Turlock boys transition way to win over Merced

The Merced High School boys basketball team is hard to beat in transition.

The Bears rode their quickness and athleticism to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinals a year ago. But if you choose your moments, Hector Nava’s squad has been caught sleeping at times this season.

Turlock seemed to pick all the right moments on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs managed to get two- and three-on-ones a number of times off missed Merced shots or turnovers, including last-second buckets in the first three quarters. The easy points proved to be the difference in a tightly contested 53-45 loss to Turlock.

“I told the kids coming in if we did three things, we’d be coming out with a victory,” Nava said. “We needed to win the interior battle, rebound and take care of the ball.

“We didn’t do that third one well enough in the crucial moments and it cost us the game.”

The Bears (12-7, 1-1 Central California Conference) executed the game plan in the first half.

After getting blown out in Turlock’s home gym a year ago, Merced looked more confident taking the court on Wednesday. Ulonzo Gilliam scored seven of his 11 points in the first half and Jarod Pazin (team-high 12 points) hit two of his four three-pointers as the Bears led 12-10 at the end of one period and trailed just 25-24 at halftime.

“We were pleased with the first half,” said Gilliam, who finished with four steals. “We defended really well and moved the ball around on offense. We minimized our turnovers and basically did everything coach talked about us needing to do.”

The game got away from Merced in the third.

The Bears went cold against Turlock’s 2-3 zone, hitting just 2 of 13 shots in the quarter. To compound things, Merced frequently got caught ball watching as the offense went stagnant.

Turlock’s senior guard duo of Demsen McFaddin (game-high 20 points) and Devan Bains took advantage, either getting out and running the floor or starting the break with long outlet passes.

A couple defensive breakdowns in the final minute of the third quarter allowed Turlock (9-8, 2-0 CCC) to take a 39-31 lead into the fourth.

“I was surprised with the number of times we were able to beat them in transition, but our kids took advantage of their opportunities,” Turlock coach Doug Cornfoot said. “We’re just starting to realize we’ve got some guys that can rebound, and we’re starting to see guys slip out on the break.

“I was also pleased with the patience we showed in our offensive set in that second half. There were three times we ran it all the way through and were able to get baskets at the end of the shot clock. In a close game like that, that was huge.”

Merced scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, but never got any closer than four points the rest of the way. Turlock hit seven of eight free throws in the fourth to seal the win.

This story was originally published January 14, 2015 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Turlock boys transition way to win over Merced."