Facing an undermanned Ripon team, it was only a matter of time before the deeper and more athletic East Union boys basketball team broke it wide open Tuesday at Dalben Center.
Powered by the ever-prolific Lorenzo Jones, the Lancers went on two big second-half runs on the way to a 69-33 running-clock thrashing and their eighth consecutive win.
Ripon (4-7), playing with just two available substitutes, did well to keep the game at a manageable pace for the first quarter and a half but ultimately succumbed to EU’s press defense and relentlessness of Jones in the paint.
“The funny thing is, to be able to play the style of defense we want to play, you got to score,” East Union coach Dutch Ell said. “Just executing and getting great looks versus settling for the first or second look that we see. Getting great looks when they went zone was kind of the biggest thing. Being able to execute after we drew a couple things up and settled in, that’s what allowed us to play at the speed and the pace that we really want to play at”
East Union (8-1) forced 21 turnovers while committing just four of its own.
Whenever execution did not lead to made baskets, Jones was almost always there to clean up. On top of scoring a game-high 20 points, he grabbed 16 rebounds — 12 on offense — and had three steals.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Ell said. “He saved us a little bit in that first half and kept possessions alive.”
Rico Johnson contributed 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Ayande Johnson pitched in with 13 points, and Zydell King added 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Cody Camarena beat the first-quarter buzzer from the deep wing to give East Union a 14-6 lead. He hit another 3 late in the third quarter, when the Lancers outscored Ripon, 26-7.
Two long scoring droughts for the Indians led to a running clock at the end. East Union scored 12 unanswered points during a 5-minute stretch in the third quarter, and 15 straight over 4 minutes in the fourth.
Neither of Ripon’s two seniors were available, and only one of the seven juniors at coach Dean Balcao’s disposal had prior varsity experience. The Indians were coming off their best of the young season and had their three-game losing streak busted in a big way.
“Three of the four guys who were out tonight have each started at least one game for us,” Ripon coach Dean Balcao said. “We knew it was going to be tough going in. EU is playing really good basketball. They’re a good team, so that’s why we wanted to slow it down and try to shorten the game a little bit, giving them less possessions. I knew they’d try to speed us up, and they did. We had all those turnovers, and we got outrebounded, too.”
Second-year junior point guard Gino Calderara scored 17 points to lead Ripon. Jude Viss chipped in four points and 10 rebounds, while Cooper Morino had four points and seven boards.
Calderara was held to just two free throws in the second half after keeping his team in it for the first two quarters. He accounted for 15 of Ripon’s points in the first half.”
“It was pretty tough,” Calderara said. “EU’s a great team; they’re going to do great in the VOL (Valley Oak League) this year. We were having to do a lot of work in this game. It was pretty hard, but I think we were all hanging in there for a minute. We got kind of tired having only seven guys, but we were in this game for a while.”
Ripon will look to bounce back against Los Banos next Monday, Dec. 29 in the Livingston Christmas Classic. Tipoff is at 3 p.m. East Union next heads to Oakland to compete in the Head-Royce Roundball Classic starting this Saturday 4 p.m. against San Francisco’s Lick-Wilmerding.
River Islands 51, Linden 42
The Riptide (5-7) overcame early foul trouble on the road and held off Linden (3-7) in the second half for the nonleague win. They made five of six free throws in the fourth quarter to seal it.
Charles Mapanao led River Islands with 18 points, including four 3s. Zach Basurto added nine points, and Darius Radoc Factoran had eight.
River Islands travels to Kimball on Jan. 3.
VARSITY GIRLS
Pacheco 41, Ripon 31
In Los Banos, the Panthers (6-5) broke away from a close game with a 16-4 fourth quarter.
With two key contributors out, Ripon (5-7) was led by Anandjap Dhami’s 14 points. Itzel Reynoso scored nine. Jeanette Ortiz amassed 22 points for Pacheco.
