San Marcos boys basketball had its furious fourth-quarter comeback effort fall just short in Friday’s 51-47 loss to Ventura inside the Thunderhut.
After trailing by seven points heading into the final quarter and by 10 points with 5:26 to go, the Royals cut the lead down to one with 21 seconds left.
However, they couldn’t tie things up or take the lead before the final buzzer.
San Marcos got out to a strong start, jumping out to a 7-4 lead thanks to buckets from Micah Jacobi, Koji Hefner and Joe Pasternack.
The Cougars then found their footing and went on an 11-1 run in the first quarter to take a strong 15-8 lead. At the end of the first, Ventura led 15-11.
Although the offense slowed down a bit, the Cougars held a one-to-two possession lead for the majority of the second quarter until the 2:18 mark.
At that time, Hefner grabbed an offensive rebound and swung the ball out to Pasternack, who then gave it right back to Hefner for an open three-pointer to tie the game at 24-24.
Despite the San Marcos crowd feeling the momentum swing, the Royals couldn’t find the bottom of the basket for the rest of the quarter and went into halftime down 28-24.
The third quarter was largely controlled by Ventura, as they outscored San Marcos and never gave up the lead. Heading into the fourth, the Cougars held a 45-38 advantage.
The Royals came out of the huddle strong to begin the fourth, slowly chipping away at the lead.
Hefner converted an and-one layup, Pasternack hit a pair of free throws and Jacobi picked up an easy bucket inside to bring the Ventura lead to 48-45 with 3:41 to go.
Out of a Cougar timeout, both defenses hunkered down and didn’t allow a point for about two minutes until San Marcos coach James Kinzler called a timeout with 1:22 left on the clock.
A few possessions later, Royals point guard Brody Green made a move into the lane and dumped the ball off to Jacobi, who finished off the play to cut the lead to 48-47 with 21 seconds left.
San Marcos then fouled Ventura’s Caleb Sebek to send him to the charity stripe, where he buried both shots to make it a 50-47 advantage.
The Royals got a shot off in their final possession, but it was off target and the Cougars came away with the road victory.
The San Marcos trio of Pasternack, Hefner and Jacobi led the charge all night.
Pasternack paced the scoring attack with 17 points while tacking on three big assists throughout the game. Meanwhile, Hefner and Jacobi each picked up double-doubles.
Hefner ended the night with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Jacobi had 11 points and 11 boards.
The Royals (5-5, 1-2 Channel League) will look to bounce back against Dunn on Saturday.
Corona Del Mar 75, Bishop Diego 52
The Cardinals dropped a tough matchup against Corona Del Mar on Friday.
“I felt we battled and played hard all game but those guys were too good for us to not do the little things,” Bishop Diego coach James Coronado said. “If we weren’t crisp on our rotations, they burned us with a kick-out tree, if we didn’t box out, their bigs killed us on the boards, and if we didn’t move the ball on offense, it was turnover waiting to happen.
“The key for me though was we never gave in and kept playing hard all night. With the effort our guys gave, that’s something to work with, couldn’t more proud of the boys tonight.”
After falling behind in the first half, the Cardinals fought back and matched the Sea Kings in the third quarter, 20-20.
“We started to move the ball better, got some good looks and that gave us a pep in our step on defense,” Coronado said. “We just have to do it more often and more consistently especially against a great team like them.
Dame Krautmann led Bishop Diego’s offense with 10 points while John Michael Flint chipped in eight.
“It was great to see great competition, now we know what we need to shoot for.”
