns only four players to its varsity team, with no proven guards. The Thunder press could sense that hesitation in the opening quarter and swarmed like an angry hive. The turnovers led to easy points, as Jake Walejko scored six of his team-high 14 points in the first quarter to build Buhach (3-5) a 21-5 lead.

“You get a couple turnovers early and everyone’s eyes light up a little bit,” Walejko said. “We could tell they weren’t comfortable against the press, and everyone starts feeding off of it. We were able to use it pretty effectively and build a big lead.”

The Panthers showed a little more poise against the press to open the second quarter and began to knock down some open looks after beating it. Saul Godoy found space down the right wing, driving uncontested to the basket and scoring all six of his points in the second quarter as Pacheco trimmed the deficit to 10 midway through the period.

It was as close as the Panthers got, however. Alex Andrade scored six of his seven points to help Buhach close the half with an 11-1 run and take a 36-16 lead.

The Thunder played even better after intermission, executing its offensive sets with tremendous precision. Ten Buhach players scored in the second half and 12 players total in the game as the Thunder outscored Pacheco 32-16 after the break.

“This might have been our best overall team performance of the season,” Bliss said. “We talked to the kids at halftime about being unselfish in the second half, and I thought they did it. We moved the ball around well and got a lot of open looks because guys were willing to make the extra pass.”

Travis Wilmott scored nine of his team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter for Pacheco despite playing the entire second half with four fouls.

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 10:52 PM with the headline "Buhach Colony boys basketball too physical for Pacheco."