Atwater struggles to adjust as referees clamp down in CCC basketball opener

Atwater basketball coach Jason Boesch needed all of nine seconds to surmise what kind of evening he was in for.

Before most of the large Turlock High School crowd had taken its seats, the Falcons were called for a hand-check foul 25 feet from the basket and were whistled for a second infraction five seconds later.

Like children showing off their new Christmas toys, the officials pulled out their whistles early and often Friday night. Before Boesch could blink, the bulk of his starting lineup was in foul trouble. To be fair, Atwater wasn’t singled out on the ticky-tack foul front, but Turlock did a much better job adjusting to the environment.

Doug Cornfoot’s squad attacked the Falcons’ defense from start to finish, forcing the officials to make calls with constant drives to the basket. Atwater could never adjust, committing 22 fouls, accumulating two technicals and a Jesus Garcia ejection.

The Bulldogs never trailed in a 67-53 victory to open Central California Conference play.

“The problem is that you go the first 16 games of the season without the game being called like that, and then tonight they decide they’re going to change it up for the start of league,” Boesch said. “Two of my guys are in foul trouble in the first couple minutes of the game, it kind of throws off your plans.

“But even with all that, we have to do a better job of adjusting to how they called the game. Turlock was the more physical team. They were the more aggressive team. They deserved to win just because of their effort. Whether the score would have been that without the fouls I don’t know.”

Turlock (2-16, 0-1 CCC) served notice to the rest of the league that despite a rough nonconference showing, it plans to be in the title hunt.

Freshly instated transfer guard Oscar Moreno is a big reason for that. In his second game, Moreno poured in 15 points to go with six assists and five steals. He pairs with senior big man Habib Velasquez (game-high 23 points, six rebounds) to give the Bulldogs one of the most formidable one-two punches in the CCC.

“We knew what we had when he came onto campus. We just had to be patient until he was cleared to play,” Cornfoot said of Moreno. “He can do so much with the ball it forces everyone else to be ready when he opens things up. I think Mustafa (Johnson) had three wide-open layups just because of his ability to penetrate and find the open guy.”

Velasquez and Ricky Heidelbach (12 points) had the hot hands early, combining for 19 first-half points to send Turlock into the break with a 29-20 lead. With Nate Gilmore (four fouls), Kyle Anaya (three), Isaiah Hill (three) and Juan Walle (two) in foul trouble in the first half, Garcia hit three three-pointers, providing nine of his 11 points in the first half to keep the Falcons within striking distance.

It wouldn’t matter, however.

Two three-pointers by Reggie Ricks (team-high 14 points) pulled Atwater (8-9) within five in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs always had an answer. Cornfoot’s squad closed the third with a big run to push its lead to 17.

“It’s tough when so many people are in foul trouble right away to not have it affect you,” said Anaya, who finished with 10 points after sitting most of the first half. “But we let them push us around. Coach said from the beginning of the game that rebounds were the key, and we just weren’t physical enough against them.”

Pitman 74, Golden Valley 37 in Turlock – Collin Hayes’ team-high 14 points weren’t nearly enough as the Cougars (0-1 CCC) got rolled on the road. Jando Diaz scored a game-high 28 points for the Pride (1-0 CCC).

El Capitan 66, Livingston 49 in Merced – Jarod Latona scored a game-high 19 points, Isaiah Knott 14, James Sellers 12 and Marcellus Jones 11 as the Gauchos (11-5) improved to 2-0 in the WAC.

Simranjit Singh led the Wolves (0-2 WAC) with 13 points.

Girls basketball

Golden Valley 63, Enochs 32 in Modesto – Kat Tern made five three-pointers and scored 17 points as the Cougars (13-4) defeated the Eagles in the CCC-MMC Challenge on Saturday at Beyer High. Naomi Peterson had 10 points, three assists and three steals for Golden Valley.

Merced 65, Gregori 36 in Modesto – Lexi Thompson scored 24 points and Raelynn Blackwell had 18 points as the Bears (13-4) routed the Jaguars in the CCC-MMC Challenge.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Atwater struggles to adjust as referees clamp down in CCC basketball opener."