Stallions capture classic championship over Coyotes
Courtesy of Javier Villar The Madera South Stallions boys basketball team stand with the Madera South Classic first place plaque after defeating rival Madera 44-43 in last week’s championship game. Andre Johnson (11) led the Stallions with 19 points.
The Madera South Stallions held a 10-point lead with about three minutes left in the Madera South Classic championship game against Madera.
Suddenly, the lead decreased to three with about three seconds left and the Stallions allowed a bucket at the buzzer, but came away with a 44-43 victory to capture the championship.
“We turned the ball over on three of four possessions and they made some free throws,” Madera South head coach Jody Sharp said. “David (Lozano, Madera head coach) used his time outs wisely and they switched defensively. Our guards got trapped and they got the ball back. We made some silly fouls and they made their free throws.”
With three seconds left, the Coyotes had a chance to tie the game with the ball out of bounds at their basket.
“I told my kids, ‘Don’t give up the three,’” Sharp said. “We gave up a deuce at the buzzer and won by one. The game was close the whole time.”
Andre Johnson led the Stallions with 19 points while Jayshawn Thomas added 11 points and Julian Galvan had eight.
Kecian Primes led the Coyotes with 12 points, but no other Coyote scored in double-figures.
“We did a really good job on Christian (Aguilar) and he only had four points,” Sharp said. “We were trying to limit his opportunities to catch the basketball. We didn’t do a good job of closing and they did a good job of battling.” Madera South Stallions
The Stallions advanced to the tournament’s championship game after a 42-36 victory over the Sierra Pacific-Hanford Bears.
Madera South bounced back from an early first quarter deficit to take a four-point halftime lead and then closed the game for a six-point victory.
Johnson led the team with 14 points and was the only player on both teams to score in double-figures. Julian Galvan scored seven points and Joel Galvan scored six points with 10 rebounds.
Sierra Pacific jumped out to a 7-1 lead and then led 9-5 with about four minutes left in the first quarter. Neither team scored for the rest of the quarter before Joel Galvan put back a missed shot in the second quarter.
Jayshawn Thomas hit a jumper, Jonbree Neal hit a 3-pointer and Jose Villafan made a driving layup for a 11-0 run and a five-point lead. Johnson extended the run to 14-2 with a 3-pointer.
Sierra Pacific cut the lead to two, but Julian Galvan gave the Stallions a four-point halftime lead with two free throws with 0.1 seconds left.
From there, the Stallions did just enough to keep the lead. Sierra Pacific cut the lead to one, but the Stallion scored the next six points — two buckets from Johnson and one from Neal — for a 31-24 third quarter lead.
Johnson gave the Stallions an eight-point lead, but Sierra Pacific hit a jumper at the third quarter buzzer for a 34-28 Stallions’ lead.
A Joel Galvan putback, a Thomas jumper and a Villafan bucket gave the Stallions a 42-29 lead to put the game away with about four minutes left.
Sierra Pacific scored five straight points to cut the lead to four with less than two minutes left. However, the Bears couldn’t get closer and two Johnson free throws with 7.2 seconds left closed out the game.
In the second game of the tournament, the Stallions cruised to a 70-55 victory over LeGrand.
The Stallions jumped out to a 23-15 first quarter lead and outscored the Bulldogs 19-7 in the fourth quarter.
Xavier Garcia led the Stallions with 18 points and five steals with four 3-pointers. Thomas added 18 points while Julian Galvan scored 13 points with 10 rebounds.
After LeGrand tied the game at 15 with a layup, the Stallions closed out the first quarter with an 8-0 run. Villafan started the run with a 3-point play. Thomas made a layup and Garcia hit a 3-pointer.
The Stallions got a free throw from Joel Galvan, a 3-pointer from Thomas, a short bucket and offensive putback from Julian Galvan for another 8-0 run and a 31-17 lead.
Madera South extended the run to 14-2 after layups from Villafan and Thomas to open a 16-point lead. However, LeGrand closed the first half with an 8-0 run to cut the lead in half.
Madera South was hit with two technical fouls and LeGrand scored seven points on eight free throws to cut lead to two. A 3-pointer tied the game at 39 and another 3-pointer gave the Bulldogs a 44-43 lead. LeGrand hit a jumper for a 3-point lead, but Thomas hit a 3-pointer to tie the score at 46.
