A 16-0 run that stretched from late in the first half to late in the third quarter was key for the California Pintos' 55-43 win against Marshall on Friday in the fifth-place game of the California Tournament.
Marshall took a 23-21 lead on a Chase Kateman basket with 2:18 remaining in the first half, but the Owls didn't score again until 1:17 remaining in the third quarter.
"We need to move better, we need to set better screens, we need to keep spacing better and we need to hit open shots," California coach Matt Moulder said. "We had several layups that we missed and when we executed offense and had a good look, we didn't finish the play."
The Pintos scored 16 points during that time to take a 36-23 lead. Jaylin Freeman's three-point play capped off the run.
"We just didn't play real well in the first half and just kept letting it go back and forth on us," Moulder said. "We buckled down a little bit defensively, got better on the boards and started hitting some shots. It wasn't anything miraculous, we just started playing better."
Points off turnovers jolted the Pintos, who only scored two points in the first five minutes of the third quarter.
An Ethan Hodges steal turned into a three-point play for Josh Woodruff with 2:56 remaining in the third quarter. Woodruff ended up with seven points.
Landon Mouse stole the ball shortly after and Freeman converted a three-point play to give the Pintos a 33-23 lead. Mouse led the Pintos with 25 points, including making two 3-pointers and seven free throws.
After another steal for Hodges, California missed inside and from 3-point range before Freeman converted yet another three-point play to cap off the run.
Freeman scored six of his 10 points at the free throw line.
Marshall got within 10 with 7:04 remaining in the game, but California went on an 8-1 run.
The Pintos made 7-of-8 from the line in the final minute of the game to hold on to the 12-point win.
Wyatt Bestgen chipped in eight points for the Pintos.
He scored inside to tie the game at 6 with 2:58 remaining in the first quarter. He also had back-to-back layups in the fourth quarter to extend California's lead to 48-31 at the 3:12 mark.
California and Marshall traded runs in the first half.
The Owls led 6-2 with 5:17 remaining in the first quarter before the Pintos rolled off 10 straight points to take a 12-6 lead with 1:57 remaining in the opening period.
The Owls closed out the quarter scoring five of the final seven points to get within three.
Marshall kept the momentum going, scoring the first six points of the second quarter to lead 17-14 at the 5:44 mark.
Once again, the Pintos got going.
Mouse knocked down a jumper, two free throws and 3-pointer from the top of the key to give California a 21-17 lead with 3:48 remaining in the first half.
Marshall went on a 6-0 spurt to take the lead back before Mouse hit two jumpers in the final 1:39 of the half to put California up 25-23.
California (7-5) played School of the Osage Tuesday evening, however game results were not available at press time.