Starting off the long holiday break with a game on Monday, Dec. 22, Escalon’s varsity basketball boys fell to Mountain House by a 60-43 final.
They had a 13-12 lead after the first quarter but saw the Mustangs go on to outscore them in each of the next three periods to walk off with the win.
“Mountain House is the best team on our schedule. I scheduled them because they resemble teams we could possibly play in the later rounds of playoffs. They are very athletic and have size,” head coach Nate Bartelink said. “Our guys came out and played well, and extremely hard throughout. We were down only eight points on the last possession of the third quarter. Mountain House hit a deep three-pointer at the third quarter buzzer and then we proceeded to turn the ball over on the first three possessions of the fourth quarter, allowing Mountain House to extend their lead to 17.”
In the loss, Conner Jones had 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks; Jake Ferreira had eight points and five assists while Issac Petalio chipped in with seven points. Logan Huebner added six points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals.
“We cut it to 12 points at one point, but couldn’t get any closer. I was proud of the effort we gave,” noted Bartelink. “I thought we went toe-to-toe with the highest rated team, the eighth ranked D1 school in our section, that our program has played in a long time. We just need to play really good basketball for a full four quarters to beat teams of that caliber.”
The team then had a short Christmas break before jumping into the annual Oakdale Rotary Tournament, with the first game on Friday, Dec. 26.
They faced off with Wood in the opening round and lost a 49-44 decision.
“Historically, playing in a game the day after Christmas has not gone well for us. Playing in tournaments, sometimes that is unavoidable however. We typically come out flat and lacking the necessary energy and intensity after being off two to three days for the holidays. That was definitely the case in this game,” Bartelink explained.
Neither team could get much going in the first quarter, with Wood leading just 6-5. They did extend that lead to 19-13 at half and though Escalon was able to hit double digits in each of the third and fourth quarters, it wasn’t enough to overcome their opponent.
“We talked about creating our own energy and “punching first” before the game, but talking about it and doing it are two different things,” the coach noted. “Simply put, we struggled offensively. We didn’t play with the pace we needed to, to generate good shots, and when we had decent shots, we didn’t convert those opportunities.”
Conner Jones turned in the best game for the varsity Cougars, with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Issac Petalio had eight points; Logan Huebner had seven points, four rebounds, and six assists.
Back on the court Saturday, Dec. 27, it was a much more determined varsity squad and they put a win on the books against Tokay in game two of the Rotary tourney. They had to withstand a late flurry by Tokay but had built up a 38-18 lead by half which was enough for the Cougars to take the 62-54 win.
“We had played Tokay earlier in the season and had beaten them in a close game. We knew they had one really talented player we needed to account for. In this game, we came out with a ton of energy, something that was lacking the previous night,” Bartelink said. “We established a comfortable 20-point lead at the half and we thought we’d be able to finish the game in a similar way. Tokay played much more physically in the second half, and we didn’t handle it well, and their best player carried them with 26 points in the second half, 35 overall, but we were still able to maintain a lead and ultimately finish them off.”
Leading the team was Jake Ferreira with 22 points and nine rebounds, including four three-pointers; Conner Jones continued to play well, notching 18 points and 17 rebounds; Ben Ferreira had 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
The varsity stood at 6-7 overall following their most recent games. They were scheduled to close out the Oakdale Rotary Tournament with a 5 p.m. contest Monday, Dec. 29, taking on Johansen in the consolation championship. The game was played after sports press time for The Times.
The JV boys, meanwhile, were slated to take on host Oakdale in Monday’s championship game of the tournament.
Escalon will then have a brief break for the New Year holiday, followed by a game at Johansen on Friday, Jan. 2 and they will conclude the non-league schedule on Saturday, Jan. 3 playing at Riverbank.
Trans-Valley League play begins with a road game at Sonora on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Lady Cougars had a couple of non-league games on their schedule this past week. They were 54-22 winners on Monday, Dec. 22 at Modesto and then put away a visiting River Islands team on Saturday, Dec. 27. That final score was 63-19, with the varsity girls improving their overall record to 10-2. They were scheduled to take part this week in the Central Catholic Tournament and close out preseason on Friday, Jan. 2 at Liberty Ranch. The girls will then open TVL action with a home game, hosting Sonora on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
