After trailing visiting Turlock by as much as 13 points late in the third quarter Friday night, Sierra mounted a viscous comeback and limited the Bulldogs to four points in the fourth quarter with the Timberwolves pulling out a thrilling 62-56 non-league win.
“I am super proud of our guys,” Sierra coach Scott Thomason said. “We played terrible for about two and one-half quarters. I was disappointed with our start of the game, going down 16-4. Our guys kept on fighting, kept on believing. I kept on telling them we had plenty of time left.
“We had some big plays in the fourth quarter. David Kakala hit a big 3-pointer when we were down by four and Romeo Sesma took a charge and that was huge. Eduardo Jasso got an and-one and Kendrick Currey was taking care of the ball. We found a way to win and that is a true sign of a team that has a lot of heart.”
With the score tied at 56 and 1:12 showing on the fourth-quarter clock, Sesma (10 points) stepped toward the defensive baseline and drew a charge, giving the Timberwolves (8-2) the ball back.
“I saw Eduardo (Jasso) guarding his man,” Sesma said. “I saw his guy going to the baseline so I thought I would step out and help.
“I took one in the numbers and we got the charge.”
Jasso made six points in the fourth quarter and finished with 13.
“It was an exciting game,” Jasso said. “We had a rough first half. I came into the locker room at halftime and talked to my guys and told them that we were better than this and we needed to come out and grind this out.
“We’re a tough team. We have tough guys on the team and we know what to do when things get sticky.”
Jaeden Malone also had 13 points for Sierra, with three free throws in the final 17 seconds.
“I think we showed poise and we were able to grind it out,” Malone said.
Kendrick Currey directed the Timberwolves offense and finished with nine points.
Cameron Sherwood of Turlock (5-5) led all scorers with 19 points.
Freshman
Turlock 43, Sierra 35
Nikko Nunez had nine points for the Timberwolves and Indervir Sandhu had six points.
