Western edges MHS
First league loss for Marauders
Every time the Monache High School boys basketball team thought it had a chance to take a lead or tie the game against Tulare Western, the Mustangs pulled away by knocking down three-pointers, taking a charge or heading to the free throw line where they extended the lead and kept the Marauders at bay.
Wednesday evening’s game between the top two teams in the East Yosemite League ended with Tulare Western (17-3, 4-0 EYL) pulling out a 65-62 victory over Monache (13-9-, 3-1 EYL) on the Marauders’ court. With the win, the defending CO-EYL champion Mustangs take sole possession of first place in EYL and drop the Marauders to second place.
Tulare Western held a 47-40 lead to start the final quarter and were consistently challenged by Monache.
Despite falling behind early in the game and being in foul trouble with nearly all their starters, the Marauders continued to go after the Mustangs and force them to use a large amount of shot clock. Converting on Tulare Western’s turnovers, Monache closed the gap early in the fourth with a step-back jumper from sophomore John Perez, as well as a steal and layup from sophomore Trayvon Bradford to cut the Mustangs’ lead to 50-48.
But then Tulare Western went on a 10-1 run and almost pushed the game out of reach if it hadn’t been for solid play in the post from senior Daniel Baca, relentess shooting from senior Jlen Sims and a heads-up play from Sims to senior Marlon Johnson to cut the lead again to just four points.
The Marauders’ finally broke the 4-point barrier late in the game with a three-pointer from Sims with less than a minute on the clock.
After a Marauders’ timeout, Tulare Western turned the ball over after Bryan Paredes was whistled for traveling. Getting the ball back, Sims missed a three-point attempt and Paredes pushed the Mustangs’ lead back to four by making a free throw after he was fouled to stop the clock.
With :20 left, Sims drove to the basket scored and was fouled. He made it a 3-point play by knocking down his free throw with :12 left and the score at 63-62.
Fouled to stop the clock again with 7.2 seconds to go, Paredes went 2-for-2 at the line. Sims attempted a buzzer-beater from beyond the arc, but it hit off the rim.
Paedres finished with 18 points — nine coming off threepointers and the rest on free throws — while Deeandre Hulett led the Mustangs with a game-high 19 points. Mikey Ficher also had 16 points for Tulare Western.
Feeding the ball to senior Chirrag Sidhu in the post and off long passes, worked well for the Marauders and Sidhu finished with a teamhigh 12 points. Sims and Baca had 10 points each on the night.
Monache looks to turn things around on Friday when they travel to cross-town rival Porterville for a 6 p.m. game.