MC holds Sierra to 5 second-half points in 43-28 win

When the Sac-Joaquin Section decided to make title runs more difficult for the Modesto Christian High School boys basketball team by placing it in the Modesto Metro Conference, there was one landing spot it didn’t consider that would have made more competitive sense:

The Valley Oak League.

The upper half of the VOL is the Stanislaus District’s toughest gauntlet, and it took all the toughness the Crusaders could muster Saturday night to beat Sierra 43-28 in the finale of the day-long MLK Showcase at Modesto Christian.

“I’d rather win a game like this than 80-30,” said MC guard Christian Ellis, who scored a game-high 18 points. “Going home, I’ll know I learned a lot more from this game than I did from a game we win by 30 or 40.”

The 15-point margin of victory was a bit misleading. The Crusaders led 25-23 at halftime and 30-27 after a third quarter in which the teams combined for a mere nine points.

Modesto Christian (13-3) didn’t pull away in the final eight minutes as much as Sierra never found an inch of comfortable space against the Crusaders’ defense, managing only a single free throw in the final 10 minutes.

In fact, the Timberwolves, 15-2 after having their 11-game win streak snapped, were held without a field goal and managed only three free throws after Jess Spivey’s tying put-back basket 29 seconds into the third quarter.

“If you score five points in the second half, who you going to beat?” asked Sierra coach Scott Thomason. “We missed some layups and couldn’t get going from the outside. I liked our purpose, and our defensive game plan was solid. But you just have to make shots when you get them.”

It wasn’t like Modesto Christian was finding many openings against Sierra’s sagging man-to-man defense. The Crusaders hit just 15 of 48 shots and managed only five assists.

“If they’re not the best-coached team in the area, they’re certainly one of them, because they certainly knew what we were looking for and where we were going,” MC coach Richard Midgley said.

The most interesting matchup came in the middle, where UOP signee Anthony Townes went head-to-head against Sacramento State-bound Joshua Patton. They played to a standoff, with Townes getting 12 points and nine rebounds to Patton’s nine points and 11 rebounds.

In other terms, neither was able to dominate as usual, but that probably is a credit to team defense more than what they did to each other man-to-man.

It remained very much a game into the final six minutes, as Patton’s free throw with 6:23 left pulled the Timberwolves within 33-28. It would be Sierra’s only fourth-quarter point.

“I was proud of our team defense in the second half, and we’ve done that the last last couple of games,” said Midgley, whose team held Sierra to 24 percent shooting from the field. “Offensively, it wasn’t pretty for us, but defense wins most games.”

Bradshaw Christian 64, Patterson 44 – The Tigers (9-10), missing three starters because of injury and being late to the team bus, fell behind 21-8 after the first quarter and never were able to rally. It was the first non-conference victory of the season for the Pride (3-14), which began its schedule by losing all 12 games it played in December.

Modesto 77, Excel 51 – The Panthers (5-12) came alive in the second half to outscore Excel 46-23 and pull away, getting 18 points apiece from Markus Brady and Zach Quinn and 13 from Rajeev Singh. Anthony Young scored 25 for Excel (3-10).

Enterprise-Redding 65, Central Catholic 50 – The Raiders have lost four of five since starting Valley Oak League play and were ambushed by the Hornets.

Enterprise (11-5) hit its first six three-point attempts and rolled to a 26-13 lead after the first quarter. Central Catholic (9-7) got within 11 midway through the third quarter but trailed by 18 in the fourth.

Tyler Green had four three-pointers and scored 25 points for Enterprise. Drew Loya scored 19 points and Jarod Rice 16 for the Raiders.

Girls

Modesto Christian 64, Sheldon 20 – Candice White celebrated her nomination to be considered for the McDonald’s All-American Game by scoring 26 points as the Crusaders (13-4) rolled to a running-clock victory over the Huskies. Samantha Johnson scored 14 and Ashley Lucas 10. Shantanice Mendoza had 17 for Sheldon (7-9), which dressed seven players.

Patterson 49, Bradshaw Christian 45 (OT) – After tying the score with 26 seconds left on a free throw by Povai Fesili, Patterson (14-3) scored the first six points of overtime and then had to hold off the Pride (9-8). Bradshaw Christian’s press forced a turnover, but an uncontested layup with 35 seconds left that would have tied the score missed, and Tigers senior Ariyanna Cashen iced the win with two free throws.

Merced 57, Modesto 33 – The Bears warmed up for their biggest week of Central California Conference play with a lopsided win over the Panthers, holding Modesto to one point in the first quarter. The Bears (10-7 overall) are 3-0 in CCC play and visit 2-1 Atwater on Tuesday before hosting 3-0 Golden Valley on Thursday. Nine players scored for Merced, led by Lexi Thompson with 13. Jas Underwood had 12 and Jordan Toledo 11 for Modesto (0-12).

This story was originally published January 17, 2015 at 9:38 PM with the headline "MC holds Sierra to 5 second-half points in 43-28 win."