Merced’s hot shooting scorches Falcons

Atwater High’s zone was designed to tempt the Merced boys basketball team into taking shots from outside. The problem was that the Bears made them.

Merced knocked down nine 3-pointers, including two big ones in the fourth quarter by Jared Pazin and Brandon Blackwell, as the Bears held on to defeat the Falcons 60-56 on Wednesday night at Clemons Court.

“I’ve watched (Merced) and I don’t think I’ve seen them make shots like that all season,” said Atwater coach Jason Boesch. “We wanted them to shoot threes. They made them tonight.”

The Bears weren’t the only ones. The Falcons added eight treys of their own, but Atwater failed to score in the final 3 minutes and 54 seconds.

The win vaults Merced (14-7, 3-1 Central California Conference) into a three-way tie atop the conference after Golden Valley upset Turlock 55-52.

The shift sets up a showdown on Friday night for the Merced against Golden Valley.

“I told our guys we can win the first round of league if we win at home and we win one road game,” said Merced coach Hector Nava. “We’d be in a good situation if we can do that. So far, we can still accomplish that. Keith Hunter has Golden Valley playing well. They play good defense. It’s going to come down to who can score.”

Scoring wasn’t a problem on Wednesday as the 60 points tied Merced’s second-highest point total of the season.

When the Bears weren’t connecting from long range, they were scoring off Atwater’s 20 turnovers. The Falcons struggled against Merced’s traps in the first half and the miscues turned into easy points.

Ulonzo Gilliam spearheaded the defensive attack and converted on the other end as the sophomore guard scored nine of the Bears’ first 11 points.

“We came out warmed up for this one,” said Gilliam, who scored 17. “We were ready for this game. To win games we know we have to play defense.”

Merced jumped out to a 20-10 lead late in the first quarter, but in what eventually became a theme, Atwater fought back to cut the lead to three by the end of the first quarter.

The Falcons scored the last seven points, with Alex Chavez scoring the final four.

The Bears opened up a 39-28 lead early in the second half, only to watch Atwater respond with an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 41-39 with 3:24 left in the third quarter.

The Falcons’ size gave Merced fits as Chavez (10 points), Devon Sackett (nine points) and Brody Patterson (15 points) gobbled up offensive rebounds and Atwater finally got the ball to its post players.

“In the second half we were able to make adjustments and get the ball inside,” Boesch said. “Alex did a good job. Devon did a good job. Brody got some baskets inside. Our size was our advantage, and we were able to use that.”

The Falcons actually worked their way in front three times early in the fourth quarter, but Merced continued to knock down shots.

Pazin’s third 3-pointer of the game tied the score at 54-54 with 5:21 left. After Patterson gave Atwater the lead, Pazin (11) tied it and Blackwell (13) drained a 3-pointer to give Merced a 59-56 lead with 2:48 left in the game.

The Bears were able to shut Atwater out the rest of the way.

This story was originally published January 21, 2015 at 10:52 PM with the headline "Merced’s hot shooting scorches Falcons."