Post play propels Merced boys to road win over Pacheco

Merced has consistently had some of the best guard play in all of Merced County the last few years.

Finding interior scoring to complement his backcourt has proved tricky for Merced coach Hector Nava, however. With Central California Conference play getting underway Friday night, Nava hopes the Bears had a breakthrough against Pacheco on Monday.

The Panthers took advantage of a sluggish start from Merced, racing out to a lead after the first quarter. The Bears turned to their post combo of Jacob Busko and Mitchell Cobb to jump-start the Merced attack. The pair exploited holes in Pacheco’s 2-3 zone defense, combining for 16 first-half points to put the Bears up. Merced led at halftime and never trailed again, pulling away for a 62-39 victory.

“We’ve been getting after our post players for a month and a half, so I felt like tonight has been a long time coming,” Nava said. “Both Busko and Cobb have the ability to score down low, but it’s about confidence. Their teammates looked to get them the ball tonight, and most importantly, they wanted the ball when they got it.”

Whether it was the gloomy January afternoon or long trek to Los Banos, Merced (7-7) didn’t get off the bus with its usual defensive vigor. A lively Pacheco squad took full advantage in the first quarter.

Travis Willmott (team-high 14 points, five assists) distributed the ball effectively and Chris Munoz gave the Bears fits, scoring eight of his 12 points in the opening quarter as the Panthers (6-8) built a 15-11 lead.

“We’ve been working hard on penetrating and being stronger on the ball against other teams’ press,” Panthers coach Tyrell Jenkins said. “I think getting knocked around in the West Tournament helped us realize there’s a lot of talent out there and we need to up our game.

“Things got away from us in the second half, but being able to play with a team like Merced for a couple quarters is very encouraging going into league.”

The hot hand Pacheco displayed out of the gate didn’t last, however, as Jenkins’ squad hit just 2 of 13 shots from the field in the second quarter. That, coupled with Merced committing no turnovers, helped the Bears storm back into the lead. Busko (13 points, seven rebounds) and A.J. Stewart led the way, each scoring six points in the second quarter to put the Bears up 26-21 at the break.

“I think it’s shown in practice,” Busko said of his offensive outburst. “Mitchell and I have worked hard together, and developed a pretty good chemistry. We’ve started to see the results in practice, so it was just a matter of time before we did it in the game.

“We know we’re capable of doing it; it’s all about the confidence.”

Merced’s quickness took over in the second half.

Pacheco, which did a nice job holding on to the ball for most of the opening half, began to wilt under the Bears’ defensive pressure. Nine second-half turnovers and some quick shots allowed Merced to get its transition game going, which equated to a steady dose of Stewart driving to the basket.

The senior scored 17 of his game-high 23 points after the break, helping the Bears pull away.

“We’re still a pretty inexperienced team, and we need to learn to keep hustling for four quarters,” Willmott said. “We had a really nice first half against a good team, but you could tell when we got exhausted in the second half. It happens to all teams; we’ve just got to learn to push through it and get over that hump.”

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Post play propels Merced boys to road win over Pacheco."