California Pintos basketball played in their first tournament of the season last week at the Tipton Tournament. The Pintos began the tournament as the No. 5 seed and earned a first-round matchup against the Eldon Mustangs.
At the start, both teams had different strategies. California wanted to move the ball on the perimeter and look for a high-quality shot, while Eldon wanted to penetrate into the lane and kick the ball out to their shooters for three-pointers. California junior guard Gavin Porter caught the hot hand in the first quarter with eight points, including two three-pointers. However, Eldon's offense matched California shot-for-shot and took a 17-15 lead into the second quarter, courtesy of their own hot hand, junior guard Nathan Reynolds, who hit three three-pointers in the first quarter, including one in the final seconds.
In the second quarter, the Mustangs' penetration made things difficult for the Pintos defense and they knocked down three more threes. California also had difficulties attacking Eldon's zone defense, which was designed to take away the lane. The Mustangs built their lead to 28-20 with less than three minutes remaining in the first half, but the Pintos came back to cut the lead to 30-28 at halftime.
After making some adjustments at halftime, California came into the second half and scored the first four points of the third quarter to go up 34-30. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the quarter, with California going up 42-39 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Pintos plotted a plan before the fourth quarter, with Head Coach Brad Conway telling his team to expect Eldon to turn up the pressure of their zone defense. California may have been ready for what was coming, but Eldon didn't give an inch to California with their defense. Eldon's zone defense played its best quarter of the game and outscored California 21-9 in the fourth and California was defeated by Eldon 60-52. Junior guard Ayden Bryant was California's high man with 17 points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal. Porter had 12 points and three rebounds. Sophomore point guard Brooks Volkart had 10 points and three assists. Junior center Hunter Berendzen had eight points and eight rebounds.
Conway said the loss taught California about how they would have to attack a zone defense and take care of the basketball. Eldon forced California into six turnovers in the fourth quarter and 17 turnovers in the game, with four of the turnovers in the fourth quarter coming in the final three minutes. Conway said California's mistakes helped spur the Mustangs' runs throughout the game and the Pintos will need to limit their mistakes if they are to win their last two games of the tournament.
"We made a lot of mistakes throughout the game. We had turnovers throughout the whole game that we didn't even get a chance to get a shot off and, more times than not, those led to scoring opportunities for them. Against their zone defense, we had a lot of standing around. When we did penetrate into it, good things happened for us. We didn't necessarily score every time, but we did force them to collapse and we got good looks, but they beat us to the loose ball and they made us pay for our mistakes," Conway said. "We'll learn a lot from tonight and, fortunately, we won't have to dwell on this game for very long and come right back on Wednesday. I like early season tournaments because you get to play three games in a week and you usually see some different things outside of what you might see in conference or district games."
The Pintos were quick to put the loss to Eldon quickly behind them and rebounded nicely with a 63-24 win over New Bloomfield in the consolation semifinals. Their reward for the win was a matchup with the Helias Catholic (JV) Crusaders in the consolation championship game.
The game against Helias Catholic (JV) was a challenging one for the Pintos, going up against a team that was taller and equally athletic to California. Just like Eldon, Helias Catholic liked to launch three-point shots. The Crusaders made their rebounding a threat at the start with four offensive rebounds in the first quarter. However, Helias struggled to put the ball in the basket. California struggled on offense as well, but lead 10-8 after one quarter.
The second quarter played out in much the same way as the first, with both teams struggling on offense, but California's defense did just enough to maintain a 20-16 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Pintos played their best defense of the season, holding the Crusaders without a field goal and only one point in the third quarter. Although California only scored nine points in the third quarter, they went on a 7-0 run and gained the advantage of putting Helias Catholic in the penalty and would shoot free throws for the rest of the game.
Ahead 29-17 going into the fourth quarter, the Pintos had a chance to learn from their loss to Eldon and hold on to their lead in the fourth quarter. Going into the fourth, Helias had shot 3-14 on three-pointers, but hit two quick threes to make it a seven-point game. The Crusaders also turned to a full-court defense and tried to force the Pintos into turnovers and make quick scores off those turnovers.
California faced the pressure head on and tried to attack the basket on offense to put Helias in even deeper foul trouble. California's strategy payed off as four Crusaders fouled out in the fourth quarter and the Pintos shot 20 free throws in the fourth quarter. Although California made only eight of those 20 free throws, it was enough to propel the Pintos to a 41-35 win and fifth-place finish. Berendzen led the Pintos with 13 points and nine rebounds, Volkart had 11 points on 4-4 from the floor, and Bryant had nine points, five steals and three rebounds.
"It was one of those games where we struggled to put the ball in the hole. Fortunately, we had a little bit of a run there in the third quarter that gave us an extended lead. Fortunately, we did just enough to maintain our lead. I thought, defensively, we were pretty sound and I thought we got some good looks on offense, we just weren't able to knock them down," Conway said. "We need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball and understanding times and situations when we do hold on to the ball. We made things a little more difficult than they should have been. We'll take the win, but we've still got some work to do."
The Pintos are now 3-1 on the season and will play the Hermann Wildcats on Friday night in Hermann.
Senior center Hunter Berendzen scores a layup off an offensive rebound against Eldon on Nov. 28. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore guard Brooks Volkart drives to the rim and converts a layup for the Pintos against Helias Catholic (JV). (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior guard Ayden Bryant (right) defends Eldon guard Hunter Hees. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Gavin Porter caught fire early for the Pintos against Eldon on Nov. 28. Porter had 12 points, five rebounds, two steals, and a block. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Ayden Bryant finishes a layup over three Eldon defenders. Bryant scored 17 points on Nov. 28. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Ayden Bryant hit 4-5 free throws against Eldon in the Tipton Tournament quarterfinals. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The California Pintos starters discuss strategy in the quarterfinal game against the Eldon Mustangs. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The Pintos discuss strategy up 42-39 going into the fourth quarter against Eldon. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Ayden Bryant wins the opening tip for California against the Eldon Mustangs on Nov. 28. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Gavin Porter (right) boxes out the Helias Catholic (JV) defender and gets the offensive rebound that leads to a score for the Pintos. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Ayden Byrant sets up teammate Hunter Berendzen with a fancy assist against Helias Catholic (JV).(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Pintos head coach Brad Conway talks to his team before the second quarter against the Helias Catholic (JV) Crusaders. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior guard Ayden Bryant goes up and hits a reverse layup to give California an early 4-0 lead on Helias Catholic (JV). (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior guard Gavin Porter knocks down a floater for California's first basket in the Consolation game of the Tipton Tournament on Saturday. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior forward Hunter Berendzen shoots two free throws for the Pintos. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior forward Hunter Berendzen is introduced as California's starting center against Helias Catholic (JV) on Saturday. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)