MODESTO — Ripon Christian’s Eli Terpsma buried a 3-pointer from the corner for the 12th and final lead change of the night Tuesday, as the Knights pulled out a 54-52 thriller over Manteca in opening-round action in the 22nd Annual Modesto Christian Holiday Hoop Classic.
Terpsma led all scorers with 31 points behind three 3-pointers.
“I thought that I had to make that shot, and I let it fly,” Terpsma said. “We worked hard. We had a few ups and downs, but we kept improving throughout the game and getting better and better.
“We played more as a team with unselfish basketball, and it paid off.”
With 1:35 left in the game, Peyton Nieman (12 points, three rebounds, two blocks) netted a pair of free throws for the sixth lead change of the final period to put the Buffaloes (9-3) ahead, 52-50.
Enter Justin Hofman (eight points, six rebounds, assist, steal, block), who had a busy final 30 seconds for the Ripon Christian (8-4). He dished the ball out to Terpsma for the 3-pointer to make the score 53-52 with 28 seconds remaining. The Knights’ Luke Crivello (six points) grabbed a rebound off of a Manteca miss with eight seconds left. Hofman was fouled four seconds later and made the front end of a one-and-one to go ahead 54-52, and then he intercepted a pass to seal the win.
“I saw him going with one hand back on the throw,” Hofman said. “Then I jumped with both hands up trying to touch the ball and I got it.
“That pass out to Eli was one of our plays. We did it and got a pretty open shot to put us up by one.”
Ripon Christian’s Jace Biedleman added eight points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while making five of 11 Knights blocks.
With only eight players in uniform, Ripon Christian is starting to gel after the Knights football players came out late due to their deep post-season run.
“Our football guys, which is most of our team, have less than 10 practices,” Ripon Christian coach Mark Hofman said, “We are getting better, and it is happening quicker than I thought.
“They all know who they are and they contribute what they can. They are very good at that. They are very smart, they listen to instruction, and you can hear a lot of instruction going on during the game. We switched defenses a lot, and it worked out for us.”
Noah Lyons led the Buffaloes with 15 points. After Nieman’s 12 points, Elijah Nelson added 11 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks, and Santiago Sanders added eight points and eight rebounds.
Manteca coach Jason Hitt was a little disappointed with his team’s effort.
“I thought both seniors have to play a lot better,” Hitt said. “Ramesh (Kabiri) and Noah (Lyons) have to step up, and the bottom line is the senior leadership was not there. There wasn’t a lot of go-to there.
“I thought we played soft early on their bigs. We did not rebound and board like we usually do, but I thought Peyton Nieman stepped up defensively. He’s not our best defender, but he guarded No. 3 (Terpsma) and he was tired. They are well coached and played a very good basketball game.”
The Knights dominated the boards 40-29, grabbing 12 offensive rebounds in the first half.
“We have given up more than five first-half offensive rebounds in just one game,” Hitt said. “They got a couple of put-backs in the first half to keep them around.
“No. 3 (Terpsma) just made some really tough shots. He did a great job of knocking down shots all night and I think Ripon Christian wanted the game more than we did. I think we may have overlooked Ripon Christian and that might be on me a little bit.”
Ripon Christian faces tournament host Modesto Christian in a quarterfinal contest tonight at 7 and this afternoon at 1 the Buffaloes play Downey in a second-sound consolation game.
