Teamwork rallies Panthers past Rangers
Jacob Daguman. Colton Boyd. Jesse Hernandez. Kaden Ramage. Dane Odsather.
It doesn’t matter who gets the ball, every member of the Porterville High School boys basketball team is a threat.
The East Yosemite League champion, fifth-seeded Panthers (21-8, 8-2 EYL) proved the importance of teamwork in a 6152 comeback win over the 12thseeded Rangers of Redwood (1217) in an opening round game of the CIF Central Section Division II playoffs at home Wednesday.
“What you just said is the the story of our season,” PHS head coach Lance Wallace said. “We haven’t relied on one or two guys all year long. It’s been a host of kids. We had 10 ten seniors on this team and at any given time, one of those seniors will step up. We have a sophomore that’s a talented kid, he steps up. It’s been one kid after another.”
Down 14-4 after an ugly first quarter where the Rangers 3-pointers were falling but the Panthers weren’t, Porterville began battling back from the double-digit deficit with a 3-pointer from Ramage to start them off.
From there fellow seniors Boyd, Hernandez and C.J. Fish contributed big buckets to cut into Redwood’s lead before sophomore Odsather laid it in to put Porterville ahead 25-24 with less than 30 seconds to go.
The Rangers got the ball back and scored but just before the shot clock hit zero, Daguman drew a foul at the 3-point line with 0.5 seconds left and the PHS crowd went wild. Daguman sank two of his three free throws and the Panthers went into the half up 27-26.
“That was bad basketball,” Wallace said. “First-round playoff game, we’re playing against a 12-seed Redwood that was not really a 12-seed. They had gotten back two players that they
hadn't had all year long. They just had them for the last four games. So that was a very physical, tough Redwood team. And getting down 14-4 like that, we were worried.”
Redwood made their runs in the third but Porterville's defense picked up with quick steals from Hernandez, blocks from Boyd, balls knocked away by Ramage and more to slow down the Rangers.
“We're good at defense,” Wallace said. “The last four games we've figured out how to lock teams down. We've figured out how to have five guys out on the court play as one defensively and it's been fun to watch.”
By the fourth quarter the Panthers' defense was intact, except for when it came to boxing out, and Porterville was able to extend their lead by 10 points before the midway point of the final quarter.
Seven different players scored for the Panthers with Boyd leading the way with 13 and going 7-of-10 from the free throw line. Ramage finished with 11 points and knocked down three 3-pointers that not only extended the lead for the team but also increased the energy of the gym. Odsather had a big fourth quarter where he scored eight of his 11 total points while Hernandez played physical and finished with nine points after going 5-of-6 at the free throw line.
Porterville's next game is Friday at No. 4 Independence (19-6) with a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Falcons defeated 13th-seed Nipomo (12-17) 70-60 to advance to the quarterfinal game.