LeGrand made a layup, but Garcia hit another 3-pointer for a 49-48 lead. Thomas made two free throws to get the lead to three.
The Stallions extended the run to 19 in the fourth quarter. Garcia and Thomas made layups and 3-pointer with a Thomas free throw to put the game away with a 65-48 lead with about three minutes left in the game.
Madera South opened the tournament with a 15-point victory over Selma.
Elijah Ford led the team with 18 points to go with 13 rebounds. He was the only player in double figures. Neal added nine points and Julian Galvan added eight points with seven rebounds.
The Stallions closed the game outscoring the Bears 12-5 in the fourth quarter for the 58-43 victory. Madera Coyotes
The Coyotes secured a place in the Madera South Classic championship game with its easiest victory of the tournament, defeating Chowchilla 61-46.
The Coyotes had three players score in double figures and were 13-of-16 from the free throw line in the win. Eli Barrios led the Coyotes with 17 points. He also pulled down eight rebounds and hit two 3-pointers.
Zachary Roque scored 13 points and was six-of-six from the free throw line. Alek Trukki added 11 points with 10 rebounds.
In a close battle, the Coyotes took control of the game outscoring Chowchilla 23-11 in the third quarter.
The Coyotes led by three heading out of the break and two after Chowchilla made a free throw 17 seconds into the half.
Roque made a driving bucket and then found Trukki for a jumper and a six-pint lead. After Chowchilla made a layup, Trukki hit a 3-pointer. Chowchilla added another 3-pointer and a free throw, but Roque converted a 3-point play and Barrios hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to nine.
After a Chowchilla short jumper, Roque found Barrios across the court for a 3-poitner. Later, Barrios converted a steal into a layup to get the lead to 12.
The Coyotes put the game away early in the fourth quarter. Aguilar found Trukki for a layup and then hit a 3-pointer for a 15-point lead. Barrios opened the fourth quarter with a layup and Roque made two free throws for a 19-point lead.
Chowchilla made two straight buckets, but Barrios made two free throws and Anthony Lara hit a 3-pointer for a 61-41 lead to put the game away.
In the middle game against Buhach Colony, Aguilar put the Coyotes on his back in a 76-65 victory. He scored 24 points on eight 3-pointers, including 15 in the first quarter.
Primes added 17 points while Barrios scored 14 and Roque had 13.
The Coyotes outscored Buhach 37-23 in the second half and 26-12 in the second quarter. Buhach outscored Madera 20-7 in the second quarter to keep the game close.
Madera opened the tournament with a one-point victory over McLane-Fresno.
Barrios led the Coyotes with 19 points while Primes scored 10 and Aguilar hit three more 3-pointers.
After trailing 9-5 in the first quarter, Primes hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one. Then, Colt Nelson found Barrios for a 3-pointer and Barrios hit another 3-pointer after two bounces off the rim at the buzzer for a 14-9 lead.
In the second quarter, McLane cut the lead to 20-16 before the Coyotes got a driving layup from Barrios and 3-pointers from Primes and Aguilar for a 28-16 halftime lead.
Madera opened a 15-point lead with an Aguilar 3-pointer. However, McLane battled back with a 3-pointer and two free throws. After a Samuel Hass 3-pointer, McLane added another 3-pointer.
Barrios turned a rebound into a layup, but McLane sandwiched two 3-pointer between a Nelson bucket to cut Madera’s lead to 38-30 at the end of the third quarter.
McLane opened the fourth quarter with a pair of 3-pointers for a 9-0 run and cut Madera’s lead to two. Another McLane 3-pointer opened the run to 12-2 and cut the lead to two.
Primes drove for a layup and Barrios made a free throw, but McLane hit another 3-pointer to cut the lead to one.
The Highlanders scored off the inbounds to take their only lead of the quarter.
Barrios answered with a layup and Nelson scored down low after a McLane turnover for a three-point lead.
McLane made two free throws with 57.8 seconds left to cut the lead to one. Madera threw the ball out of bounds with 33.3 seconds left.
However, strong defense by Barrios caused a five-second violation with 20.7 seconds left in the game.
Barrios was immediately fouled when he got the ball and made two free throws for a 49-46 with 16.5 seconds left.
The Coyotes’ defense held tough and gave up a late layup to the Highlanders and held the ball out of bounds for a 49-48 victory.
