Third time proved to be the charm for Hughson when they took on the Hilmar High boys basketball team on Tuesday night.
Having won two straight, it looked as though Hilmar could possibly pull off a league sweep, but the Huskies' Josh Duron and Will Fiveash had another thing in mind.
Combined, Duron and Fiveash added 35 points for Hughson as they were backed up by a great shooting night and came out of Hilmar with a 67-63 shocking win.
“This was a tough loss. Offensively, I thought we played pretty well,” said Hilmar head coach Paul Willis. “One of our better offensive outputs in last couple weeks, but defensively we just got off slow in our rotations and couldn’t block their shooters and they made big shots. You have to give them credit because they made shots and we did not, which was the difference.”
Hughson managed to make those big shots and go up in the second quarter after a 10-2 run gave them a two point lead by halftime at 32-30.
Hughson led 52-47 after the third and set up a thrilling fourth that saw three lead changes in a two minute span before the Huskies took control at the end.
Fiveash and Duron combined to scored 11 of the team’s final points in the final quarter.
Hilmar’s Kole Gaglio, who finished the game with 16 points, cut the lead to three after making it 64-61.
Gaglio would get another open look just 30 seconds later but the ball rolled around and popped out of the net, eventually forcing Hilmar to foul Hughson with less than half a minute remaining in regulation.
After Duron made both his free-throws, Alec Cano set up a shot from behind the arc but missed it as he fell to the ground with plenty of contact but a foul was never called and time expired for Hilmar.
Hilmar was outscored in the final five minutes, 11-7.
The ‘Jackets are now 3-4 in the Trans-Valley League and with four games left must win out with Escalon and Riverbank in a third place tie at 4-4.
Cano topped all scorers with 21 points and Duron finished with 18 points. Fiveash had 17. Nobody else scored in double figures for Hilmar.
The next game for Hilmar will be on the road at Mountain House at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
