Pintos edge out Versailles

<p>Democrat photo/ Kevin Labotka</p><p>Jordon Geiser drives to the hoop during California’s 83-76 win over Versailles, Jan. 18.</p>

Democrat photo/ Kevin Labotka

Jordon Geiser drives to the hoop during California’s 83-76 win over Versailles, Jan. 18.

VERSAILLES, Mo. - The California Pintos boys team (9-6) held in a close game against the Versailles Tigers (8-8), Jan. 18. As the Pintos won 83-76.

The Pintos held a slim three-point lead at 13-10, after the first quarter. But in the second quarter, the Pintos' offense got into a groove, as they outscored Versailles 26-15 to take a 39-25 lead at halftime. The Pintos led 20-18 with around five minutes left in the half, before going on a 19-7 run to end the first half.

In the second half, Versailles got off to a fast start, as they cut the lead down to seven points at 39-32 after a 7-0 run to start the third quarter.

Head coach Ron Lebel said that Versailles was just making shots during their run at the start of the half.

"We came out maybe a little flat," Lebel said. "Once you have a little lead and sit down for a little bit, you can come out a little flat. (Versailles) is a good basketball team and good basketball team's don't want to lose so they came out, hit us with a little run, and we came back and did all right."

After California called a time out, the Pintos were able to start scoring again and brought the lead back up to double digits, after Isaac Ash scored, to make it a 47-36 game with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

Shortly after that, the Pintos hit back-to-back three-pointers to make it a 53-38 game with 2:54 in the quarter. Versailles went on a 13-1 run in the final minutes of the third and the Tigers were able to cut the lead down to three points at 54-51 at the end of the quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Pintos led by only two points at 54-52, before Trystan Hees scored six points-in-a-row for the Pintos to make it a 60-54 game with 6:30 left to play. The game remained close, as every time it looked like California was about to pull away, Versailles would answer back to keep the close within single digits.

In the final two minutes of the game, the Tigers got within five points twice. The first time made it 75-70 with just under two minutes to go and the second time was at 77-72 with 1:01 left to play. Eventually, the Tigers started fouling and California made its free throws count, as the Pintos went 12-13 from the free-throw line in the second half.

Lebel said that the team kept its composure, even with Versailles having three runs in the second half that kept the game close.

Jordon Geiser had a big game, as he led the team with 28 points. Isaac Ash scored 23 points and Trystan Hees had 16 points for the Pintos.

The second half of games has caused some problems for the Pintos recently, as in their losses to Fulton, Jan. 10, the Pintos led at the half 38-35 before falling 92-87 and in their loss to Warrensburg, Jan. 8. The team was only down three points at 26-23 at halftime before losing 65-40.

Lebel said that this win helped with the team's confidence.

"We've had a few games that we had a hard time closing out," Lebel said. "Hey we can do it. We can get this done; we can do it as a team. The main thing I think we bring out of that is some confidence that we know how to close out games."