Two wins and one loss were featured this week for the Escalon varsity boys basketball team. It was a week away from home as well, with all three contests on the road – at Summerville on Tuesday. Dec. 12, Ceres on Dec. 14 and at Liberty Ranch on Dec. 15.
They opened it up with a 67-40 win at Summerville, with a big 16-4 first quarter leading the way to stake the Cougars to a 33-13 lead at the half.
“While the scoreboard showed we won by 27 points, the win wasn’t completely satisfying,” admitted head coach Nate Bartelink. “As a coaching staff, we felt the players were a little flat and lacked an edge. That seemed to lead to a lack of focus at times. We weren’t as aggressive as we should have been on offense, settling for too many three point shot attempts, when higher percentage shots were likely available.”
Ethan Garza paced the team with a 27-point night; Sam Jimenez had 17 points and seven steals; Ben Fletcher chipped in with eight points.
“The 27-point margin would be something other teams may celebrate; this shows our level of expectation for this group,” added Bartelink. “We talked about striving to be the best versions at all times, regardless of the opponent. On a positive note, we did take care of the ball though, with a season low 10 turnovers.”
Thursday, at Ceres, the varsity found themselves with a lopsided 82-42 victory, putting in more than 20 points in each of the first three quarters.
“We jumped on Ceres early and never looked back. We turned them over often (29 turnovers) and scored 44 points off of those turnovers and converted numerous easy, wide-open lay-ups,” said Bartelink. “We scored 55 points in the first half, leading 55-22, and played with a running clock for the entire fourth quarter, the third time so far this season. We shot a really high percentage from the field, and the players shared the ball really well.”
Garza and Jimenez were in attack mode and were really efficient shooting the ball, added the coach. They sat out much of the second half; both could have easily scored 30-plus points each.
“We played with a lot of great energy for the entire game. One possession, early in the third quarter, with a 33-point lead, epitomized our level of intensity and effort, when four players got on the floor in an attempt to get a loose ball on the same possession. That kind of effort with such a large lead is impressive and says a lot of positive things about the competitors that we have on the team,” noted the coach.
The squad got great minutes from Ryan Lewis, who was very active on defense, getting deflections and steals, which ignited the fast break. Logan Huebner was also flying around, making plays. Ryan Murphy played some good minutes.
“Every one of our 15 players on the roster got in the game, which is not easy to do. I was proud of how we played after a somewhat lackluster performance two nights before at Summerville,” Bartelink said.
Garza had 27 points on 10-for-14 shooting, with five steals and four assists; Jimenez had 24 points on 10-for-12 shooing, five rebounds and five assists. Huebner had nine points and four steals and Ben Ferreira had six points.
Friday, Dec. 15 at Liberty Ranch, the varsity team fell just short, losing 58-54.
“The game started out great; we led 12-0 and 17-4. But as the game progressed, we were doing a lot of things poorly, and weren’t catching any breaks,” admitted Bartelink. “We were missing a lot of makeable shots and were carelessly turning the ball over at critical moments with 23 turnovers in the game; eight turnovers in the fourth quarter.”
The Cougars were unable to turn Liberty Ranch over like they have their previous opponents, which fuels their transition offense.
“We only had seven transition points and 10 points off of turnovers, when we are usually well over double those numbers,” the coach said. “Some of our key players got in foul trouble, including Ethan Garza and Ben Fletcher, who both had to come out of the game early in the third quarter after both picking up their fourth fouls, and not return until mid-fourth quarter, losing their rhythm.”
And while the Cougars can often find answers on the bench, Bartelink said in this game, that just didn’t happen as it has consistently through the early preseason play.
“We held a double-digit lead at that point when Ethan and Ben went to the bench, but Liberty Ranch continued to chip away at the lead. We held a four-point lead to start the fourth quarter, but proceeded to turn the ball over eight times in the final quarter and only get off five shot attempts; by far our worst quarter of the season,” he said.
The foul trouble allowed Liberty Ranch to shoot too many free throws, and to their credit, said Bartelink, they made most of them.
Jimenez had 21 points and nine rebounds; Garza had 12 points on the night. Huebner added six points and nine rebounds while Fletcher and Lewis each put in six points.
The varsity ended the week with a 7-1 overall record, taking their first loss of the campaign against Liberty Ranch.
“Unfortunately, our seven-game win streak to start the season came to an end. We did not play well and did not deserve to win. Hopefully we will turn this into an early season lesson and be better for experiencing it,” the coach summarized. “We aren’t sneaking up on any opponents anymore. It’s a credit to the early success this group has had. But we haven’t accomplished anything. We’re going to have to perform better for four quarters, against tougher competition, while having a target on our backs. I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond. I think this team is up to the challenge, but only time will tell.”
JV/Freshmen
The JV boys fought hard but took a 57-53 loss at Summerville on Tuesday and fell to Ceres by a 58-50 final on Thursday, Dec. 14. They did put a win on the books Friday, getting the best of Liberty Ranch, 55-48.
For the freshmen, they kicked off their busy week on the road with a 50-42 loss against Summerville. They bounced back with a winning effort, 46-32, at Ceres on Dec. 14 and then closed out the week with a 45-42 overtime loss to Liberty Ranch.
The JV is now 3-5 on the season with the freshmen at 4-4.
Games this week for the squads were to include a trio of home contests starting on Tuesday, Dec. 19 hosting Central Valley High School of Ceres; hosting Argonaut on Dec. 20 and Calaveras on Dec. 22.
The frosh boys will then play Dec. 27 through 29 in the Escalon Cougar Christmas Classic, while the JV and Varsity boys will take part in the Oakdale Rotary Tournament during the same three-day period.
