Mariposa NorCal basketball game to be played at Merced College

The Mariposa County High School boys basketball team may have the best home-court advantage in the area.

There’s a reason the Grizzlies have won 30 consecutive home games the past three seasons. The tiny confines of Loyd Hobby Gymnasium can make opposing teams claustrophobic, with the fans right on top of the action and the walls so close to the court.

“If you’ve ever been to a game in Mariposa, it’s about the best home-court advantage on the planet,” Grizzlies coach Bob Jaekle said. “It’s a huge deal to give up home-court advantage for us.”

The gym, however, only holds about 420 people, and the California Interscholastic Federation requires that home sites must be able to seat 600 people for the second round of the Northern California Regional playoffs.

Which is why Mariposa will host its second-round game about 40 miles away Saturday at Merced College. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. The second-seeded Grizzlies (24-4), who have a first-round bye, will host the winner of Tuesday night’s game between No. 7 Stuart Hall of San Francisco and No. 10 Elliot Christian of Lodi.

While the Grizzlies will lose the home-court advantage, it will give more of their fans an opportunity to see the game.

“With the excitement the section championship generated, I think we’ll have the Merced College gym filled to the rafters,” Jaekle said. “The CIF requires us to serve half the tickets for the visiting team, so it would have been unfair to our fans to only allow 210 people to see the game.

“I’ve literally had 90 to 100 people call me to ask when and where our next game is. I don’t know the capacity of the gym at Merced College, but I’m sure our fans will travel.”

The Merced College gym holds 1,600. Tickets can be purchased at the Student Services office at Mariposa High or at the door Saturday. The cost is $9 for general admission and $6 for students with ASB cards and seniors.

Grizzlies fans came out in force for last week’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship game at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. Five school buses of Mariposa fans traveled to the game to easily give the Grizzlies one of the largest crowds of the weekend.

“I’m very happy with the venue we’re playing at,” Jaekle said. “I don’t know if any of our games have ever been played there. Merced College has allowed us to practice there on Friday, and we’re going to take advantage of that.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Mariposa NorCal basketball game to be played at Merced College."