Friday, Dec. 09, 2011

Dos Palos High boys survive OT against Pacheco

Howard Redding Sr. was nervous before his first game Wednesday as Dos Palos' boys basketball coach.

But that was nothing compared to the stress he felt during a 56-52 overtime victory against Pacheco.

"I almost passed out," Redding joked about a nine-point second-quarter deficit. "Naw, I'm kidding. I felt it was time to put the press on. We've been working on it, and I was reluctant in the beginning to put it in. But I had no choice.

"I said well, this is our first game, so if we're going to go down, we might as well go down swinging."

The pressure worked, as after a hot start, the Panthers went cold from beyond the arc. Pacheco finished the night 4 of 21 on 3-point shooting.

"That's kind of the tale of two teams," Pacheco coach Tyrell Jenkins said. "You might get us when we're super hot, playing good defense and we're making shots, and then when we're missing shots and we don't play good defense."

The Panthers hit 13 3-pointers two nights before in a 71-41 win over Gustine, a fact that was in Redding's scouting report.

"They live and die by the 3. That's why I went man-to-man the whole game," Redding said. "I wanted to flush them on their 3-pointers. Although they hit some, I think we slowed them down on some of them."

With about 4 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Broncos scored four straight -- on a Fernando Rodriguez putback followed by a Miguel Leal layup off a Christian Escalante steal -- to go up 45-44.

Then, with DP leading 50-48 and the clock ticking down, Pacheco's Dominique Prophete took the ball from one baseline to the other for a layup with less than 5 seconds remaining, send the game to overtime.

Dos Palos took control of the extra period, outscoring Pacheco 6-2 on buckets by Marcus Chanes and Andre Hill, plus a pair of Kameron Geuder free throws. Hill also contributed with three steals in the overtime period.

The Broncos' height advantage gave them plenty of second chances -- DP had 19 offensive rebounds. Hill led with 11 rebounds. Pacheco's Lakhan Patel had 9.

"We definitely needed (a close game)," Jenkins said. "It shows our inexperience -- it shows we don't deal too well with pressure, that we have to grow with every game. We can't get too high with every win, and then get brought down to Earth with a loss. We have to be the same team."

By the same token, the win validated Redding's confidence in his squad.

"I think they did remarkable for the first game," said Redding, whose son Howard Redding Jr. runs the point for the team and finished with 11 points. "I have a good group of kids -- they all like each other, and they play well together."

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com

Enterprise reporter David Witte can be reached by phone at 388-6565 or by e-mail at sports@losbanosenterprise.com