Dos Pueblos boys basketball pulled out a nail-biting 62-59 victory over Aliso Niguel in the opening round of the CIF-SS Div. 2A playoffs on Wednesday inside Sovine Gym.
After not leading throughout the entire first half, the Chargers opened the second half on a 10-0 run and scrapped their way to a playoff-opening victory, their first since the 2021-22 season.
Dos Pueblos will now be on the road to take on Canyon High of Canyon Country on Friday at 7 p.m.
“The guys are feeling really good about themselves but I told them ‘Don’t be content,’” Dos Pueblos head coach Joe Zamora said. “It’s a great feeling to get through that first round.”
The first quarter was a defensive battle as both teams struggled to find their offensive rhythm. The two sides exchanged buckets throughout until Aliso Niguel took a slim 16-15 lead into the second.
Following some back-and-forth play to begin the second quarter, Dos Pueblos’ Shane Grant buried a three-pointer off an assist from Wyatt Gardiner to bring the Chargers to within one at 21-20.
However, the Wolverine offense then knocked down back-to-back triples and Noah Shihad converted a layup in transition to go up 29-20 and prompt a Dos Pueblos timeout.
“The reason they were getting open shots was because they would get to the middle, head and shoulder fake us, our guys leave their feet and then they kick out or they finish,” Zamora said.
“When we were down by nine and we called a timeout, we talked about how we just had to have stops, execute on the offensive end and play to our strengths.”
The timeout proved to be effective, as the Chargers slowly crept closer to Aliso Niguel throughout the quarter and another three-pointer from Grant cut the deficit down to 35-34 with 1:11 left in the half.
The Wolverines closed out the half on a high note, however, hitting a free throw and a jumper to take a 38-34 lead into halftime on the road.
The Chargers came out of the halftime break with a jolt of energy, beginning the third with back-to-back three-pointers courtesy of Grant and Evan Pinsker to take their first lead of the night at 40-38.
They weren’t done there, as the defense forced a turnover that led to a driving layup by Grant. After another defensive stop, Pinsker knocked down a floater to expand the lead to 44-38 and force Aliso Niguel to take a timeout.
“We went to that 3-2 zone (in the second half) because I was not happy with the way they were getting to the middle. When we changed that defense the guys really bought into it,” Zamora said.
“We talked about it just being little things we can do in the second half and the guys did it.”
Aliso Niguel didn’t fold over, however, coming out of the timeout with a quick 5-0 run to cut the deficit down to one point at the 3:33 mark.
That was as close as the score got for the rest of the third thanks in part to the play of Grant, who totaled eight points in the quarter to help the Chargers hold onto a 47-45 lead with one quarter to play.
Grant was in the middle of the action all night for Dos Pueblos, ending with a team-high 20 points to go along with nine rebounds.
“[Grant] is one of the guys where I tell everyone ‘I’m glad he’s on our team,’” Zamora said. “He’s a three-level scorer… he’s strong, he finishes, he’s smart, he doesn’t try to do too much and he gets his teammates involved.
“He does everything for us, he’s our glue guy for sure… The guys just love him.”
The fourth quarter began with some back-and-forth play that resulted in the game being tied at 49-49 with just under six minutes left on the clock.
The Chargers then went on a 5-0 burst thanks to a three-pointer from Gardiner at the top of the key and a spinning layup in the post by Coulter Jay to go back up 54-49 with 4:49 remaining.
A pair of Aliso Niguel three-pointers with a jumper by Jay sandwiched in between brought the Dos Pueblos lead to 56-55 with 2:28 to go in regulation.
Dos Pueblos then came away with a huge offensive rebound on the ensuing possession to set up a Pinsker dime to Grant, who finished off the layup to extend the lead to 58-55.
The two sides then exchanged empty possessions until Aliso Niguel regained possession and called timeout with 45 seconds left.
After missing a three-pointer out of the timeout, the Wolverines collected the offensive rebound and Wyatt Richmond was fouled on his layup attempt. Richmond knocked down just one free throw, prompting Aliso Niguel to play the foul game.
Gardiner came up big for Dos Pueblos, knocking down three of his four free throws to make it a comfortable 61-56 lead with 13 seconds left.
Jay hit one more free throw for the Chargers and Richmond hit a late three-pointer for Aliso Niguel, but Dos Pueblos held on for the three-point win.
The Chargers leaned on Gardiner and Jay in the second half, utilizing the size of the 6-foot-5 forwards to facilitate the offense and open up the painted area.
“We wanted to establish Wyatt and Coulter in our early transition stuff and once we do, the guys know where they’re going to get their shots and that’s what we did,” Zamora said.
Gardiner dropped 14 points and hauled in nine rebounds while Jay tallied nine points and eight rebounds of his own.
Dos Pueblos will look to carry this momentum into its next playoff game with a short turnaround.
“These kids have played with each other for so long you can’t tell once a few things start going their way there’s momentum and they feed off each other, so we’re excited,” Zamora said.