Prep Rewind: Durbin powers GV into first

The Golden Valley boys basketball was on the road and down by 10 points, and the Cougars had yet to score one.

GV had pulled into a tie by halftime, though, then Mark Durbin scored 12 in the second to lead the Cougars to a 58-50 win over Pitman in a Central California Conference battle on Wednesday.

It leaves GV (6-2, 15-5), The Bee's No. 3-ranked large school, and second-ranked Buhach Colony (6-2, 14-6) tied for first on a crowded CCC leaderboard. Sixth-ranked Pitman (5-3, 13-7) and Turlock (10-10, 5-3) are tied for third a game back.

Tonight boasts two more showdowns that could produce a four-way tie for first, give the co-leaders more breathing room or allow one to take sole possession of first. It could be like this the rest of the season, with the four jockeying.

"We weren't ready at the start," said Durbin, who scored 13 points. "We panicked. It took us a while to get into the flow of the game."

Durbin worked in the post with some jump hooks and turnaround shots against smaller players.

Pitman made just two of 11 shots in the third quarter, allowing GV to take a 35-29 lead, and 20 of 51 shots from the floor in the game.

GV's Rob Martinez scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, going to the rim for driving baskets and hitting his free throws.

Skyler Sexton's trey with 4:04 to go cut GV's lead to 44-38 and Ryan Keaton stole the inbound pass and scored on a layup to make it 46-43.

Martinez got loose for a couple layups to help extend the lead to 53-45, but Pitman came right back with back-to-back buckets, including Sexton's third 3-pointer of the fourth quarter that cut the GV lead to 53-50 with 1:28 left. …

Andrew Mark dominated inside with 23 points and 15 rebounds as Buhach beat Merced 54-43. The Thunder led 10-2 after a quarter. Merced's Travante Richard scored 13. … Turlock guard DaShawn Holcombe (14 points) led the 'Dogs to a 60-36 rout of Atwater. …

• WAC — While No. 2 small school Central Catholic (18-3, 6-0) beat Patterson (14-6, 3-3) to stay in first that spot remains on the line tonight as the Raiders visit Los Banos (13-6, 5-1). LB set up the battle by beating rival Pacheco 76-62 behind Joey's Bennett's 27 points.

Girls Basketball

No. 3-ranked East Union (17-2) capped a 7-0 first-round run in the Valley Oak League, beating No. 5 Weston Ranch (14-6, 5-2) 53-51 in overtime, but it was a costly win. Sophomore forward Tiare Tu'uga, averaging 18 points a game, left with a separated shoulder in the third quarter after scoring 17 points. She departed in an ambulance.

Shalane Jackson scored 26 for EU, which pushed it to OT on Angelique Cardoza's 16-footer with 8 seconds left. …

Manteca (18-2, 6-1) bounced back from last week's loss to EU with a 47-32 win over Sierra. Manteca's guards hounded Sierra, leading to a 10-0 run early in the game. Karleasha Thompson had 11 points, 10 rebounds and two steals for the Buffs, and Jasmin Odell scored 11.

• MLL — Savannah Duncan and Madison Cox totaled 33 points as No. 1 small-school Calaveras (19-2, 8-0) topped Linden 56-50 to stay in first. The Redskins have a three-game lead over Argonaut (13-7, 5-3) and Bret Harte (11-8, 5-3), and are four games up on Linden (12-8, 4-4). Linden's Kirstyn Champion scored 18. … Bret Harte's 23-point third-quarter outburst beat Amador 46-27.