McFarland suffers championship loss to Madera South
FRESNO — The second of Christopher Samaniego’s three first-quarter 3-pointers encapsulated everything about how McFarland began Saturday afternoon’s section title game.
Even though Samaniego’s aim from the right corner was a little off, the shot banked off the glass at the perfect angle and rattled in. The Cougars, as a whole, could do no wrong in the first quarter-plus at Selland Arena, and jumped out to a game-opening 20-5 lead that forced two timeouts by Madera South.
After the second stoppage, both teams appeared completely changed.
Beginning with a threepoint play by the Stallions’ physical forward Michael Rivera, Madera South closed the gap to five points by halftime.
The Stallions then extended their run, taking advantage of a string of McFarland turnovers to score 19 straight points and take a 40-33 lead.
The Cougars’ senior forward Deven McCullough came out strong with backto-back tough baskets in the fourth quarter, cutting the Cougars’ deficit back to two points, but Madera South pulled away again behind 13 fourth-quarter points from guard Daniel Valdez.
The Stallions claimed the Division V title by a final margin of 71-64.
“I think maybe we came off of a high, a really good high in the first half, and we came back down a little too much,” McFarland coach Mark Dumlao said. “A couple of our shots weren’t falling. Too many second-chance points for the other team, and they capitalized on that.”
Rivera scored practically at will in the paint, drawing 10 fouls from the Cougars, and finished with 21 points, as well as five steals. Valdez
led all scorers with 27.
McFarland got 15 points and seven rebounds from McCullough, 14 points from Samaniego (including four 3-pointers), and 11 from point guard Juan Rodriguez. Rodriguez drove for back-to-back baskets as part of a desperate last-minute run that brought the Cougars within five points with less than a minute left. That stretch was capped off by a crazy off-balance corner 3 by Isaac Herrera.
It was all for naught, however, as Valdez broke McFarland’s press twice for easy layups in the dying moments.
“Just like anything else in life,” Dumlao said, “you have to take it and grow with it.”
To hear Dumlao tell it, McFarland has dealt with plenty already this season, including a coaching change, but has managed to regroup at every turn.
The No. 7 Cougars and No. 13 Stallions made two road upsets each to arrive at Selland Arena. (The Stallions then reached the final when top-seeded Desert had to forfeit due to travel concerns.)
“Nobody thought we were going to make it,” Dumlao said. “The way our season was going, nobody thought we were going to make it this far. Everybody thought we were going to get bounced out in the first playoff game, actually. And I’m proud of our boys regardless of outcome, from how far we’ve grown as a team.”
The Cougars certainly looked early on like they might clinch the school’s first section title in boys basketball in 70 years, and it wasn’t even clear when the Scorpions got back in the game that they would be in it for the long haul.
McFarland scored six straight in the middle of the second quarter thanks to great offensive rebounding, including putbacks by McCullough and Jesus Martinez.
The Cougars led 33-21 shortly before halftime, but Julian Camacho sank a floater, Maurice Snowden (who finished with 10 points) pulled up for 3 with 20 seconds left and then disaster struck when Camacho snagged a steal, saved the ball from going out of bounds and set up Valdez for a buzzer-beating layup. Those were the first seven points of the 19-0 run.
Madera South, one of just two schools playing for a first-ever boys basketball section title at Selland Arena over the weekend, used an 18-6 stretch in the fourth quarter to take its largest lead at 14 points, then held on for the win.