River Islands fended off two comebacks from visiting Lathrop and held on for a 53-51 win Tuesday night.
The Riptide are now 2-0 in this budding cross-town rivalry, winning by three in the debut last season.
Lathrop, playing its first game of the season, had a shot to tie or win it coming out of a timeout with 3 seconds remaining. Justin Neal’s running 3-pointer at the top of the arc was off the mark.
River Islands’ early-season shooting woes continued but overcame that by attacking the paint and revving up the defense. The Riptide (1-1) opened the season last week with a 50-34 loss at Big Valley Christian.
Idrees ElFarra led the Riptide with 12 points, Zachary Basurto scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and Darius Radoc Factoran added nine points, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Basurto spearheaded a second-half surge in which the Riptide scored 15 unanswered points to take a 51-40 lead. The 6-foot-2 sophomore went on a personal 7-0 run at one point, including an and-1 conversion with 1.2 seconds left in the third quarter. The three-point play pushed River Islands ahead for good, 41-40.
Basurto later made an easy layup off an inbounds pass from ElFarra for River Islands’ final points with 1:42 to go.
“We got to a space where we started moving the ball a little bit more on offense, which allowed us to get more paint touches,” Graham said. “We preach this all the time: when we move the ball side-to-side, teams have a tough time guarding us.”
Bryan Gamboa paced the Spartans with 17 points, while accounting for five of his team’s 10 3-pointers. Neal produced 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Nicolas Arceo knocked down three 3s for his nine points to go with seven rebounds and four assists.
Arceo hit back-to-back 3s during a come-from-behind surge in the fourth quarter, and Gamboa made another to close Lathrop in, 51-49 with 2:00 to go.
The Spartans also trailed by double digits in the first half, 20-10 a minute into the second period. Lathrop scrapped its way back into it and closed the quarter on a 6-0 spurt capped by DJ Reyno’s mid-range jumper. River Islands was still ahead by halftime, 27-25.
The Spartans carried that momentum into the second half, starting on an 11-2 run with Neal scoring the first eight points. They took their largest lead at 36-29 with 4:27 left in the third on an Arceo 3-pointer.
“I’ve never been more proud of the team after a loss,” Lathrop coach Robin Hong said. “They (River Islands) came out swinging, and we were down double digits, but we fought back.”
Remarkably, Lathrop lost despite having a 34-27 edge on rebounds while forcing 18 turnovers against its own 11. The Spartans, in fact, pulled down 11 offensive rebounds in the second half while not giving up any on the other end.
While River Islands struggled to get its perimeter shots to fall, Lathrop was as inefficient inside the arc.
“This is basketball, right?” Hong said. “The ball is round, and the rim is circular, but the way it can bounce here and there, it can go anybody’s way.”
Lathrop looks to bounce back Thursday against El Camino in the Rocklin Tip-Off Tournament, while River Islands faces Ron Peterson Tip-Off Classic host Riverbank.
Junior varsity
Lathrop 65, River Islands 56 (2OT)
The Spartans overcame a double-digit deficit and forced two overtime periods thanks to Dominick Simms’ banked-in 3-pointer at the end of regulation.
Simms finished with a game-high 25 points. Brandon Valencia and Josh Talalele tallied eight points apiece, while Dario Joseph scored all seven his points in the second overtime.
John Engaling II led River Islands with 16 points, and Liam Reyes pitched in 11. The Riptide made just seven of 24 free throws in the second half and shot 9-for-28 overall.
