By Ted Apodaca: After a close first half, Western High used a third quarter edge to get a 56-49 win over Rancho Alamitos in a consolation game at the Rancho Alamitos Christmas Classic Tournament recently at Rancho Alamitos High.
The Pioneers led 32-30 at halftime, but managed to stretch their lead to 47-40 at the end of the third quarter. But the Vaqueros made a run in the fourth to close the gap to 51-49, before the Pioneers closed out the final 1:40 on a 5-0 run.
By Ted Apodaca: After a close first half, Western High used a third quarter edge to get a 56-49 win over Rancho Alamitos in a consolation game at the Rancho Alamitos Christmas Classic Tournament recently at Rancho Alamitos High.
The Pioneers led 32-30 at halftime, but managed to stretch their lead to 47-40 at the end of the third quarter. But the Vaqueros made a run in the fourth to close the gap to 51-49, before the Pioneers closed out the final 1:40 on a 5-0 run.
Rancho Alamitos senior guard Matthew Bautista hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter that cut the lead to 47-43. Bautista led all scorers with 24 points.
Western junior Noe Herrera took a pass inside and scored to push the lead back to 49-43. But the Vaqueros went on a 6-2 run from there. Senior guard Nick Castro hit a running lob shot that cut the lead to 49-45. After that, Bautista made a defensive steal and took the ball coast to coast for a layup that cut the lead to 49-47 with 2:59 left.
Western senior Brandon Magallanes drove the key to draw the defense and dished a pass to Herrera for an uncontested layup that pushed the lead to 51-47. After another steal by Bautista, freshman Kenny Cordova put back an offensive rebound to pull Rancho back within 51-49, but that would be as close as the Vaqueros would get.
Western coach Dan Davidson liked the way his team handled the late run by the Vaqueros.
“The key was composure, the kids really had good composure,” Davidson said.
The Pioneers also had a big game from senior forward Rahul Bagga, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Herrera had 18 points to lead the scoring for Western. Magallanes scored 11 points.
Tommy Tran tallied nine points for Rancho Alamitos and Nick Castro chipped in seven for the Vaqueros.
The Vaqueros open Garden Grove League play at 7 p.m.Wednesday, Jan. 11 at Bolsa Grande High.
