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Pitman boys take Turlock in crosstown matchup
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Josiah Frank (5) of Pitman High finished Wednesday’s rivalry game against Turlock with a game-high 22 points as the Pride beat the ‘Dogs, 72-51 (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

For the first time since Dec. 9, 2017, the Pitman Pride varsity boys basketball team defeated the Turlock Bulldogs after a 72-51 victory from the Pride’s gym on Wednesday night that also marked the halfway mark through league play. 

“I thought Pitman came out well prepared and ready to play team basketball and we tried to do too much dribbling and just didn’t move the ball well enough to be successful,” said THS head coach Doug Cornfoot. “In league we are where we wanted to be. We have run into some hiccups, but that is part of growing as a person and as a player.” 

“I am very happy because I told the kids that one of the goals was that we wanted to continue to improve, and we have improved since the middle of December,” said Pitman head coach Harvey Marable. “Our thing right now is for them to trust me, and me trust them and to show the knowledge that we understand what is going on and that is what we are working on.” 

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Dylan Anderson (22) of Pitman High finished Wednesday’s game against Turlock with 12 points as the Pitman Pride toppled the Turlock Bulldogs, 72-51 (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

On Wednesday, Pitman came out and took a commanding 18-11 lead following the first quarter. 

With 1:50 left in the second quarter, Pitman had built a 12-point lead and went into the half up 38-24. 

Turlock fought their way back in the third quarter and cut the lead to within five points when the clock read 3:59. 

Pitman responded with a 21-15 run in the final 11 minutes and 59 seconds of play in the game. 

The Pride has notched back-to-back wins and Wednesday’s win would not have been possible without the anchor in Josiah Frank, who scored a game-high 22 points and added a ton of steals and points in transition and off turnovers. 

Turlock’s lone double-digit scorer was Cam Walker, who notched 15 points for the game as the ‘Dogs lost their fourth straight contest. 

At the halfway mark of CCAL play, Pitman’s record is 3-2, while Turlock’s is 2-3. 

“We had a goal to go 4-1 in the first half of league, and we missed our goal, so now we have a second round to improve on what we did, and for me this is just the last game in the first round and we are better now than we were on the first game and I like where we are,” Marable added. 

“We would have to win five in a row, but if we can go 4-1 down the stretch in league and we could be 6-4, and that might get us in third,” Cornfoot added. “It is going to be a longshot, but right now we are just focused on getting better and we have four seniors and the guys that get the majority of the playing time are lower classmen, so we just want to get better so these types of losses don’t happen again.”