Senior Abhiraj Cheema erupted for 14 third-quarter points, and sophomore teammate Ty Sanchez scored eight of his game-high 25 in the stanza, as Pitman High defeated crosstown rival Turlock 61-56 on Wednesday in a Central Catholic Athletic League matchup.

With the victory, the Pride improves to 2-1 in CCAL play and into a three-way tie with Downey and Gregori for second place behind Enochs (3-0). Turlock falls to 0-3, tied with Modesto.

Pitman will entertain Enochs on Friday, while the Bulldogs will travel to Modesto to take on Downey.

The Pride (7-13) trailed 29-23 at halftime, and Cheema had scored just two points in the first half.

So what exactly did head coach Harvey Marable tell his squad at halftime?

“Hopefully, I spoke to all their hearts at halftime,” said Marable. “I said, ‘The remainder of this season, my only care is that we work as hard as we can every game to our best potential. And (Tuesday) in practice, we had a full practice where they were totally engaged and worked really hard and I just wanted that to happen tonight. And it didn’t happen in the first half.”

Cheema got the message loud and clear.

“I was trying to force shots in the first half that weren’t really my shots,” said Cheema, a three-year member of the varsity who finished with 21 points. “I knew if I let the game come to me naturally, I’d get my shots.”

Sanchez, meanwhile, helped keep Pitman close with five points in the first quarter, including a three-pointer just before the buzzer, and 12 more in the second, with three-pointers to open and close that period.

Cheema and Sanchez combined for 22 of Pitman’s 26 points in the third.

“Our practices are like games,” said Sanchez. “We practice as hard, if not harder, than we do in games. And Coach Marable asked us halftime, ‘Hey, where’s that at?’”

Turlock had four players finish in double figures, with sophomore Ledger Ladine leading the way with 15 points. Senior Donavan Muirbrook finished with 14, while seniors Nehemiah McGowan and Devin Donnelly contributed 10 points apiece.

“Pitman did a good job of coming out in the second half and picking up their intensity,” said Bulldogs coach Rick Fetter. “Cheema stepped up and asserted himself, and once he kind of got going, we got a little overly aggressive and he did a great job of picking his spots.

“But I loved the way we played. I love the ball movement; I thought we were finding the open man really well. The shots will fall.”