Atwater High basketball coaches have been putting more on the plate of sophomore guard Tyler Curtis as the season has gone along. Curtis has been handling the ball more, initiating the offense and becoming the decision-maker out on the floor. 

 

Curtis stepped up big in the second half on Tuesday night, scoring 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half to help lead the No. 16 Falcons to a 54-51 victory over No. 17 Johansen in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II play-in game at Falcons Arena. Atwater (19-10) advances to a first round game against No. 1 Jesuit tonight at 7 p.m.

 

“We’re looking for him to take the role Khoi (Nguyen) had for us,” said Atwater coach Kanoa Smith. “We’re looking for him to be a leader for us out there. We want him to make decisions and we’ll live with it. He’s probably got the highest basketball IQ on the team. He does a good job of settling us down and getting us to play under control.”

 

The Falcons had the tough task of rebounding from an emotional 42-41 loss to Buhach Colony on Friday night. Not only was it a loss to their crosstown rival, but it cost Atwater a share of the Central California Conference. Smith called it one of the toughest losses he’s had as a coach.

 

Curtis said he spent this past weekend thinking about the Buhach Colony game quite a bit. “I’m only a sophomore so I’m going to have other opportunities, but it sucks because I wanted it for my guys,” Curtis said. “I know they wanted it.”

 

Now the goal is to keep playing as long as they can. In the playoffs every night could be the last one for the seniors. The Falcons had to overcome a 24-point performance from Johansen’s Ivan Martinez. The Vikings senior drained one of his four 3-pointers to give Johansen (20-9) a 32-28 lead with 6:28 left in the third quarter.

 

Curtis then helped lead an Atwater 12-0 run with seven points to catapult the Falcons to a 40-32 lead with 2:22 left in the third quarter. When the Vikings challenged Atwater down the stretch it was Curtis scoring on a three-point play and then hitting the two clutch free throws with 14.5 seconds left to hold off Johansen for the victory.

 

Peter Idiaulo added 13 points for the Falcons and fellow senior Sylas Austin scored 11. “Everything was for our seniors,” Curtis said. “This was their last home game and we didn’t want to go out with a loss. We want to send them off with a positive end to the season.”

 

Rocklin 70, Buhach Colony 57 – The Thunder saw their season come to an end in the Division II play-in game. Buhach Colony senior Carter Chapman surpassed 1,500 career points with his 25 points on the night. Buhach Colony ends the season with a 21-8 record.

 

Girls Basketball

El Capitan 56, Patterson 42 – The Gauchos won their 17th consecutive game with the first-round victory in the Division II playoffs. Sophomore Alexis Valenzuela led the way with 17 points and six steals. Mady Dietz added 11 points and 11 steals and Avnoor Bains scored 14 points. El Capitan (26-2) will host No. 5 Woodcreek in the quarterfinals on Thursday night. Woodcreek defeated No. 12 Merced 77-46 on Tuesday night.

Lodi 57, Atwater 40 – The No. 9 Flames used a 20-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull away from the defending section champions in the first round of the Division II playoffs. Natalia Melgoza scored to cut Lodi’s lead to 39-38 with 6:13 left in the game. Then Lodi scored the next 20 points. Saige Harcksen led Atwater (17-11) with 10 points and Caylor Gibson added eight points.

 

Boys Soccer

Granite Bay 1, Atwater 0 – Selman Suma broke a scoreless tie when he scored on a pass from Treyson Barnes with 13 minutes left in the match to lift top-seeded Granite Bay past No. 8 Atwater in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II boys soccer playoffs on Wednesday night. The Falcons finished the season with a 13-7-7 record.

 

Girls Soccer

Vista Del Lago 8, Buhach Colony 0 – Kayla Abshire scored three goals as the No. 2 seeded Eagles defeated the No. 7 Thunder in the second round of the playoffs on Monday night. Buhach Colony ends the season with a 17-8 record.

 

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