Wednesday through Friday, all three teams in the Escalon High School basketball program were busy participating in post-Christmas tournaments.

Escalon was hosting the 11th Annual Escalon Cougar Christmas Classic at the freshmen level in the main EHS gym. The JV and Varsity teams were taking a short drive down Highway 120 to participate in the 52nd Annual Oakdale Rotary Tournament.

The varsity came away with the Consolation Championship at the Oakdale Classic, going 2-1, while the JV and frosh boys each got one win in three games.

VARSITY

It was a tough draw for the varsity Cougars in the Wednesday, Dec. 27 opening round as they lost to Sonora, 67-51. Staying close early, trailing just 32-27 at the half, Escalon saw the Wildcats extend the lead with a 19-10 run in the third.

“Sonora is a good team, one that will make the playoffs. We came out flat and didn’t acknowledge or execute the things that were necessary to give us a better chance of winning the basketball game,” explained head coach Nate Bartelink. “I’m not sure the reason for our lack of energy, if it was coming off the recent short break for Christmas, but Sonora was playing under the same circumstances, and they came out ready to play. They were more physical than us. We didn’t have any intensity on defense until the third quarter when we were down double digits.”

The Cougars were also sloppy on offense, said Bartelink.

“Anytime we’d cut the deficit to four to six points, Sonora would hit a timely three pointer to extend the lead back to seven to nine points. We talked a lot after the game about doing the little things consistently; that the little things are the big things. Hopefully we can learn from this loss and not have a similar experience as TVL play approaches.”

Leading the team was Ryan Lewis with 15 points and seven rebounds; Ethan Garza had 13 points; Logan Huebner had six points, four rebounds and four assists and

Thursday, the varsity got a win as they took down Johansen by a 68-45 decision. They outscored the Vikings in each quarter, keyed by a 23-12 run in the third.

“We played better than we did the previous night against Sonora, but unfortunately it wasn’t for a full four quarters. We were still a bit sloppy with the ball throughout the game, but the defensive effort was better,” Bartelink said. “We had a strong third quarter that created the separation I thought we’d get earlier in the game. Sam, Logan and Ben Ferreira had really good games. They played with great effort and carried us offensively, each with 14 points or more. Jacob Augusto also gave us some good minutes off of the bench.”

Jimenez had 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals; Ferreira scored 17 points and Huebner chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds.

In the Consolation Championship final on Friday afternoon, Dec. 29, Escalon battled host Oakdale and got a hard fought 52-46 victory. Trailing 11-10 after one, Escalon outscored the Mustangs 24-6 in the second for a 34-17 halftime lead. Then they had to hold off a determined Oakdale squad in the second half to get the win.

“We played Oakdale in an early season scrimmage, one that we didn’t perform well in. After a slow start in the first quarter, we dominated the second quarter,” noted Bartelink. “Sam Jimenez was playing through foul trouble the entire game, only playing half of his normal minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter. But guys off the bench stepped up in his absence. Ethan Garza, Logan Huebner, Ryan Lewis, Ryan Murphy and Daniel Gonzalez, and Frank Barrera all played major roles in the strong second quarter that we won 24-6.”

The varsity team, however, made it tougher on themselves than it needed to be, said the coach.

“Though we could’ve put Oakdale away in the third quarter, we backed up a really good second quarter with a poor third quarter, losing the third quarter 15-5. We were sloppy with the basketball in the third and fourth quarters, allowing Oakdale to cut our lead to three points late in the fourth quarter,” Bartelink said. “We made just enough plays to win the game, including a big three pointer by Ethan Garza and other big baskets by Ryan Lewis and Ben Fletcher late in the game. We’ll need to have more consistent play throughout the entire game if we want to avoid losing to the better teams in the Trans-Valley League. A lot of our inconsistent play stems from being careless with the ball. We need to clean up some of our decision making, especially in critical moments of the game.”

Garza had 15 points and seven assists in the game while Lewis had 12 points and six rebounds and Huebner crafted a double-double, with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

“Though we didn’t necessarily play our best basketball over the three days of the tournament, we went 2-1 and took home the Consolation Championship. Any time you can win two games in a three-day tournament, you’ll take it,” Bartelink summarized. “Ethan Garza led our team in scoring over the three days of the tournament and was selected to the All-Tournament Team. Logan Huebner, Ryan Lewis and Sam Jimenez also had strong tournaments.”

The varsity ended the holiday break with a 12-2 record.

JV/FRESHMEN

For the JV Cougars, they also opened up on Dec. 27 against Sonora and lost that game, with Sonora going on to claim the championship at the JV level in the Oakdale tourney. They beat Johansen by a 57-52 final on Thursday and then fell in their final game on Friday to Bret Harte, losing by a 53-42 decision. The JV boys stood at 6-8 after the tournament play.

The youngest Cougars were on the home court and took a satisfying 55-22 decision over Johansen in the opening round on Wednesday. The going got a little tougher after that, the freshmen losing 51-31 to a much taller Kimball squad in a somewhat contentious game on Thursday. They then lost to Heritage on day three of the tournament Friday and so far have compiled a 7-7 record.

“The 11th Annual Escalon Cougar Christmas Classic was once again a success. I’d like to thank all those people that helped in any way, including Coach Steve Largent for all of his time and effort, the parents throughout our program for working at the door and/or in the snack bar,” Bartelink said. “Also, the parents that contributed items for the hospitality room and snack bar, especially Clint and Alicia Elsholz and Dorina Melo, EHS alums Russell Weinbrecht and Derek Fragoso that ran the scoreboard, and the custodial staff for having the gym looking great each day. Hosting a tournament is a lot of work and it could not be done without the generosity of others. I am very appreciative of their support, as always.”

Following three days of tournament play, some of the Cougar hoopsters took a field trip over the weekend.

“Our varsity players and coaching staff, and a few players from our freshman and JV teams had the opportunity to go watch 2023 Escalon High School graduate Jack Anderson suit up for the UC Santa Cruz men’s basketball team on Saturday night on the campus of UC Santa Cruz,” said Bartelink. “It was such a cool experience being able to witness Jack in that environment. I know that growing up Jack had dreams of playing at that level, and knowing how hard he worked along the way to get there is such a great example for other players in our program of what can be accomplished through consistent and intentional hard work. There were a lot of Escalon people in the gym that night. It was awesome to see so much support for Jack.”

The Cougar teams were scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 2 to close out the preseason on the road, at Bradshaw Christian in Sacramento.

Trans-Valley League play for Escalon kicks off on Friday, Jan. 5 at Riverbank with the freshmen at 4 p.m., JV at 5:30 p.m. and varsity at 7 p.m.

“In the TVL, there aren’t many tougher gyms to play in,” Bartelink noted of having to start the league campaign in the Bruin Gym. “The TVL is going to be a battle. There are several teams that can win the league; we’re in the mix. We can’t afford to have any off nights. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”