RIPON — Ripon missed two free throws, a put-back and an open 3-pointer on the final possession of its nonleague tilt with East Union on Wednesday.

“They were giving us every opportunity to take the game back or at least tie it and go to overtime, but hey, it wasn’t for us,” Ripon coach Rod Wright said after the Indians’ frustrating 60-58 loss. Frustrating not so much because of the way it ended, but because of how well the Indians (6-3) played in the first half only to end up dropping their third defeat in seven days. They twice led by as much as 14 in the second quarter and were ahead 34-22 at halftime.

Then Gyse Hulsebosch and the Lancers (6-1), who have already matched their win total from last season, found their groove. Hulsebosch scored 11 of his 19 points in the third quarter, Austin Miller added 13 points and Chris Molina contributed 12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks off the bench. Angel Sena capped a 20-2 second-half flurry with a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.

 “Second half we came out and we were ready to work,” Hulsebosch said. “Picked up the intensity quite a bit and just got the job done.”

The Lancers scored nine straight points to cut the deficit to 42-39 late in the third. Miller later drilled a 3-pointer from the wing and converted a transition layup with 8.5 seconds left for East Union’s first lead, 45-44, since they were ahead 10-8 with 5:04 to go in the opening quarter.

“I’ve been telling our guys all year that if they set screens for each other they’ll get open,” East Union coach Ryan Tarr said. “We weren’t moving the ball and settling for bad shots in the first half, and there wasn’t a lot of movement offensively. We just started setting some screens in the second half and I think that freed up some things for some of our guys.”

Molina may have been the most instrumental in leading the turnaround for East Union, which typically has a disadvantage in size. Ripon’s Cody Haines (six points, 11 rebounds) had his way in the paint early on, but Molina was able to spark East Union with his ability to finish around the basket and limit the Indians to single-shot possessions with defensive rebounding.

“We need him to do that,” Tarr said. “I told him we need you to rebound tonight and get to the basket and he did that. He was very effective.”

Aaron Paschini did his best to keep Ripon within reach in the fourth quarter,when he dropped 10 of his 19 points. He hit two free throws with 2:10 remaining to tie it at 54-54, but the Indians weren’t unable to retake the lead. 

East Union answered 24 seconds later when Hulsebosch gave up a high-percentage shot off dribble penetration as Malik Thomas called for the ball while standing wide open near the left corner. Thomas hit all net on the 3-point attempt and later made two free throws to stretch the lead to five. He finished with eight points.

“I had faith in him,” Hulsebosch said. “I knew he could knock down the shot so I passed it up.”

Andrew Wood (11 points) gave Ripon hope after converting a fastbreak layup off a nice feed from Cole Stevens (nine points, seven rebounds, six assists). That capped the final score with 52 seconds to go, but the Indians couldn’t overcome a 7-for-18 shooting effort from the free-throw line.

“When you get down the stretch it’s free-throw time, and we’ve been struggling all season with it,” Wright said. “It’s not anything new. Shooting 50 percent or less from the free-throw line has been the norm.”

East Union carries a four-game winning streak into the West High Holiday Classic, which begins today in Tracy. The Lancers open with Liberty of Brentwood at 3 p.m. Ripon, meanwhile, hosts its Ripon Winter Classic starting Friday, tipping off against Orestimba at 8 p.m.

Sophomore

East Union 53, Ripon 31

The Lancers opened up a 13-4 lead and never looked back. Drew Sena led a balanced scoring effort with 12 points. Blake Greenlee added 10 points, and Grant Silva had nine. Ripon’s Nathan Wright paced all scorers with 13 points.