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Hilmar drops the ball in round one
Hilmar Boys1
Brock Tate of Hilmar High gets ready to drive it in the lane against a Grizzly defender during Thursdays loss to Mariposa. - photo by EDDIE RUIZ / The Journal

The Hilmar High boys  basketball team had major turmoil on Thursday night in the first round of the Hilmar Christmas Classic, as they struggled on offense and defense against Mariposa.

Missing easy shots and rebounds became the theme of the game for the ‘Jackets as they were also victims of contentious fouls called against them early on and it led to their 26-57 defeat.

“We just came out flat. We didn’t have the energy there as we saw Mariposa, who was being very aggressive and running their offense and when things didn’t go our way we decided to do other things and that hurt us,” Hilmar head coach Danny Freitas said. “They played their games and we didn’t come ready to play.”

With a 14-42 score by the start of the third, the ‘Jackets were only able to drain 12 more points to end the game, as Mariposa came out and controlled the paint.

“This game was an eye opener because when our league rolls around it will be tougher than today,” Freitas said. “The thing is that it is about doing the little things right, running offense and executing, setting right screens and it is just the little things that are hurting us a lot.”

The ‘Jackets less than impressive performance showed as they were held to only 12-of-38 for the game with a 1-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. Hilmar totaled 15 turnovers for the game.

Leading the way in scoring was Joseph Bello with 6 points, followed by Jarrod Willis with five.

The boys will host Los Banos at 8:30 p.m. tonight in the second day of the tournament.