The Providence boys basketball team nearly pulled out a win against defending CIF finalist Fresno Christian Thursday afternoon in the Santa Clarita Christian Tournament.
Providence took a double-digit lead into the second half but couldn’t hang on as Fresno Christian tied it up and went on to win in overtime, 59-57.
Gianni Madrigal finished with 20 points, eight rebounds to lead the Patriots. Ricky Beebe put up 11 points and Caleb Jones earned 10 while playing stout defense against Fresno Christian’s top scorer. Bryan Sheets earned seven assists.
“We jumped on them early and did a great job of executing our stuff on offense and made their life tough on defense,” said Providence coach Steve Stokes. “Against teams this good, your margin of error is not very high. We need to button it up going forward.”
Fresno Christian returned most of its team that reached the CIF-Central Section Division 5 final last season.
With the loss, Providence falls to 1-1 on the season and takes on Grace Brethren Friday.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.