Cagers beat Carmel, lose a heartbreaker
Coach Ken Scheib’s Bulldogs played two exciting varsity boys basketball games in Valley League action as they lost a heartbreaker to league leading San Marcos and beat Mt. Carmel on the road. The Dawgs are now 10-11 overall and are 3-3 in league play.
The ability of the San Marcos Knights to hit 3-point baskets was the talk of the town when the Knights entered the Dawg House. The Knights 3-point goals average more than 11 per game and they are on a pace to break the record for 3-pointers for a season. They have currently hit 297 shots from beyond the arch.
The tenacious Bulldog defense held the Knights to eight 3-pointers and had the league leaders on the ropes before San Marcos made a comeback from lay-up with five seconds left in the game to beat the Dawgs 67-66 in the Dawg House.
After the game a disappointed but proud Ken Scheib said, “We played a great game and made a great comeback. We just didn’t stop him (Jordan Handy) on the last shot.”
The game was a classic. Ramona took the early lead, but the Knights used their trademark 3-point shots to erase an early Ramona lead and led until the final 1:26 in the game.
Ironically it was the San Marcos full-court pressure defense that was the difference in the game. The Knights forced 22 turnovers and turned those takeaways into 23 points. The Bulldogs committed 14 first half turnovers but settled down in the second half and held the Knights to 8 in the final 16 minutes. The Bulldogs forced seven Knight turnovers.
Andrew Alcaraz played a complete game at both ends of the court. The senior guard scored a game high 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds, passed out three assists and blocked one shot. He sank two 3-point shots.
Bryson Garcia also tallied in double figures with 10 points. The junior post player was also a force in the paint as his physical play in the paint forced the Knights to shoot medium to long range shots when they were in their half court game.
Jared Engler led all rebounders with 14 boards. He scored 8 points and had two steals. Zach Windes scored 4 points, grabbed four rebounds and had two thefts. Keith Scheib (7), Josh Leiber (7), Kwayde Miller (2) and Adam Watson (5) also scored for the Dawgs.
Ramona trailed by 9 at intermission and cut the Knights lead to 4 going into the fourth period. When San Marcos scored the first 9 points of the final stanza, it appeared that the game was out of reach. Then the Dawgs made a run.
Ramona played their best defense of the season and then scored 12 unanswered points to make it a 1-point game with 2:46 left on the clock when Keith Scheib hit a 3 and Zach Windes made a steal and went coast to coast to score.
Ramona tied the game at 60 and 62 and took a 63-62 lead with 1:02 left in the game when Alcaraz sank a free throw. San Marcos then regained the lead and led 65-62 when Alcaraz hit a 3-point shot with 12 seconds left on the clock. Jordan then took an inbounds pass and drove for the winning bucket with five ticks left on the clock.
The Bulldogs avenged an earlier overtime loss to Mt. Carmel as they beat the Sundevils on the road 64-57.
After playing the Sundevils even in the first period, the Dawgs built a 4-point advantage at halftime and led 34-30. Ramona added 3 points to its lead in the third period and held on for the victory.
Alcaraz led all scorers with 20 points as he played a complete game with seven rebounds and two steals. Windes also tallied in double figures, scoring 15 points. Garcia scored 9 points and grabbed six boards. Scheib scored 9 points and dished off seven assists. Engler (9), Miller (1) and Watson also scored in the win.