Pitman surge pushes Merced playoff hopes to brink in CCC basketball

Some teams thrive on emotion. Some need to play their respective sports with a chip on their shoulders to be effective.

Merced High School’s boys basketball team isn’t one of those.

The Bears have proven time and again this season that when emotions start to run hot, they get out of their game. The latest example came Wednesday night at Clemons Court, as things started to get chippy in the third quarter. Pitman reigned in its emotions better than Merced, closing the quarter with a 6-0 run to take a five-point lead into the fourth.

The Bears never recovered. The Pride hit 8 of 11 shots in the fourth quarter and 10 of 12 free throws to turn a close game into a 71-56 rout. The loss, coupled with Buhach Colony’s upset of Turlock, put Merced’s dwindling playoff hopes on life support with two games to play.

“I’ve always told the boys that it starts with the seniors,” Merced coach Hector Nava said. “If the seniors play well, then the juniors will follow suit, and then the sophomores will follow them. If that doesn’t happen, then the young guys need to step up and fill the void. Neither one happened tonight.

“Giving up 42 points in the second half and letting a team close the third quarter with a 6-0 run isn’t going to cut it when you’re fighting for a playoff spot. Mathematically, we are still alive, so that’s how we’re going to approach it these last two games.”

The teams evenly slugged it out for 22 minutes, exchanging big play for big play.

Jando Diaz (game-high 23 points) and Chris Hanham (11 points) had the hot hands early, combining for 15 first-quarter points as Pitman (13-8, 6-2 Central California Conference) built an 18-13 lead.

Merced (12-12, 3-5) answered in the second quarter with a one-two punch of A.J. Stewart (23 points, eight rebounds, five steals) and Jeremy Redwine. The two totaled 10 points in the second quarter, including Redwine’s buzzer-beating reverse layup that tied the score 29-29.

It remained back and forth with the Bears clinging to a 39-38 lead with just over two minutes left in the third.

Diaz drained a three-pointer at the same time Merced’s Mitchell Cobb was being called for a foul in the post. The basket counted, and the Pride maintained possession, allowing Diaz to follow with a quick jumper for a five-point swing. Christian Cooley tacked on a free throw, and Pitman took a 44-39 lead into the fourth quarter.

The game was still manageable as the Bears were shooting the double bonus for the entire fourth quarter and Jared Pazin suddenly caught fire. The junior scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth to keep hope alive, but Merced couldn’t get defensive stops.

Pitman executed its offense to near perfection in the fourth quarter with eight players finding the score sheet.

“I was very pleased with how we played in the fourth quarter,” Pitman coach Harvey Marable said. “I remember looking up at the scoreboard and seeing we were up 12 and wondering how that had happened, because it was just a five-point game going to the fourth.

“The guys did a nice job regrouping. We were preaching before the game that we needed to control what we could control and let the stuff we couldn’t go. Both teams got upset by the physicality of the game and how it was being called, but we calmed things back down and finished the game.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Pitman surge pushes Merced playoff hopes to brink in CCC basketball."