California High School boys basketball has returned, after opening the 2021-22 season at home against the New Haven High School Shamrocks Friday night.
The two teams had met only one other time in their history -- back on Nov. 20, 2020 -- when the Shamrocks defeated the Pintos 49-37. Now, the two teams met again, and the Pintos had payback on their minds.
That's exactly what they'd get. The Pintos dispatched the Shamrocks in an ultimately comfortable 52-36 win.
However, before the game began, the Pintos and the community of California paid tribute to the memory of one of their own. Pintos basketball player Lucas Oswald unexpectedly passed away July 5, and his tragic passing left the Pintos and their fans heartbroken. Just before the varsity team took the court for their warm-up, the entire Pintos team held a moment of celebration for the life of Lucas with his family. The Pintos took the court with an "LO" patch on their jersey in memory of their teammate and friend.
Despite their heavy hearts, the Pintos took the court and prepared themselves to go head-to-head with the Shamrocks, almost a full year after their last meeting. The junior varsity team played first and stormed out of the starting gate. Using a track meet style when running their fastbreak, California overpowered New Haven on defense and raced up and down the court for multiple fastbreak field goals. Every player on the roster scored in the game and the JV Pintos charged past New Haven 63-18.
Then, the varsity squad took the court, starting their game off in a similar fashion.
California jumped out to an early 11-5 lead during the game's first five minutes, capped off by a left-hand breakaway dunk from senior Trevor Myers. But New Haven didn't panic. They answered the Pintos' early run with a run of their own. Led by senior sharpshooter Sam Scheer, the Shamrocks kept the Pintos at bay throughout the second quarter.
Despite keeping a 19-17 lead at the half, California needed to make some changes.
With the game tied 25-25 with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter, senior guard Calen Kruger stepped into a quick three-pointer off a cross-court pass from sophomore point guard Ayden Bryant and made the shot. As California made only their second three-pointer of the game, they found just enough momentum to turn the game their way. Coupled with a suffocating defense that frustrated New Haven's shooters, the Pintos closed the quarter on a 12-3 run and led by nine going into the fourth quarter at 37-28.
Continuing to clamp down on the Shamrock's offense and forcing turnovers, the Pintos wouldn't give New Haven any second chances as they outscored New Haven 15-8 in the fourth.
Calen Kruger led the Pintos with 19 points, Trevor Myers had 14 points and Ayden Bryant added 10 points. Seven of Bryant's 10 points came in the fourth quarter.
As a team, California shot 40 percent from the field, 40 percent from the three-point line, and 61 percent from the free-throw line. But it was the Pintos' defense that stole the spotlight as California came away with 15 steals while holding the Shamrocks to only 33 percent shooting.
Pintos head coach Brad Conway said he knew Friday night's game was going to be a difficult one for his team before tip-off because of the pregame ceremony for Lucas Oswald. Conway said Lucas' spirit was in the building Friday and will continue to be with this team all year.
"Lucas played JV last year. He was playing with us this summer and I think two or three days after we played a game is when we lost him," Conway said. "Lucas was a great kid. He loved the game of basketball, and we'll all miss him."
It's the first time in Conway's 32-year coaching career that one of his players has passed away, and he said it was very tough for everyone. Some of the players returned to the locker room afterward and had to regain their composure before the game. But it was clear to everyone in attendance that Lucas Oswald's spirit lives on in the Pintos.
Coming into the ballgame, the Pintos had made extra preparations in their defensive coverage. While the Pintos played man-to-man defense for most of the night, they displayed strong and crisp rotations that put a dent into New Haven's offensive plans.
"I felt that defensively, we were helping the helper and just being there for each other. We felt like they had a couple of mismatches where they had a little more length than we did," Conway said. "We really harped on making sure that we had the help there and that everyone was going to have to rotate. They tried to throw some skip passes and we got some deflections on steals off of that. But the big thing was that we didn't give up a lot of points in the paint tonight."
Although it was only the first game of the season, Conway said he is looking forward to what the rest of the season has to offer for his team and where they will go from here.
The Pintos were back home Tuesday night to take on the Moberly Spartans. Next, the Pintos travel to Boonville for the Tri-County Conference Tournament on Tuesday and will take on Southern Boone in the first round.
