Turlock High’s boys varsity basketball team admitted they felt slighted that they were chosen as a play-in team for this year’s CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs, the same fate as their crosstown rival Pitman despite sweeping them in the regular season and finishing a spot ahead of them in the Central California Athletic League standings.
The No. 15 Bulldogs channeled that bitterness into a dominant performance against No. 18 Central Valley of Ceres on Tuesday night, cruising to a 69-44 victory.
The ‘Dogs will now travel to play No. 2 Inderkum (26-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the first official round of the tournament.
Both teams were eager to start the contest, combining for no field goals on their first nine attempts through the first two and a half minutes of play. Then, star senior Ross Widemon opened up the floodgates for Turlock.
Widemon, who transferred from Modesto Christian during the summer, scored 25 points on the night, and helped his team take 33-17 into the half with 18 points through the first two frames. He made his first attempt of the night, a deep three from the near center court midway through the quarter. After a floater before the end of the first quarter, he exploded to make three straight shots, bury a free throw, and score the team’s last five points of the half on a 3-pointer and layup.
“At MC, I was more of a sixth-man type of guy, backup guard, but this might be my first (playoff start),” Widemon said. “I was looking forward to it, but besides that, coming into the game, I told my team, that (the section) putting us as a play-in was pretty disrespectful. Late in the season, we were grinding out some wins, and it was disrespectful. I told my team we wanted this chip on our shoulders and we played like it.”
Turlock was 13-14 in the regular season, and 6-4 against conference opponents. Three of those wins came in their last three games.
The key to beating a 16-12 Central Valley team, it seemed, was pace. Hawks defenders pressed on defense, and the Bulldogs were consistently able to break through traps. The supporting cast of Josiah Simmons, Izaak Saenz and Donovan Muirbrook consistently made their share of shots — 13 to be exact.
Muirbrook lit up the scoreboard in the third quarter, scoring 13 while shooting a perfect five-for-five from the field. He made a jumper in the early stages of the quarter, then on a fastbreak, made a layup as he was fouled, subsequently making his free throw. With Widemon receiving tons of attention from the defense, he proceeded to nail a pair of 3-pointers before making another layup. He finished with 15 points on the night.
Widemon, in a more complimentary role in the second half, posted six assists and seven rebounds. He assisted twice to Saenz, who had 10 points.
“We've seen these teams play in transition with the trap they brought to us,” Muirbrook said of Central Valley’s defensive approach. “But we just know how to break it. We know how to play. We've been working on it for a good amount of time now, late in the season. We know we gotta push the pace and that every bucket counts, to take easy buckets when possible. I feel like that's what we did. It takes everyone on this team to step up. Of course, this is a family, but I feel like we’re truly playing as a team now.”
First-year varsity head coach Rick Fetter also believes that his team is peaking at the perfect time.
“Josiah and Izaak, I don't want them to go unnoticed because they made some big shots,” Fetter said. And I’m super proud of Donnie, because having that third option when him and Izaak are feeling it, we're a better basketball team. Those guys shoot the basketball and just open things up. Some of our best games — our biggest games — they’ve contributed.
“One of our mottos down the stretch has been, ‘Let it rip.’ We get to go in there against Inderkum and play loose and play free. They'll have a little bit of a size advantage on us. They'll want to trap and press like tonight. I think if guys can hit those open shots and keep attacking like we're doing, where everybody contributes, I think it is a tall task, but I feel like our guys believe they have a chance to win this basketball game. That's one thing I love about this team, is they feel like they can win any game.”
