Modesto Christian surges early in 82-54 Holiday Hoop Classic win over Patterson

Modesto Christian wanted to get off to a fast start in its first home game of the season, but this might have been overkill.

Exactly three seconds after Anthony Townes controlled the opening tip against Patterson, Christian Ellis converted into into a breakaway slam dunk that set the tone for one of the most electrifying opening eight minutes in memory.

En route to an 82-54 victory in the opening round of the Modesto Christian Holiday Hoop Classic, the Crusaders blitzed the Tigers 35-8 in the first quarter, allowing coach Richard Midgley the luxury of using his bench at will the rest of the way.

“We wanted to pick up the pressure, and we pressed, and forced some quick turnovers for some easy points to jump on them early,” Midgley said. “The start was exactly what we were asking for.”

Despite the lopsided loss, the competition also was exactly what Patterson was seeking when it lobbied MC to get into its 15th annual event.

“On the scale of intensity, theirs was a 10 and ours about a 2,” said Patterson coach Brian de la Porte. “But you had to figure it’s their home tournament, they’re ranked No. 20 in the state and they want to come out strong, and they did.

“It was their first home game and our first game in this kind of environment. The more we see this kind of basketball the more comfortable we’ll get and the better we’ll get.”

If there was a drawback to MC building such a huge lead so early, it was in the efforts of both teams to build and maintain any intensity over the final three quarters. With the outcome long decided, the final three quarters had ample room for sloppy stretches.

“It’s important for us to keep the intensity in game like this so we can keep it up for games in the future,” Townes said. “We have to keep on communicating with each other and keep pushing.”

Midgley, trying to guide the Crusaders to their first Holiday Hoop Classic title since 2005, said the sloppiness, while not acceptable, was understandable to a point given the score and the substitution frequency.

“We just talked about how to keep that intensity every minute we’re out there, which is something as a team that is a focus,” Midgley said. “Coming into the game we spoke a lot about playing for each other and being unselfish, and we did an excellent job of that.”

Townes had 15 of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter, while Ellis had 11 in the first eight minutes and finished with 21. Senior power forward Kevin Phelps, sidelined for much of the game with foul trouble, scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and led Patterson with 13 points.

And as far as openers go, Midgley certain will take this one.

“Since we got the lead early we were able to get everyone some minutes and also some rest for our experienced guys,” he said. “It couldn’t have gone much better for us and we feel good going into the next round of games.”

Inglewood 58, Turlock 53 – The Sentinels eventually won the battle of wills against the Bulldogs, but not before surviving some nervous moments.

Turlock (5-6) managed to impose its will for 32 minutes against Inglewood (5-6), which would have been much more comfortable with an up-tempo pace. But it came at a price for the Bulldogs, who ended up having to settle for a lot of outside shots in the halfcourt game.

Those shots began to fall in the fourth quarter, especially for senior forward Ryan Downs, who connected on three shots from behind the arc in the final eight minutes. The last pulled Turlock within 52-47 with 1:20 left. And when a quick steal was converted into another 3-pointer by Ricky Heidelbach six seconds later, the Bulldogs were within 52-50.

But the Sentinels never lost patience with the slow tempo, and were able to notch the win at the foul line, convering 16 of 18 chances. Darae Elliott had 15 and Terrell Gomez 13 for Inglewood, while Downs finished with 18 and Will Hilgen 15 for Turlock.

El Cerrito 79, Gregori 35 – The Jaguars hung with one of the top pre-tourney favorites for a quarter and trailed 15-13 after the opening eight minutes before the Gauchos took control with their size and length advantage.

El Cerrito (6-1) began to to inside almost at will to open the second quarter and never let up, extending the lead to 44-21 at halftime and to 68-25 after three quarters to bring the 40-point running-clock rule into play.

Tyler Janitz led Gregori (3-6) with 12 points, while the Gauchos got 20 points from 6-7 sophomore Aaron Banks, 16 from junior wing Carlos Johnson and 16 from junior guard Mustafa Bey.

Weston Ranch 79, Pleasant Grove 74 – Senior guard Jazz Swanson drained nine of 13 3-point attempts, including seven of eight to open the game, and finished with 31 points to lead the Cougars in the tourney opener.

Weston Ranch (5-2) also got 22 points from junior Jaelen Ragsdale and 11 from junior Fred Lavender, and needed all of that offense to rally from a 12-point second-quarter deficit. Senior Guard Johann Tate had 27 points and 6-10 senior post Marquese Chriss added 22 for the Eagles (2-5).

This story was originally published December 26, 2014 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Modesto Christian surges early in 82-54 Holiday Hoop Classic win over Patterson."