Stallions’ basketball loses to NYL leader
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera South’s Isaiah Ford drives the lane to score two of his team-high 25 points in Friday’s loss to the Sunnyside Wildcats. Ford also pulled down 11 rebounds.
The Madera South Stallions boys basketball team showed some resolve during its battle with the Sunnyside-Fresno Wildcats.
The North Yosemite League-leading Wildcats only outscored the Stallions 37-36 in the second and third quarters Friday night.
However, the Wildcats outscored the Stallions 41-18 in the first and fourth quarters for a 78-54 victory.
“They played hard,” Edmiston said of his team of eight. “That’s a big thing for our program. That’s a huge mentality shift that I’m proud of. We got a little tired at the end. That’s going to be our story, unfortunately. With the style we play, we play so hard that it beats them up.”
Isaiah Ford had a monster game with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Daniel Valdez added 14 points to go with 10 rebounds. However, they were the only two players in double-figures.
The big problem for the Stallions was turnovers. They committed 32 in the game while Sunnyside had just 11.
“They really let the pressure affect us,” Edmiston said. “I can count on one hand the amount of times we executed the press break that we were supposed to be running. We let the pressure make us panic. That’s what the press is designed to do.”
However, there were times the Stallions showed they can play with the Wildcats and it was evident during the second and third quarters.
“When they are locked in and get our defense to work, we can get easy points. It’s a huge difference,” Edmiston said.
The Wildcats jumped to a 5-2 lead, but Valdez put back a miss to cut the lead to one.
However, the Wildcats took advantage of five Madera South turnovers to score 12 straight points for a 17-4 lead.
Ford stopped the run with a layup, but the Wildcats scored seven straight points before Valdez found Ford for a layup.
Ford opened the second quarter with a free throw, but Sunnyside scored the next 10 points for a 34-9 lead. Madera South had six turnovers in the run.
Then, the Stallions started to compete. Ford put back his own miss. Then, Valdez pulled down a rebound and found Ford for a layup. After two Sunnyside free throws, Ford drained a 3-pointer.
Julian Camacho made a free throw and Erik Cervantes hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 16. After two Sunnyside free throws, Valdez made a layup and two free throws to cut the lead to 14 with a minute left in the half.
Sunnyside scored on its next possession, but Valdez put back a miss. Sunnyside closed the half with a jumper for a 42-26 lead.
Camacho found Naprese Adams for a layup to cut the lead to 14 to open the second half. After a Sunnyside jumper, Camacho, who had five assists, found Ford for a layup.
Sunnyside scored the next six points to open the lead to 20. Camacho stopped the run when he found Valdez for a layup.
However, Sunnyside hit another 3-pointer and followed with a jumper, a layup and an offensive putback to get the lead to 59-32.
Madera South kept battling. Valdez hit a 10-foot jumper. After a Ford rebound, David Lorta made a layup. After a Valdez rebound, Cervantes hit another 3-pointer.
Then, Ford hit a 3-pointer after Lorta kept the possession alive with a rebound. At the other end, Valdez came up with a steal and layup to cut the Sunnyside lead to 15.
The Wildcats put back a miss for a 61-44 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Valdez came down with a rebound and found Ford for a layup to open the fourth quarter scoring. Valdez found Ford, again, after a rebound to cut the lead to 13.
The Wildcats scored three points, but Ford got the lead down to 14 with a pair of free throws.
However, Sunnyside went on a 12-0 run to open a 76-50 lead with three minutes left.
The Stallions got a jumper from Camacho and a layup from Lorta to complete their scoring while Sunnyside closed the scoring with a layup for a 78-54 victory.
