The Merced High boys basketball team applied constant pressure with their relentless defense and senior Diego Aguilar had a the hot hand on offense, tying a career high with six 3-pointers and finishing with a game-high 20 points as the Bears opened Central California Conference play with a 60-32 victory over El Capitan on Wednesday night in front a large crowd at the Stable Center. 

 

Merced head coach Adrian Sanchez says it’s vital for the Bears’ success to hit the floor each night with energy and effort so he was pleased with the performance. “That’s exactly how I want the team to play,” said Sanchez, whose team improved to 12-7 overall. “That’s what we practice every day, that energy, that’s part of our culture. That’s what we have to bring every day because we’re not the biggest, we’re not the tallest, not the fastest, not the strongest, so we have to find ways to bring pressure, work hard, rotate and hopefully we get a stop.”

 

The Bears made it tough for the Gauchos (10-8) to get into their offense with their pressure on the ball and their ability to jump into passing lanes to create turnovers. “That’s where we like to get our points,” Aguilar said. “We like to get our points off of turnovers. We like to press really hard.”

 

Aguilar helped the Bears build their lead early with his hot shooting. He drained three 3-pointers during a 90-second stretch of the second quarter that extended Merced’s lead to 25-14 with 2:32 left in the first half. Aguilar was able to spot up from all over the floor and his teammates found him for shots that he knocked down. “This one was incredible, this was a statement win for sure,” Aguilar said. “I think after the Enochs game, it wasn’t too good. We had too many turnovers. We cleaned that up today.

Sanchez says it’s not surprising to see his third-year senior have success on the floor because of the extra time he puts in working on his shot. “He puts a lot of work into it,” Sanchez said. “We do a lot of morning shooting. He comes in on the weekends, he’s always asking to get in the gym. He works at his craft. He’s put in a lot of time, effort and energy and it’s shown.”

 

The Gauchos cut the Bears’ lead to 30-22 midway through the third quarter only to see Merced answer with a 17-0 run to push the lead to 47-22 late in the third quarter. Aguilar made two 3-pointers during the run and teammate Joviann Martinez added six of his seven points during the run.

 

Sanchez liked his team’s play on the defensive end, limiting the Gauchos to just 32 points. “I thought our rotations were good, our rebounding was good,” Sanchez said. “The game got a little slow there when we fouled a little too much so they got to the free throw line and obviously they generated some points there. So there are things we need to work on, obviously the hand-checking and fouling too much.”

 

Both teams will be back in action on Friday with Merced hosting Los Banos and El Capitan traveling to Buhach Colony

Atwater 72, Los Banos 40 – A.J. Banks scored 16 points as the Falcons rolled past the Tigers to open CCC play with a decisive victory. Peter Idialu added 12 points and Marcus Parker chipped in with 10 points as 12 different Falcons players scored. Atwater improves to 11-7 on the season and will travel to Golden Valley on Friday.

 

Buhach Colony 51, Golden Valley 35 – The Thunder snapped a 15-game losing streak to Golden Valley with their first win over the Cougars since Jan. 3, 2018. The victory extended BC’s winning streak to 11 consecutive games as the Thunder improved to 15-4 on the season. Carter Chapman and Elijah Garza paced BC with 20 points each. Izavian Goode led Golden Valley with 13 points.

 

Central Valley 57, Livingston 55 – The Wolves dropped a narrow decision to fall to 2-2 in the Western Athletic Conference and 7-10 overall. 

 

Girls Basketball 

Livingston 38, Central Valley 32 – Tatianna Alvarez scored 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds and six steals to lead the Wolves past the Hawks on Tuesday night. Noelani Hocson added 10 points and seven rebounds and Emily Lara finished with six points and seven rebounds to help Livingston improve to 1-3 in the WAC and 4-10 overall.

 

Boys Soccer

Atwater 5, Merced 3 – The Falcons moved to 3-0 in the CCC and all alone atop the standings with the victory over the Bears. Five different Atwater players scored goals with Ricardo Abundiz, Mathias Cole, Jose Hernandez, Joseph Mendoza and Fares Flores all scoring goals. Abundiz and Flores also recorded an assist. The Falcons host Golden Valley in a key CCC match on Friday night.

 

El Capitan 1, Golden Valley 0 – The Gauchos handed the Cougars their first CCC loss on Wednesday night. Skyler Pacheco scored on an assist by Sebastian Valenzuela as El Capitan improved to 1-1-1 in the CCC and 2-3-4 overall. Golden Valley dropped to 2-1 in the CCC and 5-3-2 overall.

 

Los Banos 3, Buhach Colony 2 – The Tigers picked up the win as Buhach Colony dropped to 0-2-1 in the CCC. The Thunder will host Merced on Friday night.

 

Girls Soccer

El Capitan 8, Golden Valley 0 –  Lia Garcia Del Castillo scored four goals and Sophie Fernandez added two goals and an assist as the Gauchos improved to 3-0 in the CCC and 9-3 overall. Adiya Moua and Madisen Hutchings added goals for El Capitan and Izsabella Syhaphom picked up two assists for El Capitan.

 

Buhach Colony 4, Los Banos 0 – The Thunder rebounded from their first CCC loss last week with a victory over the Tigers. Faith Vierra, Sophia Macias, Sofia Alcorn and Chisa Wood all scored goals for the Thunder, who improved to 2-1 in the CCC and 9-7 overall.

 

Atwater 1, Merced 0 – The Falcons blanked the Bears to remain three points behind El Capitan in the CCC standings. Merced drops to 0-2-1 in the CCC. Atwater will travel to Golden Valley on Friday night.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.